6:55pm: I arrive at House of Yes, off the Jefferson L stop, in the ever-trendier Bushwick. Inside, there are performers rehearsing dance performance on the bar floor. Intrigued, I want to stay to watch but I step back outside to allow them privacy.

View from the Street - Source: http://houseofyes.org/the-space/ — View from the Street - Source: http://houseofyes.org/the-space/

House of Yes opened this new venue and bar space at the end of 2015, the very end they opened this past NYE. In its past life, House of Yes was a DIY space started by creative performers with a passion for circus. However after an all consuming fire, and then a money consuming rent hike, they decided to open a full-on legal venue in Bushwick. As the name implies they are a very open place that hosts a variety of parties, shows and events.

The Main Bar - Source: http://houseofyes.org/the-space/ — The Main Bar - Source: http://houseofyes.org/the-space/

People have described to me that House of Yes is “The Box of Bushwick.” I guess in terms of wild performance space meets bar this is true. However, the Box is expensive, exclusive, dark and caters mostly to tourists and nouveau riche men who want to feel adventurous, whereas House of Yes is inexpensive, bright, glittery, has an open door policy and caters to everyone looking for a good time with occasional nudity and aerialists. They just want everyone to say just say yes and that’s a policy I can get behind.

Sometimes life is simple and the answer is love and love is positivity and positivity is yes.

7:05pm: I have come here tonight to see an immersive screening of Donnie Darko presented by Little Cinema. Immersive cinema is where in addition to the movie screening there are added live elements such as a live band, dancers & actors. These elements make you feel as though you are immersed in the film instead of just watching it. The tickets to the show were $10, pretty good price considering a regular movie ticket in NYC is about $14. When I walk back in I am still the first patron in the room so I order some sparkling wine. It tastes like André the cheapest of shitty sparkling wines, drank mostly by high school girls, retail price about $5 per bottle. I am disappointed. If your walls are covered in glitter your sparkling wine should at least taste like Korbel, a nice $11 dollar sparking wine.

7:10pm: The bathrooms though. The bathrooms might be the best part of this venue. The bathrooms looks like Elton John’s acid trip vision. The sink is gold glitter, the walls are gold mirrors with blinking led lights and each individual stall is a themed mosaic including pearl, rainbow and black gem spider. The only bad part about the bathroom is there are only three stalls. I want more stalls. There could have been a diamond stall!

Me in the rainbow bathroom. Taking bathroom selfies to a new level.

7:40pm: Brenna arrives. She was the person who originally spoke to me about Little Cinema. She recently started working with them and I was intrigued by the idea since I have infinity for immersive theatre and live scored cinema. Sadly, she is too busy to get drinks before the show, so I go back to drinking with the other peasants.

7:45pm: House of Yes is attached to Mediterranean café called Queen of Falafel. And all I have to say is YAS KWEEN. I got an eggplant sandwich and it was so good. The pita was just so delicious. And no surprise because apparently the menu was created by the owner of Café Orlin which is absolutely one of my favorite places because they have fucking fantastic pita bread. Quality of bread is very important to me and to sandwiches.*

8:30pm: The film screening begins. There is someone dressed up as the iconic “Frank”, a six-foot tall bunny rabbit from the film sitting on the stage as the movie is introduced. After a brief introduction, a short film is played Caleb Wood an animation artist as the band Black Lodge plays. Although the short didn’t have anything to do directly with the film, it appealed to some of the same surreal qualities.

9:00pm: One of the seating options, besides the regular plain chairs and VIP cabaret style tables, was to watch the film submerged in a clawfoot bathroom. I saw this list on the ticket sales options thinking it was mostly a joke and also thinking who would pay $100 to be pruney in a bathtub during a movie. BUT to my great surprise a couple got into said bathtub. Now, it wouldn’t be my cup of tea to be steeping in a bathtub all night long but I’m glad that we live in a world where some people could and would say yes to the bathtub.

9:30pm: A man begins to blow enormous bubbles. First using his hands, then using a giant wand, then using a giant string. The bubbles are timed with this scene creepy AF scene in the film.

Man blowing bubble is 100% less terrifying though. .

10:30pm: Notorious by Duran Duran begins to play, as the fictional, silver-clad tween girl dance troop, Sparkle Motion, heats up the film with some fly-girl worthy moves which are mirrored on the House of Yes stage by adult dancers both male and female in almost identical silver outfits.

My first thought is why don't I wear more metallic lycra? My second thought is how impressed I am that the dance looks just as good in person as in the film. I mean these girls go to STAR SEARCH that's the 80s equivalent of youtube stardom.

Don't worry crazy lady House of Yes is committed.

11:15pm: Four dancers dressed in skull costume come onstage and begin to do an interpretative dance. They unleash two giant air powered snake-like objects into the crowd (imagine fancy version of the dancing man at used car dealerships). And I mean giant. They are taller and longer than the room even though the performers gave it their best effort to squish them into the space.

These wreak havoc in the crowd as they pummel over drinks, hit people in the head, and putting out the tea light candles that adorned the tables with their artsy cascades. I am not sure I felt really immersed until I felt danger.

11:30pm: The final scene of the film plays as the live band plays an instrumental version of Mad World, the mopey Gary Jules cover of the strangely upbeat somewhat pro-suicide Tears for Fears** song covered by Gary Jules that launched a million hours of millennial moping.

*Sadly, it’s only open till 10pm though, which is unfortunate because it would be ideal drunk food before stumbling onto the L train from a House of Yes Bacchanal. I’ve found that Brooklyn really lacks quality late night eats, it’s like deli or another shittier deli. Do Brooklynites not also need $1 pizza at 2am? I cannot believe that.

How I feel when I can't get pizza at all times.

**Personally, I like the Tears for Fears version better because the juxtaposition of the depressing lyrics with a kickin’ 80s beat adds more depth to the song and look at this music video?! Dance the pain away! DANCE!

Just look at the video and decide for yourself.