I think the above video is brilliant on so many aesthetic levels. I love it. A few reasons why…

1. The pop-kitsch pink and purple colour scheme as well as the consistency of the flash bulbs unifies this piece visually from start to finish.
2. The obligatory charity referencing to make sure everyone knows this is a worthwhile project. It’s dead Michael’s favourite charity, too, which makes a great pull quote for print media picking up the story. It could also stir up more press.
3. La Toya’s performance seems totally contrived and yet she is so charming in her artificiality that I adore her mischievous girlish antics!
4. This gets a press conference? Work.
5. I think alot of the press turned up because Latoya would be more “media-worthy” so soon after her brother’s death.
6. The Hollywood.tv logo never comes off its prominent place on the screen, yet the colour scheme of the branding is in sync with the rest of the video.
7. La Toya’s surgical face and wig seem to be commenting on the “fakeness”, the constructed-ness of the entire event. Yet, to me, she is as lovable as a doll. Sometimes I see a calculating intelligence her eyes. FYI, I’m not judging that.
7. The inclusion of children in the press op is very provocative to me. I don’t know how I feel about asking children to navigate that many levels of performativity. As much as I adore her, it also seems pretty shady to me how La Toya is generating so much ‘authentic’ love and affection for the commodity, milkshakes. It’s a little unnerving for me when she’s positioning the children, too.
8. The two men who join La Toya at the end to invite you down for milkshakes seem out of place. The one guy is giving me a kind of used car salesman performativity adding a new kind of masculine artificiality. Also, the beige suit jacket and red t-shirt definately seem out of place in this pink and purple candy world.
9. La Toya’s posing for photographs is so audaciously contrived I salute her bravery. Her posing reaches its greatest moment in the freeze at 2:52 IMO.
10. Sales ads for Hollywood.tv pop up asking if you want to post their videos, adding a meta-layer of commerciality.
11. I do not think the “Hollywood as it Happens” subtitle at the beginning is supposed to be ironic, but how can that not feel like a satire? Does that nuance just slip by most people?
12. La Toya’s eye shadow and lip colour seem somewhat carefully coordinated with the general aesthetic of the Millions of Milkshakes’ decor and logo branding which is a great nuance.
13. Even though La Toya’s in her forties she is wearing an off the shoulder sweater which is fabulous. It makes her seem younger but also challenges notions of age appropriate-ness.
14. At 1:16 she turns putting on plastic gloves into an event worthy of its own photo moment. Work every moment.
15. At 1:33 the pouring of the vanilla milkshake almost takes on a sexual energy in her posing but she catches herself.
16. At 1:51 one of the paparazzi laughs and it sounds like a mocking laughter which makes me feel for La Toya who, again, seems so childlike.
17. I actually believe La Toya is about five or six years old at 2:14 when she says “little piece of chocolate” and unwraps the candy bar. Then she puts the chocolate bar in the goo-ey milkshake and raises it with a slight air of triumphant.
18. In general, La Toya is giving me a kind of child beauty pagaent effect with some of her posing which makes everything seem simultaneously performed yet charming.

My play, i was Barbie, is going to be showing at SummerWorks (Aug 5-15th) this summer. I performed this play last year at the queer comedy festival, We’re Funny That Way, Buddies’ Pride Festival and at Queer Acts in Halifax. I am now considering these performances workshops.

I am working on a new draft of the script for this summer’s shows. Judith Rudakoff is working with me as dramaturg. This new production of i was Barbie will be directed by Buddies in Bad Times Artistic Director Brendan Healy.

I’m thrilled to be a part of SummerWorks this year as I have been an admirer of the festival of years.

(the following text from summerworks.ca)

ARTISTIC VISION
SummerWorks supports work that has a clear artistic vision and explores a specific theatrical aesthetic. It encourages risk, questions, and creative exploration while insisting on accessibility, integrity and professionalism. SummerWorks is the place where dedicated, professional artists are free to explore new territory and take artistic risks. Rather than getting larger, we strive to get better. We look to introduce professional artists from diverse communities to each other and be inspired by our similarities and differences.

Fensler Films is a video production company, based in Chicago, Illinois and headed by Eric Fensler. The company gained a reputation for a series of short films which parodied the public service announcement safety messages used at the end of every episode of the 1980s animated series G.I. Joe. Fensler re-cut them, in some cases adding new animation, and dubbed them over with new audio, frequently nonsensical non-sequiturs. A number of the films specifically poke fun at the low quality of animation common in cartoons of the era, pointing out poor in-betweening and lip syncing. Fensler Films received a cease-and-desist order from Hasbro resulting in the removal of all G.I. Joe videos from the official site. Recently, they have reappeared on the site.

the highly aesthetisized Faire Fecan Theatre

The event is coordinated by Marlis Schweitzer, the Area Coordinator for Theatre Studies at York.

Last summer I Was Barbie played to sold out houses and standing ovations at We’re Funny That Way, the queer comedy festival, Buddies in Bad Times Pride Festival and Halifax’s Queer Acts festival.

Evan Vipond, a 4th year York University theatre student, is compiling my media, theatre and performance work for a final year project.  The archive will include my play scripts, press, reviews, selected Tgirl columns and all materials related to my performance work.  The project is part of Evan’s work for the 4000 level Canadian Theatre course.

The archive will eventually be available in Scott Library at York University.

My solo performance piece I Was Barbie will be remounted for the Performance Studies International conference.  It will be showing as a double bill with a performance from Canadian performance artists 2boys.tv

The international conference will happen this year in Toronto in June.

Dr. Judith Rudakoff is the offical curator of I Was Barbie for PSi.  She will present and contextualize the work for conference attendees.

It’s a great honour to be asked to perform at PSi.  The convergence of artists, intellectuals and academia is important to me and the growth of the work.  Below is the PSi mission statement from their website http://www.psi-web.org/

PSi is a professional association founded in 1997 to promote communication and exchange among scholars and practitioners working in the field of performance. We seek to create opportunities for dialogue among artists, thinkers, activists and academics.  PSi is actively committed to creating a membership base of artists and scholars throughout the world. We recognize that while performance studies as a field encourages conversations across disciplinary boundaries, professionals in various parts of the world often need greater opportunities to exchange research and information about performance with others who share their interests and expertise. PSi is a network of exchange for scholars and practitioners working in diverse locations, both disciplinary and geographic. We act as a crucible for new ideas and forms in performance discourse and practice, often testing the relation between the two. As a professional organization, PSi is committed to encouraging the development of both emerging and established artists and scholars.