Friend Guns:
Benjamin Franklin Beast and Erin Gleeson met at Purchase College. Ben
studied
video art, while Erin studied narrative filmmaking. "Here," Ben would
say, handing Erin a tube of white face paint. "Put this on and stand in
front of that sheet of tin foil." And "Here," Erin would say, handing
Ben a sweatband. "Put this on and go punch that guy in the back of the
head."
Immediately after college, they lived on opposite sides of the country.
Though strong, their powers were divided. Ben would call Erin
sometimes: "Hey, I want to do something where I hang out with a little
girl and a cross between a dog and a cat. Maybe there would be animal
print involved. What do you think?" Erin was down.
Soon Ben and Erin were reunited in California, where they got to work
making puppets and shooting videos. "Here," Ben says, passing Erin a
gigantic handlebar mustache. "Put this on. I'm sorry it smells so bad."
And "Here," Erin says, handing Ben an old man puppet. "Crawl under that
table and make him act smarmy."
They couldn't be happier.
Erin Gleeson
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