The world needs more FLEET FOXES vibe ...

I have accidentilly discovered  in all its beauty the FLEET FOXES work, odd enough but not atypical of myself, a good 2 years later of them being introduced to the world ...

Well, better late them ever... especially in this case, because this is timeless ...
I was just mindblowed by the way theyre music flashed straight directly into my soul, or whatever good I have inside me ... immediate CONNECTION ...

Bellow pretty much resumes what I feel about theyre work,
Check them out to wake up the soul in you, and if you end up thinking that these are just a bunch of Emo/Hippie guys, than guess what...

You may not be aware that you dont have a soul or heart at all....


FLETT FOXES - REVIEW - 2008


(...There is something transcendental about this music, it has a sort of spiritual energy to it. The poetic elements of the songs are impressive, and the sincerity in the band's vocals evoke strong emotions. Fleet Foxes are a group of musicians who genuinely love music and the melodies they've created exude talent in every way possible.


Fleet Foxes music stands out in a time when musical styles have remained unchanged for so long. Their music is something different, a breath of fresh air, and it demands to be listened to. This kind of music doesn't really fit neatly into a category or style, there is not one single word that could stand alone to describe it.)

Read more at Suite101: Fleet Foxes Album Review: A Rare Ethereal Folk Inspired Debut http://indiemusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/fleet_foxes_album_review#ixzz0fhTNcd1U

Tiger mountain peasant song ( I love this song...)

( Cover of "Tiger mountain peasant song" by First Aid Kit ( original by Fleet Foxes)
This Lyrics are beautiful, to me it evokes beauty, sadness, loliness and mortality. The main message it speaks to me id one of dying while still living- utterly beautiful and soul touching...




Wanderers this morning came by 
Where did they go
Graceful in the morning light
To banner fair
To follow you softly
In the cold mountain air


Through the forest
Down to your grave
Where the birds wait
And the tall grasses wave
They do not
know you anymore


Dear shadow alive and well
How can the body die
You tell me everything
Anything true


In the town one morning I went
Staggering through premonitions of my death
I don't see anybody that dear to me


Dear shadow alive and well ...
How can the body die ...
You tell me everything ...
Anything true ...

Jesse, 
I don't know what I have done ...
I'm turning myself to a demon ...
I don't know what I have done ...
I'm turning myself to a demon ...

A peek inside and into 2010

These cards same out for me ... I found it interesting
I get it ( apologies, will not go further explaining these- its personal knowledge).

I wish tough to speak about the STAR card.
Apparently is my card, is also corresponding to my western zodiac sign: Aquarius
it features 7 background stars, while seven is also a part of me ( numerology)
I feel connected with this image, but still grasping to understand its full meaning.
The last impression on me was active energy, as in using, putting energy to a use. giving, but taking also ( the water belongs to the lake and the woman is taking water from the lake -  think maybe the lake symbolizes the cosmo or something, the universal source of energy).

Anyway, ill keep on looking at it, its a beautiful, complex card!

Tigers, after all, are excessive. 2010

Tigers, after all, are excessive ...

Bang on it is me, no ones fault , just the way it is and for this I am liked and more often them I would care, disliked.

I am excessive, utterly, in everything I am, feel, think or desire. And now what?
For the last 10 years or so, I have came to the know how much people love this, or hated it, or get freaked out by it ( that is the most common scenario).

I was busy just being myself, I guess ... and did not had a clue of this perception, not a tought given or any acknowledgment of the impact of the excessive me on others. I am aware of it now, and that has brought me two conclusions: tolerance ( or lack off) and emphaty ( must work on).

Many speak of selfishness ... I am in fact generous, perhaps too much, and again may times it has taken me to trouble and messy misunderstandings. I would rather like to speak about tolerance. Most people I met, are incapable off -  zero tolerance to anything that speaks, looks, thinks or feel differently than I: a danger zone to be avoided...

So soon we will all grasp in the year of the metal tiger: 2010:
Impulsiveness, leading to mistake but also wisdom ( the trick is to have  memory of that)
Crashing heads with our opposites, colliding with human mirrors, crashing on high ideals ...
Extasying on the beauty of the moment,
Forgetting the past,
Ignoring the future,
Deserting and being deserted,
Arriving and welcoming,
Loving and hating,
Giving and stealing ...
And of course, the touch cold of METAL, solidifying the memory, a infinite reminder of consequence...
All of this we can look forward,


And naturally, also about this I have been excessive...
somethings will never change...
I am happy with that!

On my Birthday morning - 28 forever!

Well, I have just turned, 28 .... again .... (I just cant get enough of being 28)

Woke up with Michael roaring a B-day song and convulsing exclamation: its your birthday, its your birthday!! ( Bliss -  is good to be loved, especially in your birthday) ... but all that excitement, as in being the cause of getting me out of bed kinda off slightly annoyed me...

My morning pressie was  a Panda mask (????) ... that was funny, I liked that.

Michael was quick in taking that out of my hands, explaining how to put it on and advising: "its kinda of sexy, does it turn you on?" .... lol

Second pressie, it had snowed.... for the second year on a roll i had snow on my birthday. Was kinda of nice, made it feel kinda off special day.

Straight out of bed, I felt i had to record the way I looked on my ?? day ( yeah, no worries still on double digit-haha)  birthday morning. So here it is: pyjamas, no make up and panda mask.

Them on camera instinct, I went around the flat on a quick hunt for anything interesting: the snow outside framed by the bedroom window, my check shirt reflection...

 I got a shot of the bathroom, just right after taking a shower, and it was full on a steamy mood. I found it really beautiful, the steam moving slowly in the air, like cigarette smoke and the blue tones the all bathroom had that morming ( maybe because it was freezing!!). I found the  blue Jeans, hanging on shower rail particularly perfect on this image.

   The all thing, made me think, how cool to wake up one day and discover a moment of beauty inside of      your own house, amoung your everyday stuff that you dont usually give a second look to. Beauty it is indeed in the eye of the holder.

Is a YES - I am a ELECTRO child

My birthday is almost here, and where to spend the money I dont have at the mo.?  music course!

(whats is happenig to me? I feel Im cheating in fashion - is this the BIG SPLIT?)

It could only be a good thing ...

Anyway, my two latest additions:

A MAN AND A MACHINE

.serious ecletic old school electro and retrosp. on all those who felt it 30 years ago -uau!

LOVE IT!

DISCO DIVA DELIGHTS Vol. 1

Female Disco Vocals  + everything u could not expect - totally NOT mainstream

screaming party

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE - Dec.09 shoot

Everyone was not getting these shoot - but I really love it and pushed it. So here it is ... just one shoot but better than none - and I really like it!

Photo: Sayaka
Styling: me
Hair + make up: Megumi Kasa

I was so inspired by the movie, the chaos, the energy, the playfulness, the  roughness and the beauty ...I just had to do something with it ...
Nothing is pretty or gentle in the shoot, the cardboard mask kinda off takes it to a creepy/wild level, and still it points to childlike playfulness.
I abs love that the girl is not a standard white model, she was vietnamese and had a really rough, strong, exotic beauty to her.
The vintagy, recycling theme still going on here - with the lace and fur combined and a wonderful pick up child play dress I spotted the day before the shoot at Beyound Retro.

I have to be fair to this dress and give it 3 lines of its own: ok so this is a proper late 20s/30s PLAY dress, which me means it was a attite in which some pre-adoloscence (most probably wealthy) girl would   during play hours ( just this mere toughtis enough to bring me to 1000 further scenarios). The fabric is a stone/kaki  very beautiful organic linen, with nothing more or less than its own original hand printed toy print. Buttons up on S.B. woith 6 dainty mini silver metal army toy look alike buttons. It just screamed to me: vintage, fresh, new, organic and how great the concept of the piece itself: a playing dress!

Predictably,  I immediately felt for this piece like a sucker, did not look at the tag price and just went straight to pay for it -  assuring this was the best buy ever for the shoot, with the ENORMOUS plus I get to keep this piece for myself.

Irony, on the day of the shoot,  I was alone on my excitment - but I am happy I got it got this shoot :)@

THE LADY VANISHES - dec. 09 shoot

 

photo: Sayaka (?)
styling: me
hair and make up: Megumi Kasa



This was a almost zero budget shoot Ive made December 09 for my hairdresser friend Meg.
She is the swettest thing ever and asked me if I would do the styling for a beauty/hair shoot for her portfolio.
No one can say no to Meg :) - and even in the worst, hectic circunstances possible I managed to pull this one out ( super stressing personal month for me with everything happening at once: ex.: left my job,  running after lawyers, negotiating settlements, chasing references letters,  mom sick and having a middle life crisis, Mike leaving to SA...)

The day of the shoot was pretty hectic too - not unsual. We were set to start at 9.00 am at my place - zero budget shoot meant shooting at my one bed  tiny 50 msq flat, were we had during the day 7 people working on set - biitt maddddd! - there was zero ground floor space available :)! - but because that same day I had a settlement meeting i could really not get out off, I was only able to come in at 12.00.
Lastly, on that same morning Mike was leaving for SA, so it was good fun to see him trying to find his stuff to pack, underneath,cables, hairs extensions, fabric and clothes.

But we all survived, the model who was not sure if she could make it MADE it :), Mike did not missed his flight and we started to crack on by 12.00.
I barely only had time for the day of the shoot to get all the musts for the shoot- which meant I had no other choice than do the clothes o set.  I would have much rather preferred to work as I usually do which is drape all the ideas and new pieces before the shooting, but in this case it was simply not possible.

I was dangerously blinking red zone, because the previous meeting with the lawyer just had put me blankly in the mood to kill someone ( lawyers, bankers and all those other species ...), and having to fight for a tiny working space at my place did not help either - lets say I was not my happy self...

But as we started, and after the strange odd first pics, where u have to learn to say to a stranger,  listen, I really think this is not working and you should just let me get on and do my thing, believe me it will work:)! -  things started to flow amisdt creative chaos, and it was beautiful and enjoyable ( note: one must be able although to numb the stress).

I was happy with the end result. A lot of credit must be give to Sayaka the photographer, she is simply blissy talented - you know those kind of people that just need to show up and you know something good will happen. Being Japanese, she was not surprinsgly zenish and that really helped on the day, especially with my fiery hispanic mood that day. Thanks!
 I still can not believe what she managed to capture with only a lam shape and a reflector as props. The photos are full of mood and drama - I love them.

We stopped around 18.00 pm, browsed the pics on my MAC, open a bottle of wine, hate the rest of the cheese Doritos, talked about numerology, fate and Cocorosie- just my kind of thing:)!

This month I looked at these again -  the focus to be the lace covered face portrait -  and a all Hitchcook mood, beauty sort of thing came to me as a binding history for these.

These are not fashion, editorial shoots, they were never intended too, which makes me particularly satisfied. I have been at odds for some time now with the all fashion, trendy scene -  is just not good enough, and I have always craved more than that. A sense of creativity, individuality, beauty and mainly a sense of positiveness. I think we have successfully touched these by having key inspirational ideas like spirituality, light, ethereal, simplicity,  recycling ( vintage). On the mood side I really love the amibiguity as there is at the same time both Drama and Serenety, I have decided to work along Sayaka srenght signature which is a kind of dramatic/dark romanticism -  in the shoot I have linked that with the lace appearance and the all vintagy look of styling.

Apologies to the photoghraper if u ever tumble by the site and see these posted, I know we have agreed to have them retouched first -  but I think I have tryed to contact since december 09 unsuccessfully, with mails bounced back ( I think i got your email wrong). iF u ever read this, drop me a line please, I would like to work with you again :) - your work is of breathtaking beauty as so are these ( so I see really no wrong is posting them - I hope :)!

Finally a BIG thank you to all involved directly and indirectly on the making of these and to Meg -  for being so sweet, so pretty, talented and a peacemaker-  Sayaka -  for doing this project and for  being so talented / professional, the models- for showing up lol! - Megs assis. ( dont remember her name, sorry): for vacuuing 30.000 pieces of glitter, for the  chocolate and the heather, to Mike  - for packing quickly and getting out of the way :)!,

CHINA SERIES - sleeping on the JOB is OK too

 
one of the flight attendements sleepin on duty!
to hell with in need customers of directions.

CHINA SERIES - obcessive smiling disorder

talking about obcessive smiling behaviour
I found these fish at the Hangzhou airoport lounge,
even the fish smile in the Far East

COOL HUNTING (latest): MUSIC

** COLD CAVE
track checking.: The Laurels of Erotomania

**KOUDLAM
track checking.: SEE YOU ALL

LAST MOVIE SEEN - Kamikaze girls

so interesting, is totally walt disney world aka Japan

paris - between shoots

haha - is all fun and games, but not for the model ... she does not look like she was having loads of fun

we die alone

Juts got the news now, my grandfather dyed.
I didnt even know him so well, only saw him 3x times in my all life
still the fact he dyed alone in his retirement home, aged 88 and with 11 children and dont know how much grand, grand-grand children,
paints a painfull sad reality picture on my mind´
the true is hard
we all end uo dying alone
it seems!
its utterly sad ....

no tittle

Shanghai stories - blurry bliss

for some reason - I really like this photo, and I am starting really to like all my blurred photos.

There is a sense of intimacy here. It was taken on  early hours on plain back to London,

while most were asleep still.

these might been the very first rays of sun in the day

I love the warmness.

A genuine smile - first thing in the morning

how nice to smile first thing in the morning, in such a unexpected way
went into cafe, buy a cupcake - ups, realize I dont have enough cash
waiter smiles and says: Thats OK you can pay whenever your come here again

It kept me smiling all the way to the tube station
how nice!

Shanghai stories - part 4 - is your name really REBBERCA?!

this Haggen Dazz BOY waiter english name was REBBERCA, yes R-e-b-b-e-r-c-a with 2x BS

and yes it was a guy - he did not let me photograph his name tag tough.

Shanghai stories - part 3 - make sure you buy somethig fake before leaving china !

the ( fake rose wood fan) fan +  and the conned tourist ( moi)

and lovely girl who sold me a fake fan

(:) all part of the experience, could not leave really witouth being tricked into buying something fake

Shanghai stories - part 2 - Seriously weird stuff, AKA only in CHINA

Bread face Mobile bands ???

Diana perfume bottle or Saddam Hussein playing cards?? Difficult choice

Kiwi / Lychee chips anyone?!! -  stranger than fiction

My LIKES?!!  hilarious