Photo Flurry

I’m going to be taking a little internet vacation next week, which should explain the numerous updates this week. As much of a vacation as possible to take in the midst of magazine production, of course. This flurry has a few odds and ends from the past week or two, but first! A mini-rant.

I just watched James Ivory’s and Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The White Countess” – a film about displacement as much as a film about a Russian countess in exile, forced into taxi dancing by circumstance in 1930s Shanghai. I generally really liked it, but does anyone have any clue as to why directors insist on casting non-Russians to play Russians, badly?

The lead, Natasha Richardson, is actually great, but her entire on-screen family pains me with their verging-on-British-accents and inability to even properly pronounce each others Russian names. Dignity, people! I found myself actually cringing. It’s not that I don’t believe in a good actor’s capacity to play an array of nationalities [example – in the very same film one of my all-time favorites, Ralph Fiennes, plays an American, seamlessly], but when they clearly can’t, why insult your audience by sacrificing authenticity in favor of bigger names?

Another case in point: “Eastern Promises“.  UGH. I love Viggo and think he did a good job but the supporting cast. Whyeeee! If, as a director, you love certain actors and deeply need them to play Russians, please, for the love of fuck, have a herd of angry Russians coach them. Put them through Russian boot camp. Make them UNDERSTAND.

viggo-eastern-promises-nake
For the Motherlaaaand!

Anyhow! I am now out of word-juice, so I trust you to peruse the photos below, and make of them what you will.


The lovely Suzy, a photographer from Germany, just got her Centipede tattoo finished. It’s her second one of my drawings, the first being, Up Here, We Breathe What We Can


beetyumz
Ales made us this dinner recently. Beet plus a potato with butter-sauteed red onion and sour cream.

luxyums
Ales also went through a lot of trouble to present me with this delicacy platter after a twelve-hour workday. I needed it.

redbullyumz
No glamorous, serious shoot is complete without the test shots.

sd_gff03
You feel me?

mollyglasses
A huge box from miss Molly Crabapple arrived with this note and a sixteen massive wine glasses inside.

instantlight
Mer is amazing. This is one of my prized possessions now.

mernote
<3

chinashopartofbleeding

FF_ARTOFBLEEDING_LOW_59

Art of Bleeding is a performance art troupe dedicated to warping its audience, one pseudo-medical extravaganza at a time. With former Cacophony Society leader Rev. Al Ridenour as its intrepid founder, AoB are notorious for their multi-media shows featuring a  real ambulance, injured “patients” ensnared by medical equipment, fetish nurses ready to ambush attendees, traumatic video projections, and of course, puppets. I’ve been dying to witness this madness for myself ever since seeing the act described as a “paramedical funhouse”, and on Saturday, I finally got my wish. Read more and see the rest of the gallery here.

FFARTOFBLEEDING_LOW_5

FFARTOFBLEEDING_LOW_54

FFARTOFBLEEDING_LOW_9