FUCK IN THE TOWN

This is an excerpt from the Electro-opera I created called TELEVISION. (see artist statement below.)  This particular segment is a parody of the popular TV show SEX IN THE CITY , that was re-titled FUCK IN THE TOWN by Tobi Vail and Craig Extine. This was one of my favorite scenes because 

A. Its the only part of the performance with puppet/video dialogue (puppet vocal track is the demonic male voice heard from "nowhere" in the video clip.)

B. In the musical performance it appears that I have a small army of zombie backup dancers.

C. Besides Evergreen, the first place I performed this piece at was in Rome for 3000 people on MDMA. They didn't speak english but got the reference right away and LOVED it. 

TELEVISION! presented by Dj european Dj

videoed by Nadia Buyse

According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years watching television.  The television was created to further communications of a modern society. Years later we are left to wonder what exactly is the television communicating? The programming brought into our homes by television producers and media conglomerates are some of the first images that most americans are exposed to, what do these images trigger in the emotional development of children? What do these images do to perpetuate negative gender roles?

 

• 59 percent of parents say their 4-6 year-old boys imitate aggressive behavior they've seen on  television

  Zero to Six: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers.   Kaiser Family Foundation, 28 October, 2003.

• 66 percent of children (ages 10-16) surveyed say their peers are influenced by television shows
•             It's Just Harmless Entertainment…Oh Really? Parents Television Council. http://www.parentstv.org.

   •        When asked to choose 3 television role models, 80% of boys choose male personalities, while only 16% chose a female. Conversely, 57% of the girls choose males and      59% choose a female role models. Further, 43% of the boys choose only males, while                                       

             only 25% of the girls choose only females.

            Overall top 3 role models: Will Smith, Bart Simpson, and Tim Allen.

    •       49% of the children polled watch music videos daily.

    •        Sixty-two percent of the characters in music videos are male 54% white and 42% African-American. Males are nearly three times as likely as females to appear in videos     with a primary theme of social protest or bravado, while females are four times more                      

             likely to  appear in videos featuring a primary theme of love/romance.

    •        Over one-quarter of the videos include some degree of attention to female breasts, legs or torsos. Almost two-thirds of videos feature females as props, characters who are     used by the central performer in the course of his/her actions or who appear as    

             background. While female props are likely to be semi-nude (25%) as to be dressed in revealing clothing (25%) male props used in 40% of the videos tend to be fully     clothed most of the time (75%).

           (statistics taken from http://www.mediawatch.com)

 TELEVISION! presented by Dj european Dj is a satirical look at the gender roles presented to the American public via television.It is a multi media performance appropriating 

television shows and programming formats to create dialogue about gender stereotypes in mass media. This examines what it means to be a woman in the media and how that woman could be interpreted by the average viewer.  It is the first video performance created by playwright, video artist and musician Nadia Buyse AKA DJ European DJ. It is a mixture of Electronic music , multi media performance, puppetry and dance.

What is a fantasy? What is an indiscretion?

 I think most artists are directly influenced by the crowd they run with, the people they fuck, the books they read and the music they listen to. Most of the time my work is directly related to my social situations and my perspectives on interactions that are sexual or personal in nature. With the Fantasies and Indiscretion series I'm not only investigating my own 'organic' influences but also trying to appropriate the most intimate experiences of others.

I think the fascination started when I was younger and doing phone sex for a living. People would call and tell me things that they could NEVER tell anyone. Me! a complete stranger is going to know your darkest fantasy or your most humiliating sex experience, and you cant even tell your own wife! She's the person that sleeps next to you every night who probably would not judge you or harshly expose you, or maybe she would. The point is, the things you have to say about sex are hard to say. 

My goal is to create accurate portrayals using the puppets to make these things easier to talk about. I want to see some of those less than shining moments, like the time your sister caught you beating it to National Geographic. Or to highlight secret fantasies like walking down the street holding hands listening to "groovy kind of love" by Patti Labelle. I want to demystify the idea of shame that comes along with sex and romance and masturbation. We all do it, we all want it, what's the problem if sometimes its degrading or not ideal? 

I know its a lot to ask people to just offer up their personal stories but I'm willing to share intimate details of my life, really awful embarrassing ones on the web for all to see.....

5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ME (that I don't really want you to know)

1. When I was like three years old I had an oversized ET doll. It was my boyfriend, I would take      it everywhere and my mom said she even caught me humping it once.

2.I have a crush on Alf, always have always will.

3. When I was 20 I dated this guy who cheated on me with a stripper in Mexico. He told me literally right after we had sex. A couple days later he called me to ask me if I had cheated on him because he had WARTS! I had not, and I got tested for STDs like four times in six months because I'm a neurotic hypochondriac, I was totally clean. Meanwhile, after that scare I got in the habit of looking at my vagina like all the time. I have a special mirror that I ONLY use to look at my vagina with. 

4. I hate sleeping next to people after we have sex. I hate to cuddle unless we are about to or have just gotten done having sex.... well not all the time but most of the time.

5. I don't like having boyfriends, but I think I would love it if i met a boy like me. So, I guess my biggest fantasy is to be with myself. 

FANTASIES AND INDISCRETIONS!

OMG its the newest MOVIEPARTY! series! 

Back Stabbath 2009© Nathan

PUPPET CONFESSIONALS # 2

The puppet confessional


Detachment is necessary when dealing in satire. When you detach yourself from a subject or from an emotion what you are actually doing is allowing there to be room for objectivity.
A good way to detach is to add humor or fantasy to something that is real and serious in nature. The puppet confessional series attempts to do this by designating unattractive human qualities,
behaviors and emotions to puppets, or other fantastical creatures. Within this fantasy realm we explore themes like self image, romantic obsession, low self esteem, laziness, heart ache,
sexuality and desire etc.


PUPPET CONFESSIONALS #2:
Bedroom, Space and Time

00:04:20
Mini Dv
©2008

PURPLE RHINESTONE EAGLE and MOVIE PARTY present "SPIRIT ANIMALS" THURSDAY 10/29/09

TELEKINESIS: The forest moves them, one sleepy foot after another. Then to the arms; the ears Awaken! The eyes are opened! Then comes the music.....

At first they don't know if they control the music or if the music controls them.....all they know is they are ONE.

It suddenly becomes clear to them that they are not alone, others are watching them . They hide behind their idols until they are ready to go deeper into the forest.........

In the Shelter of your Love by Purple Rhinestone Eagle

Purple rhinestone Eagle is wonderful! They are all so talented and such a pleasure to work with...stay tuned for more collaborations with them in the future!!
This video is an homage to the scene in Rock n Roll Highschool where Riff randall lights up a righteous 'doob' and then The Ramones appear in her room to serenade her. For many girls my age, this scene was kind of a 'sexual awakening' when first viewed. David Bowie's giant package in The Labyrinth is also high on the list of 'what made me feel like a woman when I was twelve.' Someday I would like to make an homage to that.....yeah thats not happening.

The Music Videos:Vice Magazine by The Caldonias

The Caldonias was a band I was in for about six months. The song Vice Magazine is an anthem about how boring 'punk rock' can be sometimes. This video was shot by Ben Blankenship and edited and directly by yours truly.

The Music Videos: FIST FITE

This is a video we made for a Lips and Ribs remix of a song by FIST FITE
This is a tale of soured love. I think both Jonnie and myself might have been blackedout towards the end of shooting this video.

MOVIEPARTY MOVIEMAGIC STILLS vol 1!!!!

Evil twin serenades from Puppet Confessionals #1.

Baby edgar has 'body issues'
Love is a beautiful thing!



Meet Blake Cedrick!! Very few people have inspired Movieparty so much!!! Here is a still from Puppet Confessionals 2 "get out of my room dad!"

MATCHMAKER SERIES, Vol. 5 and 11

This particular MOVIEPARTY had some serious ups and downs. When I originally started to think about the idea of making fake internet romance commercials
I had a vision of silly fake talking head style confessionals, all similar in style and composure, using only my friends. Then It started to build a life of its own.
I thought it would be amazing if I could actually meet people on the internet for the puppets to make the videos with. I created an account on OK cupid, using pictures of the puppets and
very eloquently stating that I was on the website for an art project and hoping to meet people who would want to share internet love experiences in a confessional style video with a puppet
acting as there partner. I wrote to a few people as well. The girls NEVER responded, the boys did until they realized that this was an actual project and not some kinky puppet sex thing.
After the internet flop, i started taking it to the next level. I would actually go out to bars and pick up people to be in the videos, it kinda wokred a little bit. All I'd like to say is, some of those nights were not my finest moments. *




This video has been shown as one piece. It has also been shown as a one channel installation running as a loop next to a false table of 3D glasses. Here are volumes 5 and 11.

00:09:04
mini dv
©2008-09








*The concept of picking up someone in a bar to be in my videos is not such a new thing. For my final project in Mediaworks I decided to make a video response to Laura Mulvey's
"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"
(or as I like to call it, Taking back Freud)
Forgive me for paraphrasing, but the essay talkes about the phallocentrism of Hollywood narrative and the lack of female driven plot development, especially those females who were more sexually comodified and objectified (i.e. sex workers.) I decided to protest this theory by going out to bars to pick up drunk dudes to be in my 'mini movies'. I found one guy at the Tube in portland and got him to dress in drag and pretend to be carrie Bradshaw and Snow white.....maybe someday I'll post it but doubt it.

SHORT SHORTS vol.3

Dear Friends,
Why did you let me get away with wearing wedges from Target in the summer of 2005? I would NEVER do that to you.
Sincerely,
Movieparty

Dear Movieparty,
Probably for the same reason you listened to me whine about my loser ex boyfriend for six months after we broke up.... you just had to!!!
Your Friend,
Friends.

SHORT SHORTS vol.2

Circa one hour ago: I'm walking to my friend's Allison house, wearing my red Pacific Place kitten heels from the Goodwill. I happened to have a pair of moccasins in my bag for work. I walked past this girl wearing the same moccasins and for some reason I felt the need to judge her.

SHORT SHORTS vol.1

One night I was out at some mediocre show at dunes and I just so happened to be wearing my most FAVORITE Van Halen 1982 tour shirt, minus sleeves. As usual, I had just finished my whiskey which required me to smoke a ciggarette. I stepped outside and the first thing I see was some dude wearing a 1986 Iron Maiden shirt. After staring at it, trying to get a better look at the graphic, I noticed the man behind the shirt noticing me. After about thirty seconds of the most awkward silence ever we simultaneously exclaimed "cool shirt dude."

COOL PARTY

EAST END:
I got a great idea....Let's dress up in 'retro du jour' and desperately try to find someone to sleep with.


BEAULAHLAND:
You had a great time there last weekend. Maybe you should hang out there everynight for the rest of your life.

CHOPSTICKS 11:
It's all fun and games til you take someone home and immediately wanna go to the doctors.

DUNES:
I don't understand why the bathroom line is so long... you can just snort coke off of the bar.


FLORIDA ROOM:
I don't have any real ambition, I guess i'll just take a nap in this armpit.

THE STANDARD:
The smoking patio is just a figment of your imagination. The guy with the goatee shooshing you on the way in the bar is not.

WHITE KID APHRODISIAC

I guess there's always been potential there. I mean, the sexiness of soul music is undeniable. I've only been to soul night twice; the first night I wore a homemade sign around that read "DO NOT HUMP" I had no idea the social consequences, i was just high on the pot and thought it was hilarious. Women were into it but everyboy that noticed what I was wearing HATED IT. one guy told my to go fuck myself.....I guess he thought since I wasn't going to fuck him i had to fuck SOMEBODY that evening. I did acquire the nickname "do not hump girl"... you can imagine how much I LOVE that.
I went again last night.... the crowd was mostly bridge and tunnel ala portland. I literally overheard some girl talking about the vintage dress she was wearing as if it were some insatiable costume, "I feel really overdressed you guys, i mean, i I saw a girl on hawthorne wearing something similar and I thought it looked hip."
The best part of the evening, however, is around twelve thirty you can watch what i like to call "the hole patrol". Thats the part of the evening where all the dudes in Rotture literally go from chic to chic trying to figure out where and with whom they will end up that evening. Now, I just wanna say that I'm NO prude, i like a sexy time as much as the next person but i can't get down with some dudes mission to get wet. If it happens, it happens. Desperation is not a turn on. Meanwhile that same guy is going to wake up in Beaverton tomorrow with the girl they he thought had a booth at House but actually has an old navy credit card. She's going to make a doctors appointment as soon as he leaves.