Sheraah

I MESSED ABOUT WITH THE HTML ON THIS AND BUGGERED IT UP...

2011-02-04T08:34:00.001-08:00

I'VE MOVED OVER TO TUMBLR:

http://yewandepearse.tumblr.com/

SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE. X

New M.I.A. Video: Born Free

2010-04-27T02:28:00.000-07:00

I thought that the first few months of motherhood were meant to be a halcyon time? Filled with croche and baking?

Deep M.I.A, very very deep.

Film night

2010-04-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

Last Friday a friend invited me to a little film soiree hosted by the 'Assembly Film Society'. The event was held in a small hall resembling a primary school gym in Pimlico (where I never go apart from to go to the Tate Britain, this got me thinking about how much of a ‘Londoner’ I really am). Vintage educational short films based on the topic 'The Not So Lonely Planet: An Assembly Introduction To Anthropology' were projected onto a screen. However, the unique thing about this film event was that the music was live – short silent films brought to life and given new meaning by someone in the corner playing an oboe, guitar, or violin.

Most of the documentaries were created by filmmaker and animal rights activist Christian Zuber and husband and wife adventure duo Armand and Michaela Denis.

THE FILMS

Penguin Island
Le Temps Des Amours
On Safari
Les Sternes Des Seychelles
De L'Iguane A L'Ours Panda
Le Combat Des Oiseaux
Cormorant Fishing
La Capture Du Rhinoceros
Pygmies Of The Congo
Tigres: Princes De La Jungle
Monkey Nuts
Le Massacre Des Bebes Tortes

My personal favourite were 'Penguin Island' and 'Le massacre Des Bebes Tortes'. Oh and 'Cormorant Fishing': did you know that....

In olden day China, Japan and Macedonia fish loving Cormorant birds were exploited for their fishing skills. A snare was tied near the base of the bird's throat, which restricted the birds’ ability to swallow big fish. The bird was then lowered into the water where its innate behaviour drove it to catch the fish, but alas, the fish would get caught in its throat where a fishamen wearing an obligatory peculiar hat could conveniently collect the goods. So dark.

Having started my bank holiday with the joy of film i decided to end it with the joy film: I was the box office girl for my friends ‘Killing Me Softly Film club’ which organises a monthly film event in a room above The Green Man Pub (note: The Green Man sells the most potent cider i have ever had, it’s called 'Spesh' and is sold at the reasonable price of £3.40 – one = wasted, everything is hilarious). The theme this month was 'CODE OF THE STREETS', the films: 'A Prophet' and 'La Haine'. I am probably the only person in the entire world who was not that impressed with ‘A Prophet’, I won’t go into it now but the plot, although a clever one, needed to move at a much faster pace.... maybe the point of this glacial pace was to give the audience a sense of the protagonist’s lengthy 6 years in prison. I’m not saying it isn’t a good film though so don’t jump on me. 'La Haine' on the other hand - big fan. Anyway. If you haven’t attended a 'Killing Me Softly' film viewing, you must! It’s a pleasant family affair with a great ‘end to the weekend’ atmosphere – random old English furniture and good central heating makes it very cosy and the chips from the pub kitchen are really tasty.

LINK TO FACEBOOK PAGE:

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=1114004586101#!/group.php?gid=100196950063

Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce - Telephone

2010-03-15T06:10:00.000-07:00

I've always thought Lady Gaga was far to deliberate to be charming and far too conceited to be likable but this video has changed my mind... slightly.

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Theo Parrish/Plastic People

2010-03-09T09:26:00.000-08:00

Theo Parrish, Theo Parrish, come to Theo Parrish.... these are the repeated words of a friend of mine which until last Saturday I failed to act upon. I see now that there was always a T H E O shaped void in my life. His music swam through the neurons of my brain like ice cold milkshake through a straw, sending uncontrollable signals to the muscles of my body: wiggle, bop, glide, tap, click, shake.

Theo Parish’s monthly residency, along with other progressive nights like Nonsense and FWD>> at the much loved Plastic People may soon come to an end if the police get their way. On the 11th of February 2010 an application requesting a review of Plastic People’s premises licence was put forward by the Police to Hackney Council citing a failure on the part of the management to prevent public nuisance and crime and disorder. Before March 11^th, ‘interested parties’ such as local businesses and residents are entitled to submit representations against the licence review or its possible outcomes: revoking the licence, suspending the licence for at most three months or to modify the conditions of the licence. After this, Hackney Council will hold a sub-committee hearing with all ‘interested parties’ to review the licence during which the submitted representations will be considered.

Personally, I’ve never heard such claptrap in all my life, especially when down the road the beer bellies of clubs like 333 regurgitate far worse onto the streets of Shoreditch. There are a lot of good things to say about Plastic People.... there’s the feeling of fellowship, the intimate size, the darkness that allows you to appreciate the music (which never fails to educate, delight and surprise) and forget about who’s watching. Then there is the sound system. You’ll hear this a lot: “Plastic People has one of the best sound systems in Britain”. I regularly attend nights at Plastic and I can honestly say that I have never witness or personally experienced any 'trouble' out of the ordinary. Just pure good times fuelled by great music and a like-minded crowd. Hopefully, the incredible resistance, spearheaded by the “Friends of Plastic People committee” and the rapidly growing campaign group “Keep Plastic People Alive” will help to prevent this from happening. One of the aims of the committee, which met with Plastic People management on the 25^th February to encourage them to work together with the police and council to find a 'mutually satisfactory resolution to the problem', is to generate support. If you love Plastic People too, please join the group and sign the petition:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=312688015977

If you haven’t been to Plastic People, still join and sign so you can in the future.

Plastic People has been an important vessel for several genres of music, most notably Dubstep, and is definitely one of the best things about Shoreditch. I’m not going to pretend to be a music expert so read this by my Theo Parrish loving friend and this from a blog I found for a bit more on the role of Plastic in driving underground dance music forward and the heavy-weights that have occupied the red light lit Dj booth:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/voices-of-plastic-people-are-raised-in-protest-as-iconic-club-faces-closure-1913790.html

http://www.orsii.com/help-us-keep-plastic-people-ali

All I can say is that attending nights at Plastic over the past year has been like fertilizer for my love of dance music – it has grown so much and I thank Plastic People for that.

Here are some of my 'rush to the middle of the dance floor' tracks from one of my favourite nights at Plastic:

Progress Report

2010-01-12T14:04:00.001-08:00

I will stop loosing things = BROKEN x 1 (2 days)

I will stop breaking things = BROKEN x 3 (1 hour, 34 minutes)

I will stop being late = BROKEN x 7(2.5 days)

I will stop saying "Yes" = NOT YET BROKEN (12 days and counting)

Laughter Class

2010-01-06T11:58:00.000-08:00

THIS is why New Year Resolution #4 is "STOP SAYING YES"

Mystro Investigates: Laughter Classes for SpineTV

Thank you Nicholas for this enlightening experience.

Roller Derby

2009-12-29T13:15:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago, I tried my hand at the sport of Roller Derby (not writing ‘foot’ as an unforgivable pun just then took a lot of restraint). Roller Derby is an all female two team contact sport on quad skates which originated in America. The premise of the game is for the two teams (comprising 7 members) to skate around an oval track while the chosen ‘Jammer’ in each team tries to lap the other as many times as possible. The role of the other members of the team (lead by the ‘Pivot’) is to block the opposition by using their shoulders, elbows, hips and bums and to facilitate the passage of their ‘Jammer’ through the pack, often by flinging them forward using the ‘Whipping' manoeuvre. It’s not a sport for the thin-boned women, if you ever go to watch a bout, you’ll probably spot an out-of-action Derby girl on crutches sporting a neck brace and cheering on her team mates from the sidelines.

Unfortunately, after a few months with the London Rolelr Girls (who are very nice ladies by the way) I realised that Roller Derby was not for me. Firstly, it seems to appeal to hard-core punky tattooed third-wave feminists which isn’t exactly me and secondly it demands a lot of commitment, Roller Derby isn’t something you do as your weekly source of exercise, it’s an entire lifestyle... your boyfriend becomes a ‘Derby Window’ and your profile picture on Facebook will most probably be of you “in action”. However, I did like the fact that you get a name like Kamikaze Kisses of Polly Pummeler... or Speedy-Go-Faster (that was mine... it was meant to be ironic but it wasn’t).

Despite my exit from the world of Derby, I was still happy to see that the adorable Drew Barrymore has made this:

Actually... after watching the trailer, I must say I wanted to give it another go...

More on Eyebrows

2009-12-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, you may feel that two blog posts in two months on eyebrows is a tad bit excessive. I disagree, eyebrows are really very interesting if you think about it.

Anyway, these are the eyebrows I want. Tao Okamoto, I'm coming for those gorgeous slugs.

New Years Resolutions...

2009-12-26T16:12:00.000-08:00

I WILL STOP LOOSING THINGS

I WILL STOP BREAKING THINGS

I WILL STOP BEING LATE

I WILL STOP SAYING YES

My Films of 2009

2009-12-26T05:21:00.000-08:00

Horray for my brother Folarin and my friend Scott who provided me with their Orange Wednesday codes throughout 2009. Thanks to them, I was able to see some great films for the student-friendly price of £3.50 (including ‘Up’, ‘500 days of Summer’, ‘Paper Heart’, ‘District 9’). It also meant that the agonizingly bad films I saw stung a little less because they were only £3.50 (‘Wendy and Lucy’ - BORING. ‘Watchmen’ – downhill after the first 30 minutes and far too long, ‘He’s Just Not That In to You’ - unfulfilled potential, ‘The Hangover’ – Not Funny, especially the little Chinese man).

The following films I absolutely absolutely Absolutely LOVED.

Let the Right One In directed by Tomas Alfredson

Vicky Christina Barcelona directed by Woody Allen

Away We Go directed by Sam Mendes

If you havn't see them then make sure you do.

Thierry Le Goués

2009-12-25T16:05:00.000-08:00

The original "I've just finished stuffing my face with Christmas dinner and now I cannot move (or breathe) so I will write a blog" idea was to put up a series of pin-up girl pictures illustrated by the likes of Alberto Vargas and George Petty. I was then going to comment on how one might take advantage of the extra Christmas fat come January by reorganising it into the right places (bustier and a pair of control tights can work wonders... although I can only speak personally of the former).

Anyway, I digress. As you will see (BELOW), although the illustrations are amazing the “All American” girls in the pictures get boring after a while which prompted me to go in search of some "African-American" or "Latina" pin-up girls to make things a bit more interesting. However, there were literally None! This is obviously no surprise because of “the times” but still, this made me sad. I thought about pinning my hair up into a quiff, donning my vintage white lace bodice, seamed stockings and a pair of Mary Jane's and then perching on a satin cushion with my bottom cocked up and posting that alongside the rest... but then I remembered that my older brother reads this blog.

So instead I went off on a merry tangent and looked to the French photographer Thierry Le Goues who created a book called 'Soul' in 1999. This sensual and evocative book features nude pictures of fashion models of African descent including Naomi Campbell, Iman, Alek Wek and Lauren Pascale. Not exactly akin to the classic pin-up illustrations no, but the point is the same. The shape of the female physique is a fundamentally beautiful thing with incredible power. Curves, curves, glorious curves, I really think another mince pie will do me good.

There are some even more amazing photographs here: http://dnn.thierrylegoues.com/Galerie/Soul/tabid/380/language/fr-FR/Default.aspx

The Pin-Up girls

2009-12-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

This is the post Christmas diner inspired blog I'm talking about in the previous post...

I'm really feeling the old black and white classics at the moment. Last week I watched Gilda starring Rita Hayworth. I don't want to write too much about her or old Hollywood glamour in general because we all get it. Instead, I want to post a few illustrations of the classic pin-up girls which capture the same potent sex appeal exuded by actresses like Rita Hayworth, Brigitte Bardot and Grace Kelly.

ENOCH BOLLES

ALBERTO VARGAS

ALBERTO VARGAS

GEORGE PETTY

R.I.P BRITTANY MURPHY

2009-12-22T02:27:00.000-08:00

SUBTLE.

2009-12-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

NOTES: Has Lady Gaga had a nose job?

Is this video about Sex by any chance?

And are the plastic guns a metaphor for willies?

KILLING THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

2009-12-03T16:48:00.000-08:00

First of all, I love elephants and I don't actually condone killing them. But, I learnt this week that cutting out the bullshit and being up front saves you a lot of time and energy. SO, the next time you spot an elephant in the room you should say “oh look... there’s an elephant in the room, we should probably get rid of it” rather than leaving it there to suck up all the oxygen and obscure the view.

SNOODS (SNUGGLE HOODS)

2009-11-30T18:26:00.000-08:00

The people at Vogue say that Snoods are this winters must have. As much as I’d like to oppose the command of yet another fashion trend I have to agree; wearing one is like having your head cuddled by several chinchilla's and boy do they look stylish. Look at these:

Well, my mum the milliner and general creative genius has designed and produced some fantastic snoods in wool and jersey, available in a variety of colours. You can buy them upstairs in the Market Hall (indoors) at Camden Lock... take the steps leading up from the West Yard, walk over the bridge and go through the doors. The stall looks like this:

Here are some wonderful examples of the product in question modelled beautifully by my friend Sophie:

BROWN CABLE KNIT 50 BUCKAROO'S.

GREY CABLE KNIT 50 BUCKAROO'S.

WOOL 25 BUCKAROO'S.

WOOL 25 BUKAROO'S.

WOOL MIX 10 BUCKAROO'S.

THE BIGGER THE BETTER

2009-11-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

Many people think that THICK eyebrows look like a couple of these:

But I think that they are beautiful! My eyebrows look like this...

I wanted them to look like this.....

So i used this....

Big mistake.... I ended up looking more like this....

Instead the key is to use this, gentle upward strokes. Problem solved!!!

Buy at: http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk

THE MICHELBERGER HOTEL

2009-11-28T04:59:00.000-08:00

My best friend Gynelle (www.somelikeitessex.blogspot.com) and I recently embarked upon a not so secret mission to Berlin where we set up our not so secret head quarters at the Michelberger Hotel in Friedrichshain. I almost don’t want to blog this because it is such a find and the question about finds like this is whether to keep them secret and enjoy knowing something “they” don’t know or to share them with the world and risk killing their appeal. However, since my blog reaches the eyes of a modest few I have concluded that I can blog this without risking the latter.

So. First of all check out their website which had me sold immediately: www.michelbergerhotel.com

Then look at these:

Staying at the Michelberger hotel is like owning your own apartment for a few days. The simple yet ingenious design of the rooms accented with little details like Michelberger hotel shower gel bottles reading: “I’m a dirty sexy bitch” (or something like that) and Michelberger water bottles reading: “I’m refreshed and sexy” (or something to that effect), are immediately welcoming. Within 5 minutes you’re calling it home and pretending you’re a graphic designer or up and coming architect. The staff are soo friendly and the people the hotel seems to attract are diverse but share a common open mindedness.

Here is more visual stimuli to better convey what I mean:

So. When next in Berlin go here but don’t tell anyone!

I HEART GREGORY CREWDSON

2009-11-26T17:18:00.000-08:00

Now that I have jumped on The Blog Ship, one of my first ports of call is to share with you the works of one of my favourite photographers! Some of you may be aware of his work but for those who are not and appreciate the subtly macabre then get ready for......

GREGORY CREWDSON

I first discovered Crewdson in 2007 while working at the V&A. There was an exhibition called Twilight which together with the Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design, Leonardo da Vinci : Experience, Experiment and Design and... uh Kylie exhibitions, I was able to see at no cost.... over and over again. This luxury fed my obsession with Crewdson - his meticulous attention to detail meant that each time I looked at one of his photographs I found something new in it. There were several arresting pieces by artists other than my beloved Gregory including Philip-Lorca di Corcia, Bill Henson, Robert Adams, Chrystel Lebas, Liang Yue and Ori Gersht but his work in particular seemed to get into the creases of my brain, sprout roots and stay there.

Once exposed to a photograph by Brookly born Gregory Crewdson, it is easy to spot his work. Most of his pictures are taken using artificial twilight, bathing his staged domestic scenes of distinctly American homes and neighbourhoods in almost supernatural blue light reminiscent of a Sci-fi movie still. The power of this lighting effect produces uncannily atmospheric images which immediately evoke strange feelings of unease. A feeling that something is awry. A bit Perverse. Unsafe. Hidden. Sometimes, the scenes are in fact perfectly normal, like a man sitting at a diner or a car waiting at a traffic light demonstrating how the light can completely transform the meaning of the scene. At other times, the composition of his photographs capture frozen scenario’s which are inherently removed from normality and this is intensified by the light. One thing I love about his work is that he captures moments. It literally feels as if the people in the pictures were going about their business until you turned your gaze to look at them but I will let his work speak for itself...

THE PERFECT MAN

2009-11-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

From time to time, I can’t help but feel a bit disgruntled about the men of the world, while please note, fully appreciating the imperfections of the female species. No matter what genitalia you have it just isn’t that easy finding the right one. Are we too picky? Do we really have a type? Can people really grow on you?

This is a brain storm I prepared earlier....Click on image to see the full glory... of the writing silly!!

...upon FURTHER reflection I think I may need to compromise a teeeny tiny bit if I’m ever going to get myself a boyfriend.

ALL YOU NEED?

2009-11-24T17:51:00.000-08:00

Really?

SURREALISM EXHIBITION, NEUE NATIONALGALERIE BERLIN.

2009-11-24T13:55:00.000-08:00

I’ve always been a fan of the surrealists artists – to me their work is more fun and immediately satisfying than the other genres of art. So, you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover while on a mini-break in Berlin that the Neue Nationalgalerie (Staatliche Museum zu Berlin) was exhibiting Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch’s collection of surrealist works. This included pieces by everyone from the founder of the surrealist movement André Breton to pieces by the popular René Magritte, Salvador Dali and Joan Miro and the less obvious Mark Tobey and Meret Oppenheimer. The exhibition was HUGE, two hours was inadequate and by 10pm closing time my brain was throbbing and my eyes pulsating.

André Breton defined Surrealism as “Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express -- verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.”

I think he was talking about the transformation of imagination into something tangible. The capacity of one imagination gives rise to countless ideas, multiply this by the number of artists caught in the sails of the surrealist movement and what you have is a bunch of art that doesn’t immediately appear to fit the same definition. However, the wild imagination is obviously not without influence which is clear from the similarity in styles between Paul Delaux and René Magritte or Salvador Dali and Yves Tanguy.

... One thing that stuck me about the exhibition was not only the way in which the surrealist artists influenced each other or shared common inspiration but how important surrealist art has been since the Dada movement gave birth to it around the 1920’s. It goes without saying that it has influenced today’s film, music and art. I will end with two examples of this which straight away had me narrowing my eyes and wagging my finger while asking “hang on one tick”; firstly the similarities between The Space Pirates in Luc Besson’s 1996 Fifth Element and the figures in Max Ernst’s 1920 Capricorn sculptures and secondly the Chapmans brothers Zygotic acceleration biogenetic de-sublimated libidi piece which was definitely done before by Hans Hoffman in 1935.

SPACE PIRATES, THE FIFTH ELEMENT

CAPRICORN, MAX ERNST

CHAPMAN BROTHERS ZYGOTIC ACCELERATION BIOGENETIC DE-SUBLIMATED LIBIDI

LA POUPEE, HANS BELLMER

Surrealism is everywhere but it was great to see some all in the same place.

THE CURSED JUMPER!

2009-11-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

There is a boy I like and every time I wear this jumper he flakes on me....

But I like it more than him so whateves.

THE BIRTHDAY DRESS

2009-11-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

1, 2, 3?

Camden goth/rock gock (?) chick (uh...no)... "I can see your pants.. and a bit of a belly" (probably not good)...... I think we have a winner!!!!

RUGGED MAGAZINE

2009-11-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

Gossip magazines are not worth more than fourteen words so I’ll stop right there, women’s magazines are almost insulting and I cannot help but feel a bit consciously cool for reading Dazed & Confused or I.D. There have only been two magazines in my life that I have loved: Melody Maker and Sleaze Nation BOTH of which were discontinued. However, whilst in Berlin, my best friend Gynelle pointed out Rugged Magazine sitting modestly next to Vice in a street wear shop called Overkill.

Rugged Magazine is the paper baby of Carhartt which I’ve ignored in the past HOWEVER being the only magazine not in German it was immediately appealing whilst away from home. When I actually opened it up I found it to be really interesting, witty and generally excellent. It kept me reading while walking between tube lines and has been in my bag since I first put it there. However, once again, I have been struck by magazine tragedy..... My new beloved Rugged has been DISCONTINUED (Late again). The writers are throwing in the towel and surrendering to the financial monster otherwise known as the Funding Gobbler.

SOB SOB SOB....

The good news however is that Rugged Magazine will be reincarnated as http://www.rugged.tv/ YAY

ROMANCE

2009-04-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

L is for the way you look at me.
O is for the only one I see.
V is very very extraordinary.
E is even more than anyone that you adore.
And love, is all that I can give to you.
Love, is more than just a game for two.
Two in love can make it, take my heart and please don't break it.
LOVE was made for me and you.