Inked Up: Jodie Marsh

Now that I got Sky finally installed, I can catch up on all kinds of tattoo reality shows such as

Miami Ink - the original tattoo show, which  led to several spin-offs, including the shows LA Ink and London Ink and soon to be aired Rio Ink.

Skin pimping never looked so good!

The formula is the same: Each episode features  a number of customers along with their back stories (most of which are sob stories) and motivations for choosing their tattoos.

The show made Kat Von D a popular star and landed her the LA Ink spin off, which she now headlines, after a falling out with Ami James from Miami Ink (pictured above).

Her recently released book High Voltage Tattoo, compiling her artworks and tattoos,  reached #6 on The New York Times Best Seller list. The book traces Von D's career as an artist, from early childhood influences to recent work, along with examples of inspirations, information about the show and her shop, sketches, and personal tattoos

"Kat is an Argentinian love goddess with a lion heart as big as California who rocks the tallest platforms, the best leather outfits, big red lips like a Latin movie star from the 50's, and a laugh that gives you smiles inside.  everyone asks me--is Kat really that fun to be around?   the answer is yes...from Oklahoma to Montreal, Kat is my favorite person to hang out with.  Kat is the best friend a girl could have.  Kat es mi familia."                                         

The girl rocks... which now brings me to the subject I was trying to get to: Jodie Marsh.
Has anyone watched her new reality show last night, titled "Jodie Marsh: Tattoo Apprentice"

Yes, the belt for bras wearing glamour model and professional enemy of equally self-deluded Jordan, has given up the glamour work for a shot at becoming a tattoo artist. For all you US readers, Jodie is like our version of Daisy de la Hoya crossed with some Tila Tequilla.

The show starts off with shots of her in her house blabbing on about where she wants to be in life and how much she loves the tattoo world and tattooed people.

 Marsh has over 70 tattoos – from her first, the word 'cheekie' tattooed on her bum, to an exact copy of the stilettos she wore as a lap dancer at Stringfellows. Classy. Even worse,  she once lost a bet and had Bizarre magazine readers chose a tattoo for her - a devil tail winding out of her butt crack. Very classy.

Anyway, the lady is of course free to do as she pleases with her life, but it really annoyed me that she thought she could bypass the proper path to becoming a tattoo apprentice by refusing to do any cleaning - a cornerstone of any apprentice's experience.

You see, the tattoo world has rules, really strict ones.. rules that cannot be bent because you know so and so or you have done this or that. For starters, to become an apprentice, you need to impress an artist with a shit hot portfolio of drawings. Once you have been taken on board, you will basically need to get your head down and do whatever your tattoo teacher tells you .. its tough, it will break you, but those are the rules.

Those rules did not suit the pampered miss marsh who walked out of her first apprenticeship. She then bagged herself some training time at a local tattoo parlour run by some blokes who have a cast of her breasts hanging on the wall. Looking like a tattooed version of Jordan, she pranced around the place with her nipples  permanently pocking out of her top, whilst obsessing about becoming a  tattoo artist and tattooing her dad.

When she finally got to hit needle to skin, namely on her dad, the effect was just awful. It took her four hours to complete what effectively looked like a picture frame. In the real world, there would have been no way she would have been allowed to touch ink to skin.

Seriously, don't give up the day job, love

Battle for Information & Body Counts: WikiLeaks Conference

As  I type this, the eagerly anticipated WikiLeaks press conference in  London's Embankment is set to start. Interestingly, the press officer gave the broadcast exclusive to Sky News. I was supposed to be at the conference this morning, but could not make it as preparing to go to a wedding... so here I am watching the live stream on Sky News. 

Prior to the conference starting and to  fill  time, Sky  wheeled an Amnesty spokesperson out, obviously someone who has had some good media training as he used the interview to plug an AI report about torture in Iraq and not really answer questions relating to the leaks.

US IS UP IN ARMS

So  what is all the fuss about... since 3am this morning, there have been 15,000 stories on the leak on google. A very stern looking Hilary Clinton addressed the nation accusing WikiLeaks of putting people's lives at risk and US and Iraqi national security at risk. But whose "security" is she actually talking about? Hasn't this word been mis-used enough.

This kind of statement is totemic to the kind of political hypocrisy we have been brainwashed into accepting as the "usual rhetoric." 

Hilary and her lot are very upset by the leaks.. History is not being written by the winners, because of a Swedish man who set up a website  called WikiLeaks  in 2006. Nothing beats FACTS, and data when it comes to taking on a Government which continues to feign ignorance of the devestating impact their lies, greed and actions  have had on innocent civilians for nearly a decade.

According to PEW research, Obama approval ratings and support for the war decreased dramatically in the US, when the Afghanistan war log was released... so these FACTS yield incredible power... I won't be surprised if Julian gets bumped off soon. He has already been slandered with a rape charge, but it seems that that wont keep him down.

Prior to the invasion, the US administration used Amnesty International country reports on Iraq  (Much to AI's chagrin) to highlight Saddam's sadistic regime - characterised by systematic torture of detainees.  The coalition forces failed to establish a torture-free country, instead they helped  set a new torture era in Iraq.

The human rights community has known for a long time that torture has not ceased in Iraq and that the US army and US mercenaries, as well as the British have either facilitated torture, sanctioned it or carried it out in the name of " security".

So now, the conference has started:

400,000 classified documents  which shed light on actions of US army in Iraq.

After an intro from the centre for investigative journalism, WikiLeakes founder said the following:

"This disclosure is about the truth ... the first casualty of war is the truth. ..in our release of our four thousand details... we hope to correct some of the attack on the truth which occurred before, during and after the war officialy concluded. In that materials, deaths are recorded – including 66,000 civilians. "

"A collaboration was established with print media, the bureau for  investigative journalism,, the Iraq Body Count, SVT, Al Jazeera, Channel 4, BBC radio and Le Monde"  he forgot to mention SKY, however, which might explain why they stopped the live broadcast about 30 minutes through.

Iraq Body Count said: "We have only scratched  the surface....THESE logs 15,000 previously unreported civilian deaths... equivalent to 5 9/11s.... the new deaths are concentrated in small incidents, happening all over Iraq. at checkpoints, drive by shootings, in homes.... small but relentless tragedies of the war. More than 150,000 have been killed in total, 80 % are civilians... these logs turn numbers into human beings."

"We have found a huge number of names of the deaths...  we have found 100 new names of civilian deaths. The Iraq war log lists all these names, nearly four years later."

Now comes the News analysis.... Sky are not impressed.

The US government states  that they have not had enough time to review the logs to put together a response.

The Times, Sky are all asking questions now.

A historical day.....  I bet lips are  quivering slightly, permanent smurk are being  wiped off.. at least for a day. ..
http://wikileaks.org/ 

WikiLeaks set to release U.S war documents

The WikiLeaks website  will be releasing what the Pentagon fears is the largest cache of secret U.S. documents in history -- hundreds of thousands of intelligence reports compiled after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

At 10:00am on Saturday 23^rd October, London time (BST),  WikiLeaks will be announcing its latest release of information along with a number of prominent organisations who have worked on the material. The content provided at the press conference will be invaluable to anyone wishing to report or comment on the subject.

The other organisations that will be discussing the importance of this information and the work they have done on it will include an important NGO, a prominent human rights legal firm and a number of media organisations.

Send me an email if you want to attend the conference ...... registration starts at 8:30am

Black Virtue: The Chilling Chilean

"Black Virtue" 1943

I fell in love with this Roberto Matta painting at the Tate Modern.

 

In the two side panels of this triptych the imagery has a mechanistic, science fiction quality. But in the centre the forms are organic, suggesting references to sexual parts. Matta was concerned with capturing the inner world of the mind. Black Virtue evokes a fluid mental landscape in an extreme combination of eroticism and violence.

 (From the display caption August 2004)

In late 1939, after the outbreak of the Second World War, Matta moved to New York, where other European Surrealists were to spend the war years. He had his first one-man show in 1940 at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York’s centre of what was then this new import of Surrealism. It was at this point that Matta became a key figure in the development of Abstract Expressionism. He became friendly with Arshile Gorky, Robert Motherwell (who worked with him in Mexico), Jackson Pollock, and William Baziotes, and encouraged them to experiment with these new automatic techniques. Had these painters not been subsequently repackaged as the New York School, Matta would be famed as a founding father of (pan-) American Abstract Expressionism.

Roberto Matta, painter, was born on November 11, 1911, in Chiloe, Santiago, Chile. He died in Civitavecchia, Italy, on November 23, 2002, aged 91.

Angelique Houtkamp: Tattoo Fantasy

Angelique is to sailor girls what artist Olivia is to pin-up models. 

Angelique Houtkamp is the Dutch  blond bombshell  of the contemporary tattoo world. She is a world famous tattoo artist, painter and purveyor of  babyskulls .. yes baby skulls!

Her body of work is  characterised by its clean simple lines which are instantly recognisable and often humorous. Through her personal take of the classic sailor dog  tattoos and Art Deco lines , Angelique has created an  uber cool illustrated universe populated by  pirate girls, sailor's sweethearts and  snake ladies, amongst other darling characters.

"Classic old school tattoo imagery mixed with mythological dreams, antropomorphed critters, nautical iconography and haunting Hollywood romance by way of Angelique's distinctive painterly magic and eye for style."

I have a few framed pics of her illustrations, you can purchase yours by clicking HERE

Angelique has already released a  number of  books, most of which have completely sold out.

BABYSKULLS SERIES

These babyskulls are made with plaster  of Paris and painted with oilpaint.They are inspired by the Hallstatt skulls, the day of the dead and the custom of adorning the bones and skulls of ancient  Saints.
The majority of these are sold. Angelique is planning to make more in the future. Commissions are possible.

" Death Before Dishonor" Babyskull, Pictured left.

ALL IMAGES TAKEN FROM http://www.salonserpent.com/Home.html NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.

Best Snake Jewellery in Town!

Whenever I visit the British Museum  -  the totemic emblem of the British Empire(map carving over candle light anyone?) - I often find myself lusting over some of the jewellery pieces from the B.C period.

The Museum is one of my favourite places  in London, it's my little urban temple... you can't help but feel insignificant and small when faced with a catalogue of what  humanity has created, worshiped and immortalised, through everyday objects, artefacts, religious carvings, and of course jewellery.

As Emily Dickinson would say "The only secret people keep, is immortality" but I guess I can share my jewellery shop secret to my 2.4 readers.

Now, I covet snake jewellery. My mum was the same, she always wore an amazing silver snake bracelet. I like my snake jewellery in gold though... which is why I need to own these fabulous snake jewellery pieces from the British Museum shop, which has some fantastic gold replicas of iconic museum pieces.

JEWELLERY: Yes Please!
In the Museum's collection is an exquisite snake bracelet, realistically rendered and detailed with scales on both it's head and tail. It was created in the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the area of Egypt ceded to Alexander's general Ptolemy after Alexander's early death.
And the best bit is that you can purchase a replica for £75 from the Museum shop.

This original gold finger ring was found in Alexandria. Snake rings were worn in Antiquity as charms, possibly for protection against the evil eye or to ensure fertility. Snakes were also associated with the healing god Asclepius who is often shown with a snake coiled around a staff. Graeco-Roman, 1st or 2nd century AD.

This replica ring will set you back £50, and coils around the finger beautifully.

This beautiful gold bracelet is a replica of an original in the Metropolitan Museum of Art given as a gift by Norbett Schimmel in 1988. The original is dated circa 300-250 BC. The Museum's Snake bracelet is reproduced from a master mould taken directly from this original bracelet. The reproduction is brass with 24k gold overlay and lightly antiqued.

With Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire in 331 BC, the lands under his control stretched from Greece and Asia Minor through Egypt and the Near East to India. As a result of this contact with cultures far and wide, Greek arts were exposed to a host of new exotic influences. After Alexander seized the Persian king Darius III's rich treasure in Babylon, vast quantities of gold passed into circulation in the Hellenistic world. With widespread disposable wealth of this magnitude, gold jewellery became more popular.

 

Babylonian Sun Disk necklace £225

This necklace was based on an original from the 16th-17th century B.C currently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The original was created in Mesopotamia (late Babylonian period) and exemplifies the very finest craftsmanship in gold from the ancient Near East.

Composed of a double row of gold beads from which are suspended seven pendants, each in the form of a deity or the symbol of a deity. One of these pendants, a disk with rays emanating from a central boss, represents the sun god Shamash. The Museum's Babylonian Sun Disk necklace is crafted of 18-karat gold overlay and is based on this pendant.

Autumn Stockings

I do love the onset of autumn, it spells fitted cashmere sweaters, wiggle skirts and, of course, seamed stockings. As regular readers know, I am a total sucker for fully fashioned silk Havana-heeled seamed stockings in Black/Nude. Quite a mouthful,  I know.  Cuban heel  stockings in a nude heel and black seam,are also a preferred favourite.

• Pop socks are  the absolute devil's work
• Tights are  only  tolerable  if they come in fishnet
• Hold-ups are for amateurs ( I was already wearing them as a teenager)
• As for socks, I am proud to say that I do not own a pair, and never will.

The only thing better than putting stockings on....is taking them off, a la Catherine D' lish. I had the pleasure of seeing the burlesque legend taking hers off at a show, and it was quite something.

Anyway, here is the seasonal round up of the best places for stocking up on stockings!

What Katie Did - if your looking for authentic vintage and faux vintage styles and hard to find heel types - such as the Havana, pictured above and below. They also do great garters which really help keep the seam on the straight and narrow (even if you aren't).

 BeBaroque - produce a fabulous line of hand made  showgirl tights and occasionally pop out some stockings,  such as this tasseled Roxy Heart you can see below. Very Las Vegas, don't you think. Might get these for the hell of it.

 

Secrets in Lace - provide a good stream of classic stockings and new designs,with lots of choice. As the official sponsors of the London Burlesque Festival, they appear to be the leaders of the feather and rhinestone pack. However, for some reason, the models they use on their websites look really outdated and un-appealing.

 Dita Von Teese also has her own stocking collections available for purchase from  Secrets in Lace. I have yet  to try Dita's stocking collection, but I am sure they are near perfection. She is the world's most celebrated stockings wearer. after all .. and her used ones get snapped up by fans faster than you can sing:

You can pull all the stops out
Till they call the cops out
But If you wanna grind it
Wait till you refined it.

 

 Agent Provocateur - I like what they have done with their stockings collection. The quality of the silk stockings or the fully fashioned seamed stockings with a french point is more than adequate... in fact they would be perfect if they made them in a Cuban heel too. One of my favourite shops.

So there you have it ...... if you start going down the stocking route this autumn, there will be more than just leaves falling at your feet!

Warwick Saint: Photographer

Most people have come to experience photographer Warwick Saint's work through his collaboration with Lady Gaga. But long before the tea cup yielding/parma ham wearing diva got her mitts on him,  Warwick  had already carved himself a reputation as an iconic image maestro.

Unlike uber photographer  David La Chapelle who creates fantastical images filled with crazy-arsed props and people, Warwick places huge emphasis on believability in his photographs, but not at the neglect of beauty.

"It’s got to be believable and it’s got to be beautiful,” he says.

Although Saint jokes that the key to being a good photographer is "to rock a shaved head", his incredible eye for beauty, detail and colour coupled with his talent for making people look extraordinarily beautiful, makes him one of the most popular photographers amongst models and actresses, who all crammer to get in front of his lens.

His swimsuit and sports illustrated photographs are particularly iconic, as is his Ink series of tattooed women.

Originally from South Africa, he left to come to London. In 1999, his break came courtesy of  Dutch magazine, which commissioned him to  shoot 'Elephant Boy.'

Sailor Dog

And as you can see, the bottle comes in old sailor dog tattoos.

“Sweden’s first vodka in PET bottle. It’s also one of the first vodka made of organically grown, Swedish barley. The new Swedish eco-vodka is distilled four times and has a clean, fruity nose with some spicy aftertaste and released in a Swedish-made PET packaging for minimal environmental impact."

And if things get messy in the kitchen, you could always mop it up with sailor tattoos kitchen towel, on the left.

Ricardo Cavolo is an illustrator living in Madrid. Much of his work is inspired by the 1932 film Freaks. His art reflects his interests in the circus, the American heartland, Russia, gypsy culture and music. Some highlights from latest exhibit are  featured below:

Season Fantasy Cities

Spring ....... is for spending time in  London hanging out in Cafe Kick on Exmouth Market after work or up in roof tops in Shoreditch.  Spring in London is about The FIRSTS:  sipping your first Pimms, attending your first barbecue, spotting your first spring flowers, showing off your pedicure. And if all else fails, driving to  the countryside  to check out the bluebell fields.

Summer .... is for Sydney, although technically it would be our winter. Sun-filled days on Copper Wharf at Aki's restaurant  or flirting with Chris Isaak at the Blue Hotel (we did!). Yes Chris stays at the blue hotel when he's in Sydney, which his quite funny considering the song. Shopping for vintage finds at Bondi Markets after a sunbathing session on the north bondi rocks  and heading down to  the Icebergs restaurant for rock oysters as the sun sets.

Autumn ....is for Paris, because the light is gorgeous,  the sky is still blue and the air is crisp. Paris has an exotic urban day spa called  Sultane de Saba, where you can get a rassoul scrub and rose oil massage, and feel like you are in Marrakesh. Paris has a great kinky side too, so I love heading down to Pigalle to stock up on Cuban-heeled seamed stockings and Italian erotic comic books 

Every visit to Paris must be finished off with a night at the Crazy Horse Cabaret......Trained in ballet, all the dancers are perfectly integrated into the full choreography of the piece, creating the most stunning possible nude visual effect through their movement and bodies.... and they wear Louboutins too.

Winter ..... is for Venice. How I love that place in the winter... Venice is another world, an enchanted place  where sea becomes land, cars are boats, streets are canals, and reality and fantasy blur.  But winter makes it even more romantic, as  the mist fills the streets and the icy waters flood the cobbled street  at night, so much so, that the hunky locals offer to carry you across to your doorstep. Venice is about bagging yourself a gorgeous apartment with its own private staircase leading to the canal. Very Gothic, very unforgettable.... When I was 17, my friend and I stayed in such an apartment, and I still remember how otherworldly that staircase leading to a basement filled with water appeared. 

And of course, nothing beats  walking across the Piazza San Marco to  the Codognato-run jewellery boutique window to spot Your Memento Mori. This tiny shop full of baroque opulence, established  back in 1866,  always appears to be closed and actually lets very few people in.... pieces in here - most of which look like they should be in a museum -  are at mind-boggling prices.

And let us not forget SEPTEMBER, as this is a season within itself....September is for enjoying the Maritime Alps on the Italian French border. 

There is a small  apartment I rent out in the quaint medieval village perched on a mountain, called Apricale. You get the best of both worlds, as you combine mountain living in a medieval ambiance, with La Dolce Vita style living by driving down to the coast for long lunches in San Remo. 

At Xmas, the town of Apricale lights a bonfire which they have to keep going until St Nicholas.

Film of the Week: The Man Who Would Be King

I have always liked Michael Cain and have never come across anyone who doesn't appreciate him as an actor, although I have heard that he is a bugger to work with, not necessarily on set but more in terms of business.

So when my friend offered me a  ticket to  attend the MICHAEL CAIN IN CONVERSATION event  at the British Film Institute tonight,  I immediately headed down  to the South Bank.

Don't you just love the South Bank by the way... last week, as I crossed Waterloo Bridge after attending the London Fashion Weekend event at Somerset House,  I managed to catch a glimpse of a midnight  tango show that was taking place on the terrace overlooking the river , in which the tango dancers were dancing  in between mini  fire torches - it was pure sex.

Anyway, back to Caine - Michael is very entertaining and engaging and nearly everything he said was met with raucous laughter from the packed auditorium. Sometimes the audience was just too keen to laugh, if you know what I mean.

 His lovable, no-nonsense cockney accent (although he comes from South London) sounds exactly the same as it does on film, and he looks exactly the same too -- although he is surprisingly tall. Journalist and presenter Francine Stock did the honours in terms of navigating the hour-long conversation. Apparently, Francine is one of the most sought after film star interviewers because of her knack for asking intelligent questions about their work.

As Michael amused the audience with his anecdotes, I tried hard to memorise the juicy bits:       

• Michael has worked with Elizabeth Taylor and said that she was very nice, although she would hate you forever if you called her Liz.Her nickname for him is Mickey.
•  
• He once had Hitchcock knock on his trailer door to ask him if he wanted to play the psycho in Frenzy, but declined the role because he didn't want to play a woman killer (he has a wife and two daughters).
• He noted that Hitchcock eats steak everyday for lunch and never spoke to him again after he declined the part
• Chis Nolan (director of Batman Begins) is super secretive about his scripts  and has code names for his movie projects, on of which was Oliver's Girlfriend.
• Caine will be playing the butler again in Batman and will start shooting in May 2011.

After the talk was finished, my friend and I bought his new biography The Elephant To Hollywood, and queued up to get it signed, which gave me the opportunity to observe the book publicist at work. As a publicist myself, I always like watching others at work.

When it came to him signing the introduction of the book,  he was quite unceremonious about the whole thing, and only managed to raise his eyes briefly to meet mine to say hi, although it was nice hi.  I got him to dedicate it to my dad.

In between the book signing and the screening, my friend managed to spot Caine getting ambushed by eager fans whilst he entered the gents. Ah, the life of a movie star.

After the whole book signing thing wrapped up, we  took our seats  to watch a screening of 1975 classic The Man Who Would Be King - starring Caine and Sean Connery as two lovable rogues in John Huston’s late career masterpiece.Again, Caine took to the mic to introduce the film.

Kipling's story was a favourite of Huston's from childhood, and he dreamed of adapting it for most of his career, originally imagining Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart as the two ex-soldiers on a quest for glory and riches somewhere beyond civilisation. Finally made in 1975 with Caine and Connery perfectly cast as the ambitious rogue imperialists, the long-nurtured project proved worth the wait, the grandly entertaining tale becoming a late career masterpiece.

The film features some of the best exotic market scenes I have ever seen - really delightfully captured, as well as some really authentic looking tribal scenes. The Freemason references are really interesting and subtle. The plot goes something like this:

Danny Dravot (Sean Connery) and Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine) travel to a very remote region in Afghanistan and slowly build an army from successively defeated natives. After Danny miraculously survives an arrow to the chest, the people decide that he is a God and treat him accordingly. Both of the British men are keen to get back home but not without the vast horde of gold and treasure that the locals have. Unfortunately for Danny, his mortality is revealed, and the natives turn on them