cc new york by 3arabawy from Flickr

I found out late last Saturday night that Butch Tits is going to be playing at Mix NYC on Wednesday November 16th. I ummed and ahhed a little and then thought, what the hell. How often am I going to get the chance to be in New York for a screening of a film I made? So I quickly made arrangements with work and figured out a decent priced ticket given the very short notice. And now I’m off to New York for a week.

I’m excited to see MoMA, the Highline Park, eat myself silly and walk and walk and wakl and walk. And lots of public transport adventures where I will hopefully get lost.

So I’m very excited that Jarrah Hodge interviewed Kona and me for the Bitch blog series “Revenge of the Feminerd”.

Check us out: http://bitchmagazine.org/post/revenge-of-the-feminerd-the-queeriodic-table

All my stuff fit into A's car

I have been so incredibly busy of late. I moved house last Sunday and started a new job on Monday and that’s on top of all the project/art work I’ve been doing.

Mostly I’ve been working on The Queeriodic Table website and other assorted preparations for the Seattle Erotic Art Festival. !Kona and I were honoured to be selected and it’s given us a great deadline to move our project along. But phew, am I tired.

Butch Tits has also been selected for a number of other film festivals including Inside Out (Toronto) and Outfest (Los Angeles). Very exciting. I hope to be able to make it to LA for the screening. Squeeeeeee!

I’m also curating a film/performance art program for the Queer Film Festival with my friend Kristina Lemieux and continuing to help SD Holman with the Butch Photography Project.

And then there’s Sissy which is in production.

I’m really not getting enough sleep…

Recently Butch Tits screened at:

Loud & Queer Cabaret (Edmonton, Canada)
OUTBURST Queer Arts Festival (Belfast, N. Ireland)
Nigah Queer Festival (Delhi, India)

The mini-review in the OUTBURST guide is delightful.

A wonderfully intimate, raw, honest and funny short from former Belfast resident, Jen Crothers.

Podcaster

I listen to a lot of podcasts. I’m always behind but that doesn’t worry me. Listed below are a selection of the ones I listen to. They originate from Australia, UK, USA and Canada. The starred ones are the ones I highly recommend but really I love all of these.

Technology

Buzz Out Loud — keep up to date with tech news
Search Engine — analysis of Canadian internet issues
* Spark — technology as it relates to life

Stories

* A Life Well Wasted — this is brilliant and also happens to be about video games
Life After Radio — my friend Sarah!
* StoryCorps — 90% chance of crying
Snap Judgment — story telling with a beat
The Moth — live story telling without notes
* This American Life — the classic

Science/Mathematics/Economics

More or Less: Behind the Stats — with the Undercover Economist, Tim Harford
* Planet Money — helps explain economics, US-focused but very interesting
* Radiolab — approaching science topics from all directions

Science/History/Skepticism/Philosophy/Thinking Stuff

* All In The Mind — psychology, neuroscience and the like
Skeptoid — looks skeptically at one pop culture topic per episode
* Sunday Night Safran — interview-based radio focusing on religion, politics and ethnicity

I’ve been working as a Production Assistant for SD Holman in getting The Butch Project up and running after a bit of a hiatus. It has been very satisfying working with such a talented and committed artist. I like using my organising skills in artistic contexts and I find collaborating with artists to be inspiring and energising for my own work.

The Queeriodic Table is one of those projects.

Back in December 2009 Kona Katranya was inspired by a periodic table of cupcakes.  She envisioned a fundraiser and I put up my hand straight away. We chatted and ruminated and our plan for a periodic table of queerness in cupcake form began to take shape. Out in Schools was an obvious choice as the recipient of funds raised. It is an organisation that we both have a great deal of respect for. It also gave us a deadline: October 2nd, 2010 was the next High School Confidential. Well time flies doesn’t it? All of sudden we needed to move very fast to get everything done. It was time to stop pondering and start doing.

As much as we both love cupcakes we decided that it wasn’t very practical to make, ice and transport 112 cupcakes so we decided buttons/pins/badges were the way to go. Each button would represent one element and a poster would show the whole table.

I had a total blast nerding out over the choice of words for the elements, and the choice of categories. We tried hard to be balanced and represent a wide cross section of the queer universe. As an extra geeky element I tried as much as possible to mirror characteristics of the periodic table.

With help from our excellent friends (thanks in particular to Jack, Elaine & Romham ) and after a few very late nights it all came together.  I was happy to be in Portland for the Butch Voices conference but so sad that it meant missing the launch.

There’s more to do. We need to update the website (http://queeriodictable.com/QueeriodicTable.html) with the table and create more merchandise so we can raise more money for Out in Schools.

I have been so excited by this nerdy art project and am stoked to keep pushing it further.

I am absolutely thrilled to be the winner of this year’s OutTV Hot Pink Shorts audience choice award for Butch Tits at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.

It all feels a bit overwhelming and unbelievable.

Thank you so much to everyone that helped me make the film, the interviewees, those that let me film them topless, those with helpful critical feedback on the first cut, those that gave me emotional support when I was feeling very vulnerable.

Thanks also to Out on Screen for running the Vancouver Queer Film Festival and specifically for having a program of local shorts. I was inspired by the Coast is Queer four years ago to make my own film and now I’m planning my third.

I hope to screen Butch Tits in Vancouver again in the next couple of months. It has a distributor (Video Out) and will be sent to film festivals around the world so hopefully it will come to a festival near you!

I got my research project (investigating the relationship between prestige and age of open access journals)  in on time and have now finished my MLIS. That means I’m looking for work and that’s not that much fun. But beaches, bikes, and barbeques are lots of fun.

A friend mentioned her online brand the other day and I groaned. I don’t want to be that person. It’s tricky finding a balance between my creative and professional sides so I’ve gone for openness. I’m intelligent, skilled and hard working and if an organisation doesn’t want to hire me because I’ve made a film called Butch Tits (screening at the 2010 Queer Film Festival!) then it really is their loss.

It’s far too late for me create pseudonyms to separate my professional and personal interests. So here I am, geeking out on Excel AND making films that feature physical and emotional nakedness.

I was going to refer people to this excellent collection of biographies of female mathematicians. Bet you didn’t know that Florence Nightingale was a pioneer in statistics as well as nursing.

However, a practical issue has come up that deserves attention. The Gaga Law has been doing the rounds of the ‘nets and I think it is wrong. If anyone knows who created this please let me know so I can link back. Is the origin this Facebook fan page?

There are a few different two versions but the one I saw first was:
(RAH)²(AH)³ + [ROMA(1+MA)] + (GA)² + (OOH)(LA)²

The equation is supposed to represent the chorus of the Lady Gaga song Bad Romance.

Rah rah ah ah ah!
Roma roma ma!
Ga ga ooh la la!

I love that someone made an equation out of this! But I think they didn’t quite get it right. Basically, there isn’t consistency in the use of addition and multiplication.

Spelling out the equation we get (removing capitalisation for ease of reading):
Rah.rah.ah.ah.ah + roma + roma.ma + ga.ga + ooh.la.la

Note that “.” is shorthand for multiply. Can you see the problem? What does multiplication mean? What does addition mean? What is the difference between them?

One way to break down the lyrics would be to add every element.

(RAH)² + (AH)³ + [ROMA(1+MA)] + (GA)² + (OOH) + (LA)²
= Rah.rah + ah.ah.ah + roma + roma.ma + ga.ga + ooh.la.la

But this doesn’t distinguish the lines of the stanza.

I suggest that it would be better to state that lyrics on the same line are multiplied and lyrics on a different line are added. This keeps the lines of the stanza defined. As soon as you see an addition sign you start a new line.

(RAH)²(AH)³ + (ROMA)²(MA) + (GA)²(OOH)(LA)²

= Rah.rah.ah.ah.ah
+ roma.roma.ma
+ ga.ga.ooh.la.la

That’s a bit more consistent, however the second line loses its difference and therefore the quirk level reduces.

Two other possibilities for the second line would be:
[(ROMA)³]/2 or (ROMA)²(ROMA/2) but that’s making a big assumption that people would understand that half of ROMA was MA. Also, it’s not obvious what half of the cube of ROMA actually is.

So there you go. Pedantic? Moi?

*************

Bonus nerdiness 1: At first I thought the creator of the equation had made a mistake with the exponents. I was wrong. Here’s a simple (though unpleasantly coloured) introduction to exponents. http://oakroadsystems.com/math/expolaws.htm

Bonus nerdiness 2: What’s up with my post title?

Then there was the trip to Wharariki.

(Unfortunately you can’t rotate videos on Flickr.)

That sillyness resulted in a gouged left knee and a wicked scab.

Two days before I was due to move out of my Wellington house I sprained my little toe by wrenching it on a doorway. Walking was painful for a few days after that, making moving my stuff down the stairs rather unpleasant.

One hour before my going away drinks I was on the top step of a speeding bus that stopped suddenly. At the time I was just getting up to get off the bus and wasn’t holding on. I flew. And slammed to the ground, scraping my shin on the step on the way down.

The right side of my body is still stiff and sore a week later. I have two bruised knees, contusions on my right knee and elbow, a bruised elbow, a gruesome yellow rectangular bruise on my shin, sore neck and shoulder and a pulled tricep. Getting dressed, sleeping, walking down stairs and moving my right arm above a certain height are all painful.

Sigh.

Thankfully I had lovely friends (Jaimie, Justin, Nic and Erena in particular) that helped me with getting better and getting out of the country.

So currently I’m frequently cranky with my inability to move as normal at the moment. Forgetting results in yelps when I push my arm too far. I’ll go to a physio next week and try to get back to normal.

This will be the last time that I’m in the computer lab. This will be the last time I drive down the scary Devon Street. This will be the last time I eat lamb in New Zealand. This will be the last time I visit Aro Video. This is likely my last good flat white for a long while.

I recognise that it’s completely ridiculous.

Towards the end, time speeds up. I feel like there’s still so much to see and do here. And I’ll definitely be very sad to leave my friends.

No doubt I will be back. If not to live, then certainly for a holiday. New Zealand is tops.

Two tasty things that I’m looking forward to on my return to Vancouver are breakfast at Medina and chicken wings at Phnom Penh. Worth a 13 hour flight for sure.

When that is done I have to finalise a whole heap of stuff because on the 31st I’m moving back to Vancouver. I’m not sure where “home” is but at the moment Vancouver is the best approximation.

Actually, I suppose I have a number of homes. That makes me very lucky and also very sad. I’m not really a phone person so I don’t talk or Skype with friends and family as much as I “should”. Which means that I’m often disconnected from people that I care deeply about. Facebook has actually been wonderful in helping me keep in touch with those people and also in developing deeper friendships with others. Seriously.

Tomorrow I’m off to the Horowhenua Agriculture and Pastoral Show. This makes me very excited! I’m sure there will be lots to see and do but mostly I want to see wood chopping and working sheep dogs.

Jen in front of 2008 Carded! entry

I’m a medalist!

I was disappointed when my Dalek design wasn’t chosen for Hot One Inch Action 2008. Not because I think I’m some great artist. I just thought it was a cool design. And who doesn’t love Daleks?

A couple of days ago, out of the blue, I received an email telling me I was a 2010 medalist. I thought they’d made a mistake because I haven’t submitted anything recently but medalists are the best 50 submissions from 2004-2009 that weren’t chosen for those years. Cool. I feel really proud of this and a little bit more like a real artist. Sort of. No, not really.

And then today I found out that some feedback I gave last year has been used as a pull quote for this year’s Carded! Sweet.

One thing I love about Vancouver is that there are a whole bunch of doers (t)here. Jim Hoehnle and Chris Bentzen in particular make stuff happen. And that is something to respect.

I had heard that it was great and the preview looked intriguing. Ugh. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong.

But first, what I liked. The geology, flora and fauna of Pandora was spectacular. Beautiful and awe inspiring. The machines and communications technologies were similarly cool. But the rest?

It was truly awful. Cliche after cliche after cliche. Every step of the way I knew what was coming next.

Reading this review at io9 a couple of days ago put some worry into me (note there are spoilers in the review but they aren’t giving anything away that you wouldn’t work out for yourself). However, I still thought that I might be able to transcend dodgy politics and enjoy it as a fantastical blockbuster action film. I’m not a film snob. I love going to see big action films at the cinema. The last film I saw was 2012 (stupid but visually impressive).  I had hope. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

I like Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Giovanni Ribisi and I hope they got paid a lot of money to be in this redonkulous, pompous, tedious (163 m) and yes, racist, piece of crap.

Do not see this film. Do not encourage rubbish like this. If this film wins any Oscars I may just have to murder a puppy. It’s that bad.

***************

Edit

I wrote the above straight after I saw the film. It was after 1am. I was too tired to go into specifics. Despite my claim that I would publish things I wasn’t 100% happy with it felt too important to be sloppy with the details of this one. But I keep reading good reviews of Avatar and it’s making me angry. I just can’t believe so many people are being hoodwinked by the special effects. Sure the special effects are good but that is not enough! Special effects alone don’t make a good movie. I couldn’t immerse myself in the fantastical world of Pandora because I was cringing too much.

Really?

It’s 2154 and we’re in an alien world but funnily enough the aliens look just like humans! Bigger, bluer and able to plug in to nature for the win. The fact that they look like humans I can almost ignore but the rest is too much.

There are two sexes. And not only that, the males are the best warriors and the females are spiritual leaders. They have sex once and they are joined for life. They are prudish about the same body parts as the Western world — the females cover their chests and genitals, the males their genitals. Which of course are in the same places as our rude bits.

The script is woeful. I started to type out examples but there are just too many. See the trailer for evidence.

The characters are worse. It was like watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

• Mr Protagonist has lost the use of his legs and he’ll do anything (anything!) for a chance to get the expensive and exclusive operation to let him walk again.
• The military man loves destruction.
• The rabid capitalist doesn’t care who or what gets in his way to the profits.
• The Na’vi “princess” is tough but emotional.
• The warrior who would be king is machismo embodied.

The Na’vi are noble savages. Primitive, simple but in touch with the natural world in a way humans can’t understand. Most of the Na’vi just happen to have “African” accents. Their hair is braided — the females neatly, the males a bit more rough, somewhat like dreads. Their weapons are bows and arrows. They are proud.

The soundtrack is one of those “time to get emotional”, “time to be inspired”, “time to be angry” pieces of rubbish.

As I said above the story is full of cliches and there’s not a single plot twist. So dull.

Seriously people, this is an awful film. I liked Titanic. I mean, it was ridiculous, but I still liked it for its romance and grandeur and emotion and yes, special effects. Not the best movie I’ve ever seen but still a decent fantasy that was worth my $12. But Avatar is just shite. There are so many things wrong with this movie. See it for yourself if you really need the proof. I’d be interested to hear your opinions.

*********

EDIT 2

Here are some more interesting discussions on the problems of Avatar.

Intentions be damned, Avatar is racist

Avatar as European Orientalist Fantasy

James Cameron’s Avatar: Watch Some -isms This December!

Future of Portrayals of Disability in Movies? Cameron’s Avatar

On Avatar, The Movie