Videos!

Hey friends!  Long time no see.  I have a couple of new videos to share.  The first I created for a challenge among friends.  The task: create a one minute video on your device of choice using elements drawn from a hat, and with the theme '"great feelings".  The elements I drew were mirror and tree bark.  Here is the result:

It's pretty absurb, and not meant to be taken too seriously.  I'm really pleased with it for a number of reasons.  1) It's the first video I've made that I wasn't it. 2) I shot and edited it myself using my iPad.  3) Another first: I created storyboards for this, which I'll upload in another post.  I hope you enjoy it.

The second video was written by my pal Neil, and directed by Jeremy.  It's about how dependent we have all become on our phones.

This was a lot of fun to shoot, and I hope you all enjoy it.  

If you like these videos and want to see more, or want to be supportive, please share them with your friends.  The more views we can get on Youtube the more likely that we can start to monetize some of our work, but for that we need exposure.  With that in mind, please also subscribe to our channel "EvilAlienPirateBooty" if you have a YouTube account, or don't mind setting one up.  I think if you use Gmail it's pretty easy.  And you won't get any spam or annoying messages, it just helps our channel look good, and for more people to see what we make.    Thank you all for reading, and also for watching.  xoxox

A big week for getting hired

I just got hired at Horsethief BBQ.  It's a new restaurant opening in downtown LA at the Grand Central Market.

  My feelings are mixed about returning to the food service industry.  When I left Parkway in October I felt pretty sure that I never wanted to work in a restaurant again. (I've said that before, and look where it got me.)  I wanted to be only an artist, and to pursue creative jobs.

I feel a little differently now though.  I wouldn't change the past eight months in any way; leaving Parkway Grill was absolutely the right choice.  Taking the space to experiment, explore, and turn my energy whichever way my fancy led was one of the best decisions of my life.  I've had a ball, and I've done a lot!  I got started in the world of art modeling, I filmed two shorts (Chugging Gone Wrong made it into a festival, and Chatty Cathy Goes to Yoga is still being edited), and I worked as an art director on an indie feature called The Frontier, among other things.  All that stuff is wonderful, and some of it pays well, but I miss a steady paycheck.

Don't worry!  I'm not turning my back on art for the sake of money!  I'm not giving up!  I'm being honest with myself.  I was lucky enough to have a cushion to lean on all this time, but I don't want to get to a point where there's no cushion left.  I have to be honest with myself and recognize that I'm a better artist when I'm not worried about money all the time.  Working on The Frontier for the past month and a half I've had a regular paycheck, and it's been a huge weight off.  Admittedly, I had no time to create anything, but I had a different sort of mental freedom.

And this job feels different.  For one thing, I am bringing in money doing things I'm passionate about, like modeling and art directing and acting.  (I actually just got hired on Monday to start working at Otis College of Art and Design to model for fashion illustration!)  That gives me the luxury of wanting and asking for part-time hours at Horsethief.  And also: these guys  opening this restaurant are like me!  They're new to what they're doing and they're excited.  They're young and passionate and they have a vision.  They're building something and they asked me to be part of it.  

I suppose I'm the thing that has changed.  Or maybe I'm always changing; that may be the only truly constant factor in life.  All I know is that sometimes I introduce myself as an actor, and sometimes it's model.  Sometimes I call myself an art director, or a figure model, or lately an art model.  Sometimes I'm a street artist, or a designer of tee-shirts.  And much of the time, in my head, it's simply: artist.  Will adding server back onto that list be such a bad thing?  I don't think so.  (Maybe I should call myself a BBQ artist.)  And what have I got to lose?  Nothing.  

Coming soon!  My adventures at the Iggy Pop show with Neil!

Chugging Gone Wrong

I'm very excited to share my latest short with you:  Chugging Gone Wrong!

Thank you for watching, and please share it if you enjoyed it!

I want to wear that on my face.

I can always tell I'm avoiding something when I find myself frantically tied up in a meaningless task.  Like that time recently when I sidestepped down the beauty aisle at CVS searching for blue mascara.  I pored over those beauty displays obsessively, looking for real untinted unapologetic blue mascara.  I was sure they'd have it, but unfortunately amongst the 10,000 tubes of eyelash tinting goo the closest it got was sapphire black.  I'm sorry, but that's not blue.  It might be tinted, but it's still black.  It's like saying Zaphod's vomit was greenish-yellow.  Although it had a greenish cast to it, my cat's barf was still primarily classified as yellow.  And I didn't want something that almost blue - I wanted authentic honest blue.

         During this search  I chafed against the marketing bein used on me (surprise).  Who are these people telling me that this product is for blue eyes and that one is for brown eyes?  Yeah yeah yeah, some corporate beauty expert got paid a billion dollars to do a color analysis in order to make generic stipulations as to what products I should use.  You might be right, but nevertheless, I like those colors, and I want to wear them on my face.  After twenty minutes of probing those murky depths I was no nearer either to finding blue mascara or changing the global marketing strategies of Revlon and et al.  Moreover, I was avoiding actual important business (though what that was, for the life of me I can't remember.  Priorities - hah).  So I threw in the towel and picked up the item I was actually stopping to purchase: black mascara (I know - ridiculous).  Then I went on my merry way.

     Imagine my surprise that evening when I went to put away my new mascara.  The tube in my hand was blue.  Not sapphire black, not tinted whatever, royal blue.  Electric, honest to god, unmistakable blue.  I swear, I looked at every single mascara they sold at that drugstore - I searched every aisle that sold makeup, and looked at every one.  And there it was in my hand - exactly what I wanted.  And I had completely given up; just when I no longer had any attachment to the idea of wearing blue mascara that day, I found that I could.  That's called manifestation.  It's a powerful phenomena.  Call it what you will (coincidence, subconscious, chance, inattention, whatever), I call it magic.

    That turned out to be my last day working at the restaurant.  It was time for me to leave.  As things roll on ever faster I determined that a change was necessary.  It had been made clear to me at my place of work that if I was no longer happy there I shouldn't be there, so I left.  I have no regrets about that.  It's a pretty scary change, but let me never look back to see that I sacrificed possibility to fear.  I'm not getting any younger, and I'm as free as I'll ever be.  The time to change is now.

     So rather than focusing on the things I don't want; rather than chafing against a suit that doesn't fit; rather than pouring my energy into an unworthy vessel I have decided to redirect my attention.  This power of manifestation, of calling my life to me is a wonderful gift, and I don't want to waste it.  Besides, if I never try to make it in my chosen industry, how will I ever know what would've happened?  Maybe what I've been looking for has been in my hand this entire time and I've been too distracted to see it.  Or maybe, now that I've let go of something that wasn't serving me, I'll have room to pick up what I do actually want.

SpaceCat and the Cone of Shame

Darling Friends, it's that time again.  I have completed another short for you viewing pleasure.  So with mighty flourishes and blaring of trumpets I give you:

Thanks again to Casey Gates for directing, editing, and moral support as I do my weird thing.
xoxox

SpaceCat loves you.

Okay I've sat down to write this blog post at least three times, I think, and the damn thing doesn't want to get written.  I don't know why.  But here it is:

I have this thing I'm working on; it's called SpaceCat!  (That's all one word, in case you didn't notice.)  At various times I have described SpaceCat in the following ways: Ziggy Stardust+internet cat videos+ street art, my alter-ego, my artistic identity, an interdisciplinary web installation, Facebook art.  SpaceCat comprises the following things sometimes referred to as the Five Faces of SpaceCat: Zaphod in all his many photogenic moods, a stencil I designed of Zaphod as I imagine he would look in a spacesuit, shirts on which I have painted said stencil, me and my girlfriends (or boy friends - ahem Josh Tolle) wearing little to no makeup and posing in SpaceCat shirts, videos of me dressed up as a feline impersonating Zaphod (I'm imfelinating him, get it?), me dressed up as a superhero named SpaceCat, the Facebook page (SpaceBook page) I created to act as a home for all this.

Okay, I feel better having that all off my chest.  Sometimes I have to get out of my own way and just write it down without making it too complicated.  I'm going to save this now.

Okay, good, it's saved.  So what's left to tell?  What is the point, you may ask?  I wrote a response to that question a few weeks ago, but I have to admit that it is a valid question.  Well, I'm hoping to push my career further with this thing.  For a while there I was experiencing no joy in my art, and SpaceCat is nothing if not joyful.  I think ultimately by doing all this: making my weird videos, creating a story about a superhero named SpaceCat who fell to Earth, and painting shirts and putting them on my friends, that I am exploring and displaying a much rounder version of myself as an artist.  My hope is that I can really bring everything to the table, and ultimately have more success in my career as an artist.

So how?  Aargh, that's another good question.  The two things I have in front of me right now are my videos and my shirts.  For a while now I've been exploring with paint and used tee-shirts (a great excuse to go to the thrift store) and my stencil, and having a lot of fun making designs.  I've been posting pictures of my process (along with all the inspiring things I see on my way about the world) on Instagram (you can follow me @nerdgirl).  So far I am really pleased and touched by the responses I've gotten to my SpaceCat shirts.  I have a pretty good variety at this point, and made my first sale last week.  Now I need to start really selling them, and also think about how I want to continue with my little business.  Things under consideration: Etsy, silk-screening, buying wholesale tee-shirts.  The important points for me are that they be affordable and fun, and ideally that I get to photograph everyone in their respective SpaceCat shirt.  This aspect of SpaceCat is called Imperfect Woman, but I'm not going to get into that right now.  After all, I've got to keep you interested, right?

As far as the videos go, I am currently working on the second one: SpaceCat and the Cone of Shame!  I am so excited, and I really hope you'll like it.  And again, I totally, TOTALLY appreciate the support we received for the first one.  Thank you.  I have ideas for other videos after that - some about SpaceCat, some about Chatty Cathy (hooray!!) and some other totally unrelated things.  The videos are important to me because even if they're low budget to begin with, I'm creating the habit of making my own work: following through with ideas start to finish, doing what I say I'm going to do, learning the skills I don't have, and putting art out into the world regularly.

So that's what I'm working on.  Something that should hopefully bring in a little money, and something else that should hopefully get me a little more exposure.  I don't know if this clarifies at all for you what SpaceCat is.  But you can follow the process and see how it develops if you're interested.  And of course, if you like what you see: 'like' my SpaceBook page, share it with your friends, contact me about buying a shirt, offer me your input, suggest a trade, smile.

I am eternally universally infinitely lovingly blessedly happily star-brightly sun-shiningly sweetly goofily thankfully joyously grateful for your continued presences in my life.

SpaceCat loves you.

Presenting my first video!

I am really excited today.  I wrote a short film, and it debuted on the web yesterday!  For the last year and a half I've been writing sketches and short stories and monologues.  I've started and stopped screenplays, and even collaborated on an entire webseries.  But none of that panned out.  Until now.  I conceived the idea, wrote it, created the costumes (!), and produced it.   The lovely Casey Gates filmed it (on her iPhone4!), edited it, and generally encouraged me - for which I am extraordinarily grateful.

This film is not trying to be fancy.  The production quality is low, but I think the whimsy and laugh factors are high.  This is the first of many: they're just going to better and better.   I hope that you'll enjoy this short film for what it is.  To me it is a triumph.

With no further ado I happily present you:  Space Cat Gets a Haircut!

If you enjoyed my film you can learn more about SpaceCat on Facebook!

xoxox

Thanks to Jaq Galliano for an afternoon's work well done.

 

Tearing the World Apart

Let me tell you a little more about the show I'm currently working on.

Tearing the World Apart falls into the categories of experimental, physical, and dance theatre.  It consists of a series of vignettes exploring the title theme.  The vignettes include dance choregraphy, physical interpretation of text, physical improvisation, performance poetry, music and paint.

When I auditioned for this show I knew unfailingly that I had something to offer. I tore my own world apart last year; I've been sharing that journey fairly publicly here, in the hopes that it would resonate with other people, and also as my own method of therapy.  If you come see my show, you can join me and two other performers on the ride.  Heartbreak is definitely one aspect of the theme we explore.  We also explore some of the revolutions and riots of the last year, and the pervasive sense of dissatisfaction that floats around.  And we'll share with you our dreams for the future.  Because if you're going to destroy everything as you know it, hopefully you'll have something in mind to replace it with.

Instagram self portraits

One morning I received a text saying, "We should start a series of Instagram self-portraits." Here is my series.  You may already have seen them...

     

A day in the life of my cat

When I have too much time on my hands you know it's your lucky day!  That's right, I created, just for you, a photo essay in which I reenact my favorite Zaphod moments.  Enjoy:

You never see the skeletons of cats in trees

Oh hey.  You were gone?

Who the fuck does that other cat think it is?

Meditation on shoes: a haiku

Busy day at work?

The smellier the better

Oh shoe! Marry me!

All in a day's work:

Keepin' tabs on Kitty Town

Making the rounds.

   In and out                      

Food critic.

Cat Nap!

Don't touch my belly

If you need me you know where to find me

Me-ow!

Animal Abuse

Why are you doing this?

I've never been unhappier.

I won't forget this.

Clowning around

A couple of years ago my Locke took a few photos of me wearing this clown nose.  He gave me a sweater to hold as a prop, had me face the wall for a moment, and started shooting when I turned around.  This was the middle of a several year period during which he took photos of everyone who came over, all wearing the nose.  Now he's having an art show. It opens on Friday, and I'm really honored to be a part of it.

Putting on that nose transported me to the summer of 2004, when I was working with a theatre company 30 hours a week, doing physical theatre, viewpoints, and a lot of mask work.  I love the physical transformation you go through-if you're open to it, when you put on a costume or an outrageous outfit.  Or even something as simple as holding a sweater and wearing a nose.

And I also love seeing my friend take this random thing he did and turn it in to a public event.  I love seeing him follow through on something he has been doing for years.  And I love that I was able to participate, along with countless other of his friends.  Very proud of you, friend.

Please check out Locke's work.  Please go see his art show.  I will be at the opening on Friday (after work, of course), but it runs for two weeks.  Don't be square.  And besides, going to look at photos in an art gallery is FREE!