Artists In Their Own Words: Angela Tucker and Lauren Domino

Angela Tucker (left) and Lauren Domino (right)

Who: Angela Tucker and Lauren Domino

What: Filmmakers and writers

Where: Irish Channel (Angela), Mid-City (Lauren)

Artist’s Chosen Location for Interview: Outside their studio at a table in the sun

Q: What is an animal activity that freaks you out?

LD: I have an irrational fear of birds, so I’d say anything that birds do—especially pigeons—creeps me out. It makes no sense. There was this moment when I was deciding on leaving New York to come home to New Orleans when I saw a flock of pigeons pecking at fried chicken on the street.

I was walking to work, and I was already in a dark, dark place. When I saw that I thought, I have to get out of here. I’m done. Anything birds do—their scales, their feathers, everything grosses me out. And have you ever seen a dirty pigeon? So gross.

AT: I don’t have a story like that. Squirrels, though, gross me out. They’re rats with tails. That’s all they are. And what I can’t figure out is that squirrels look all warm and fuzzy, but you can’t get near them and touch them. That doesn’t make sense.

LD: You can get near them.

AT: No I can’t. I’m afraid they’re going to bite me.

LD: Remember when we were in Denver and Clint had that squirrel come right up to him? We thought he was going to get rabies, but the squirrel was really sweet. Although, Clint is kind of an animal whisperer.

AT: Yeah, I can’t do that. They just gross me out.

Q: What teenage phrases do you want to have in your daily life?

LD: Rad. I love the phrase rad.

AT: Well, I kept the phrase ‘It’s butter baby,’ for way too long. It’s a late ‘90s/early 2000s phrase, but I didn’t want to give it up. I would say ‘butter’ to a point where my friend was telling me, ‘No, you can no longer say that. It’s over.’ I finally took it out of my lexicon, but it was really hard to remove that one.

LD: My little brother always says these new phrases, and I have no idea what they mean. It makes me feel old.

AT: My friend sent me a link to phrases that kids are saying now. She told me, ‘I found something that’s going to help us.’ I absolutely need to look at that now.

LD: The teen lingo moves so quickly.

AT: We probably had a lot of phrases when we were teens, but now social media has things spread so quickly. When we were teens, in order for something to catch on, it had to spread the old-fashioned way. I had to say it all the time, my friends had to start saying it, and then finally maybe 20 people would start saying it.

LD: It’s a lot of regional lingo as well. Things we’d say here in New Orleans no one would know what we were talking about. Now if you put it on the Internet it goes everywhere.

Q: When do you find you’re the quietest version of yourself?

AT: I would say when I’m with my family. A lot of my family has big personalities, so I no longer feel the need to assert myself in that. I like to observe all the crazy, bizarre things that are happening right before my eyes. It’s not exactly the calmest version of myself, but it’s when I’m quiet.

When I go visit my family over the holiday, I will probably say three sentences in four days.

LD: I was going to say the exact same thing. My family as a large group, is boisterous and they like to dance. I don’t do either of those things. I went to my cousin’s wedding and Irish-exited right in the middle of it. I dipped out. I didn’t see anyone cut the cake. Me and HGTV were hanging out while the wedding was going on.

AT: I’m not quiet with Lauren.

LD: I’m not quiet with you either. Or with my other friends. It’s specifically to my family.

AT: And I feel like this has come more with adulthood. When I was a kid I was preoccupied with getting my voice in there and getting attention. Now I don’t feel like I have as much to prove. Plus, I don’t get to see my family all that often, so I love to watch them. I can also be quiet in romantic relationships. It’s about a comfort level there. If I can be with someone that I’m dating and not feel like I have to entertain them, then I know it’s a good spot. The weird part is when the person you’re dating thinks there’s something that’s upsetting you because you’re quiet.

Q: What can often keep you awake until 3 AM?

LD: Bob’s Burgers. That and my anxiety. Those two are usually paired together. My mind is racing, so I want to watch something before I go to sleep, so I tell myself I’ll watch an episode. Then I’ve watched six episodes, it’s 3 AM, and I have to get up at 9 AM.

AT: I totally watch Felicity in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. I’ll re-watch scenes I love. I was in college when that came out, so that show reminds me of that time. It’s funny how you watch that and look at how deeply the characters are focused on these problems that aren’t problems at all.

I have to ask, then, are you a Ben or Noel person?

AT: I used to be a Noel person, but now I’ve changed to Ben. Because Ben was always a douche, and that never got better, but there are just some men that women are not going to get over. Ben is one of those. He could kill a relative, and Felicity would make an excuse for it.

LD: Yeah, I used to be a Noel as well, but he’s so emotionally manipulative. Ben was a jerk, but he was honest about that. Noel was playing with Felicity’s emotions and he was getting mad that she liked this other guy, and the whole time he had a girlfriend in Ohio. I totally feel like if she were to end up with Noel he would cheat on her with the nanny and somehow turn it around so it was her fault.

AT: Yeah, Ben would just say, ‘Our nanny is hot, and I slipped up.’ Noel is that personality type that’s the “pseudo-sensitive guy”, and the pseudo-sensitive guys are the worst. They claim that they’re evolved. I’m a deep-feeling person.

LD: That they’re a feminist.

AT: Yes, and then they mess with you even worse. They somehow do this elaborate scheme making you feel like everything is your fault. You start seeing their side and understanding their feelings.

LD: And then you realize that it’s not about their feelings. It’s all about their narcissism.

Q: What story do you wish someone would have filmed from your adolescence?

LD: There’s a film I wish I still had, but Katrina washed it away. It was a film of my 6th or 7th birthday. My birthday and my sister’s birthday are the 23rd and 26th of December, and no one could ever come to our parties. For our half birthday, we had a crazy epic block party. We had two separate Little Mermaid birthday cakes.

One of the neighbors was filming and he asked me, ‘Lauren, what do you think about this wedding?’ (referring to the Little Mermaid cake that had a wedding scene on it). I looked at him and said, ‘It is totally tubular.’ It was little me with really big glasses saying, ‘It’s totally tubular.’

AT: I’ve been writing a little bit about this. I used to spend the summers in Provincetown. I went on my first date there. They had reintroduced the film My Beautiful Laundrette. This guy and I were kind of set-up. We were both 11 years old.

I used to see really intense movies at a really young age. After the movie I wanted to have a conversation. We were outside of this cute little movie, and I asked him, ‘So what did you think of the movie?’

He didn’t really know what was going on, and he said, ‘That was weird.’

We only went on that one date. I never saw him again.

My mom and her friend were watching us, and I would have loved to have had that on film.

Angela Tucker and Lauren Domino are both filmmakers and writers. They are currently working on their new project Paper Chase, which you can help support by donating to their kickstarter campaign. You find out about Angela’s additional work including the web series, Black Folk Don’t here.