Currently Reading: 'Animal' by Erica Fudge

'Whether you love them, live with them, eat them, or wear them, Animal will make you look at your fellow creatures in a radically new way'

I finally managed to get this book out of the university library (after paying the rather hefty late returns fine -_-') and am really enjoying it. Written in a lively, conversational, yet discerning manner, this book is incredibly engaging, making the reader question basic assumptions about animals considered 'natural' in today's society when actually they have only been naturalised. They were very different in the past, and will change again in the future (for the better I hope!)

I am currently halfway through the second of three chapters, 'Real and Symbolic: Questions of Difference' and have got, after a section on 'Babe', to the topic of the animal in Enlightenment philosophy and new science ^.^

A particularly nagging question this book has raised for me is: How would we write a story truly about 'them' and not 'us'? How could we not anthropomorphise if we are humans and cannot help but see things from a human perspective? Of course, I am not saying anthropomorphism is a bad thing, after all, it is mostly because we attribute human emotions and traits to animals that many are saved from starvation, slaughter and whatnot. Yet it is interesting to speculate about the alternatives, if any...

Announcement on Cat and Mouse Shoot - Images have been DESTROYED

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Due to a misunderstanding between parties involved last Sunday's photos are no longer in existence...
Not much else to say really!

Cat and Mouse Shoot - Whiskers and Liquid Latex

Well today was another hectic day. It started off with a horrendous journey to Hampstead Heath, (whoever knew it was so difficult to get there by public transport? Next time I shall simply teleport!) followed by a good two hours in a Starbucks cafe getting my make-up done by Jenna Cherie. It turned out beautifully, the whole works included prosthetic snout, eyebrows and upper lip to make me look like a cat - I truly didn't recognise myself when I looked in the mirror! It was exciting, and I scared little kids ^.^ (well, some, others just told me I looked 'strange')
Alba was also there, she wore a mouse's snout and looked so cute with the little front teeth poking out! I looked quite evil in comparison ^.^

Photographer Nandi (Nitemare Photography) then shot us in Hampstead Heath, which involved a lot of tree climbing and getting in touch with my feline side =^.^= We also had to try quite hard to avoid getting into trouble for taking photos near children since it was quite a busy day and the park was packed with families.

All in all it was a tiring but productive day in which I also learned that removing latex prosthetics which cover the top of your eyelids can be quite painful indeed =P

Oh, and I found out from Jenna that there were still club kids in London until the recession started, I got so excited about that!! Hopefully there will be some new club kid style venue/night opening soon, fingers crossed!

From Party Monster, one of my all-time favourite movies! =)

A Group Shoot and Shit on My Shoes. Kamikaze Girls! ^.^

Got back a few hours ago from a group shoot with the London Strobist Meetup Group. I shot with five different photographers in a lovely location in Finsbury Park. Can't believe I'd been in that area so many times before and had no clue the woodland walk was there!

Lots of grafitti, a ghost train platform, a flyover, a giant stone elf bursting its way through the top of a tunnel... definitely a place I'd like to visit again, even just to hang out! (Although there ARE too many dogs around there... I got some, erm, faeces (hehe) on my lolita shoes! >.<)

Reminded me somewhat of the opening scene of 'Kamikaze Girls' when Momoko treads on cow-pat though, so that cheered me up ^.^

Rococo. 18th century France at it's most lavish. It made Baroque look positively sober! An obscure, neglected period, rarely mentioned in class. Critics called its art "cloying"... shallow, vulgar and indecent. Life then was like candy... Their world, so sweet and dreamy. That was Rococo. Girdles were tightened for beauty's sake. Too tight for breathing. It was... very cute! Or so they said. Ridiculous! Hedonism and lovemaking were all that mattered. Out of bed, they liked embroidery. Then it was back to the bedroom. And then? Countryside walks. I was smitten by Rococo. A frilly dress and strolls in the country. That's how I wanted to live! It's not happening, not in 21st century Ibaraki. This is Shimotsuma, paddy-fields, not countryside... I live here.

...Shit on my shoes!

Gluttony and Sloth Meet for a Picnic (Doughnut Shoot)

Last weekend Alba and me woke up incredibly early to curl our hair and head off to High Street Kensington. Once there we visited Tesco's, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer and ended up with three carrier bags full of iced doughnuts, cupcakes and eclairs!

Here are some previews of our gluttonous shoot that day, we had a nice banquet afterwards but really the thought of it still makes me nauseous... I ate wayyyyy too many sugary, doughy things that day >.<

 

Photography by Rebecca Jane Andrews. MUA: Joanne Liu. Model in purple dress: Angel of Darkness (Alba)

Later that day we hung out for a bit at an alternative pub called the Dev (well, the Hobgoblin now -_-') then headed to Slimelight... Can't believe I hadn't been there in over a year! It was so much fun, I wasn't aware until then how much I'd missed thrashing and stomping away to Noise music ^.^ Also I was talked into renewing my membership card so now there are no excuses for not going more often!

To see the rest of the doughnut set, as well as the rest of my modelling portfolio, visit my model website. Plenty of entertaining photographs to sink your teeth into ^.^

Mark Ryden

One of my old-time favourites, I have been looking again at Mark Ryden's work and was glad to see that it has not lost its appeal for me ^.^ My favourites are still the Blood series and the Meat Show, although the new (2008) Snow Yak Show includes some particularly awesome paintings...

This one's called 'Sophia's Bubbles' =P

I have been talking to Maddie about recreating some Ryden paintings and fortunately she found the idea interesting. The first in our list will be 'Rose' from the Blood series:

We will try and fit it in this Thursday with the 'Funeral for my Valentine' shoot in Hampstead Heath. Interested in seeing how it turns out, should also be a lot of fun considering the props. A blood stained white dress, needle and thread, a crucifix, sword and coffin.

I finish this short post with some more of my favourite Ryden paintings!

 

Mark Ryden's Website