HOUSE PARTY w/ KID N PLAY

HOUSE PARTY

VHS

Directed by Reginald Hudlin

BEST QUOTE: " I'll put my foot so far up your ass, you'll be shitting sneaker for a weak"

What most people don't know about House Party is that it's a Sundance award winning film. Reginald Hudlin, the auteur  received  the FIlmmakers trophy and the cinematography award went to Peter Deming (obviously the cinematographer). It was even nominated for a grand jury prize.  It's hard for me to imagine a time or place where anyone ever took the film at face value or considered intentionally artistic in anyway. It seems so ironic and silly to me, a blatant textual poaching of early nineties fashion and music. But then I think of my girl Jamie Babbit. 

For those of you who don't know I LOVE Jamie Babbit. She has directed a couple of films, most notable The Quiet and But I'm a cheerleader, but she has acted as director on several television shows. My favorite of which being Popular, one of the greatest and most underrated shows ever. It aired for the first time in 1999, right after the great success of Dawson's Creek's first season in '98. It sizzled out after the second season, with probably the most intense season finale I've ever witnessed. The thing that made Popular so good in my book was the political influence within the story lines; Young girls questioning their sexuality, boys dealing with issues of emasculation, class and racial tensions, etc. 

The reason I even mention Ms. Babbit is because like her, Richard Hudlin is also predominately a television director. In fact, they both directed episodes of the SAME television show (The Bernie Mac show, small world....I KNOW GIRL!) I feel that character emotional development is less nuanced when television directors do film, maybe this is because in television the viewer has less time to identify with the characters and it's important that they become attached so they'll keep watching every week.

Without going into any explanation immediately the viewer knows that Kid is the awkward sympathetic character and that Play is the cool guy best friend. These identities are solidified by the opening sequence in which Kid is getting ready for school and he has to deal with his fucked up dad while Play is determining which honey he's going to hook up with that night at his party.  And unlike other characters in teen movies where they emotionally grow and reveal more of themselves as the story line progresses (for example, Bender in Breakfast club, that guy was a total dick but we ALL identified with his sensitive side  by the end of the film) Kid and Play never really emotionally progress, but they do go to college! It really lends itself to a sequel. (no big whoop, just House Party 2)

Jamie's film characters, while they are more complex then Kid and Play, still seem  to have this basic role that is exemplified early on in the film that sticks. The character of Dot in The Quiet is immediately exposed as emotionally disconnected and alone. I think that even with her alliances formed she never really finds that connection. Or the character of Nina is presented as self involved, delicate, abused and in need of affection or "saving" and even though her emotionally void mother is arrested and her abusive dad is murdered , she never finds any resolve for these issues...it's just who she is and that won't change. At the end of The Quiet as the girls are left alone playing piano in that big empty house after everything went down I was left with this incomplete feeling, it left me wanting more. I don't usually get this from a film unless it's set up for that unfinished ending. (for example, Back to the future) It's a sensation i experience every time I get into a good TV show. 

Long story short, I don't know if I would get that same experience after the end of house party but I'm assuming yes considering House party 2 and 3. I didn't finish the film because I started to doze off after smoking too much weed and eating the sweetest cheese fries in history. 

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.