6/28/2012

into the sea, you and me all the years and no one heard, i'll show you in spring, it's a treacherous thing, "we missed you" hissed the love cats


I don't know how to say this, but I am a big fan of cats. Cats are the best animal, I have always thought this, I will always think this, they are my main joy in life. I grew up with two all white cats named Boy and Girlie. Later we got a grey Maine Coon named Kit Kat who had to wear a cone his entire life. Nowadays, my parents have four cats at their house (my sister took one off their hands recently) and I am living out west on my own with no pets. It's really sad, so I make a point to stop and pet every stray I see. I got to do that just the other night, it was fantastic. Everyone always asks me "are you going to be a crazy cat lady when you grow up?" Well I already am a crazy cat lady, and when I "grow up", I want to move to this island in Japan:


Ishinomaki City in Miyagi Prefecture on the north east coast of Japan
You can take a ferry over to the island from Ishinomaki where you will find roughly 100 residents; one person is 37 but the rest are ALL over 60 years old!!! So it's basically just an island of old people, and lots of cats. I'm sure you have lots of questions as to when, why and how these cats got there.


Basically, people who used to live on the island raised silkworms for making silk and they kept cats to keep the mice population down (mice are a predator to silk worms!) Also, net fishing was popular on the island, and fishermen would often stay overnight at the island. Obviously the fishermen fell in love with all the kitties so they would feed them scraps. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest stories ever told. I will move there, and take over the island when all the old people die. I can't wait!!! I hope Japanese citizenship isn't too hard to obtain.





Images and info taken from this website

6/24/2012

one day I woke up and everything was beautiful, my troubles had all fallen out the window, satan sucks but you're divine, sitting pretty by my side


Silly me, I've got to stay on top of the cool upcoming artists. I don't want to wait around for someone to tell me what new mainstream artist I should listen to. It's so much more exciting and awesome when you discover a band just starting out, reletively underground still. That's when the best stuff happens; there are so few musicians that I listen to and think "wow, I really don't like their early stuff" THAT NEVER HAPPENS! However, as a musician progresses, if I like them, I will wait anxiously for them to come out with more, more material. And hopefully they'll continue and grow and provide good shit the whole way through.

I had a ditsy moment the other day when I was looking at a blog. The autoplay music came on in my headphones, and usually that pisses me off. Instead I was hypnotized because it sounded so dreamy. I listened to it on repeat a few times, then messaged the owner of said blog, and... duh! it's Rose Keeler-Schäffeler, also known as KEEL HER


























Turns out I've been following her on Tumblr for a while now, not knowing about her musical talent. After I sent her a message, she added me to Facebook! What a friendly gal.

What I know about Rose: she has great taste in .gifs and "net art". She likes cats. She's British! She is very pretty. Need I say more? Aside from a huge fan base on Tumblr, I predict she's gonna be adored by all the chicks just like me. Anyone who is into riot grrrl, and surfer/skater culture, drugs, rebellion, boys and sex and stuff. She has a song called "Steve Holt" so she is pretty much perfect; anyone who likes Arrested Development is OK in my books. She's been making music for a while and deserves all the love and recognition I can give because she is truly talented.

She has over 15 EPs already released including covers and demos. Check out all of them, but especially the Emanuel EP as well as the Tammy EP

Weirdo EP


































She makes incredible tunes and I urge you all to listen and get obsessed, you will love it. Once I start my new job, I am definitely buying some (if not all) of it

My fav songs are:
Enid Coleslaw
Steve Buscemi
Cyber Goth
Riot Grrrl (this was the one I had on repeat for days)
Swanson Pyramid of greatness (Kathleen Hanna Tribute)
Boner hit

And there you have my latest obsession and 2012 summer jams





























Links to:
Bandcamp

Soundcloud (lots of songs to listen to here!)

Pictures taken from the KEEL HER Tumblr

6/21/2012

we'll walk until my feet drop I'm a train when I'm hateful yeah, lay right down now and ride until your head breaks

Finally posting pictures from a little photoshoot I did with my friend Charlotte. This was about a month ago and I'm wearing my mom's old Mickey Mouse shirt, Charlotte's knitted cape thing, and a plaid skirt I got at the thrift store. Sticky buns and a sticker on my face...































and there's no remedy for memory your face is like a melody, it won't leave my head, your soul is haunting me and telling me that everything is fine but I wish I was dead

I came across work by artist Jessica Harrison from Edinburgh, Scotland. Right away I fell in love with everything she's ever done, and by just exploring her website and scrolling through her impressive cover letter, it's clear to see she has established herself as a "successful" artist. At least, what I view as achieved success for an artist.

Her work comes in the categories of: Imprinting, Breaking, Holding, Slicing, Splitting, Looking, Opening, Drawing, and Printing

Her online store features lithographs (pricy!) as well as photographic prints of work from her "Broken" series. It is the Broken series that I am most interested in, it is unlike anything I've seen before.

These pieces have coined the term "Gore-celain dolls" which is precisely what they are. Ceramic ladies revealing their insides, most with smiles on their faces. Some of them even seem to be dancing. What I like about this project is the contrast and juxtaposition that kind of catches you off guard. Like most people might initially see this and think, "What the hell?" but then you have to wonder what would compell someone to create something like this. Jessica describes the humour that appears in her work to as "my way of balancing this feeling of confrontation, aggression, or what people might see as grotesque. Sometimes people are more open to looking at something that appears humorous, and hopefully if they look for a little bit longer then maybe they will find other meanings in the work."

Interestingly enough, they are not hand made from scratch. "They are mass produced ceramics that I select and modify. I usually buy them at auctions or online, always second hand and usually already damaged." I love the recycled aspect of these art pieces and that the pieces are found damaged, because that alone makes up so much of the grotesque element and how Jessica might choose what precisely is "wrong" with each girl. It's just such a genius concept.

All images taken from Jessica Harrison's website


Emily

Charlotte

Amy Jane

Elisabeth

Erin

Fiona

Georgina

Rosemund

Mairi

Close up of Mairi's throat

Ruby

Ruby

Susan

Caroline

Caroline

Helen