What bothers me about 'The Human Centipede 2'.

Last night, the bad film crew (Moon, Chris and I) were back in full force and the first film of choice was The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) - we later found our minds and settled into the much better and funny yet dark 'Back-cancer comedy', 50/50, but I have nothing to say about it because even if it hadn't been as good and as enjoyable a watch as it was, it still would have made up for the horrific visuals we were subjected to by the film we watched prior to it, plus it was likely I was going to like it whatever, because Seth Rogen's in it and I even like Funny People.

Before I officially begin, I just want to say that this is purely my opinion of the film and I've tried my hardest to find stills that aren't graphic or offensive, firstly because I like having a clean blog, and secondly because I found it grotesque myself so I wouldn't feel right inflicting it on others.

My curiosity over the Human Centipede follow-up has really bothered me since learning of it's impending release. The first film to me seemed to be disgusting for the sake of it, with the risk of sounding like a horrified parent. Please bare in mind that I'm actually not, and that I do enjoy horror films, I would never call my self a huge gore fan but the psychology behind it can be fascinating and I maintain the knowledge that in some genres, violence can be necessary.
Saying this, I don't feel that whatever violence was featured in the 'First Sequence' was that shocking, the whole premise merely lacks a point and for me the '100% medically accurate' tagline sells the film as bad from the off, rather than clever or interesting, because who cares if it is, really though? The first film did leave myself and those I watched it with with a dull ache in our stomach, after feeling uneasy throughout the film all that resulted was our questioning of what we had just watched and why. The former being the main reason we were willing to sit though the 'Full Sequence', as I mentioned at the beginning we were curious as to what Tom Six could do to us next, turns out quite a lot.

'Full Sequence' sees mentally-challenged and abused loner, Martin, plunge into sick fantasy after becoming obsessed over the original film. Immediately there is an element of satire and self-parody. In fact, it was Little White Lies' review on HC2 that made me wonder whether it could be taken more seriously as a real film, it can't. While there is an incredible amount of dark humour running throughout, the fact that it is now being shown in black and white rather than full colour is the only thing that allows this to be noticeable. I think that although this is essentially a censored version, it is also how it should be; as a visually educated person, fully for freedom of speech, there does come a time when it can be said that there is no place for certain images, and arguably no point.

There are two things that completely throw me when it comes to 'The Human Centipede (Full Sequence)'. Firstly, how did they get the 'middle' actress from the first film to return - this time playing herself - to do the second one, surely this poor girls acting career is over before it started, then again, she was probably only in porn before anyway.
Secondly, from a photographic perspective, each shot of the film is so well-considered and thought out. Tom Six is clearly someone who actually knows how to make a film and what angles and lighting to use, but why is he wasting this talent on such unnecessary, appalling content. The use of black and white perhaps adds to the depth of the films visuals as well as providing a slight David Lynch/Eraserhead-esque edge but the overall storyline and actual imagery encapsulate the needlessness of this films existence. I don't even know why I felt so compelled to talk about it, but maybe that's what Tom Six wants, even if people are watching this and are disgusted, at least they're watching it and for lack of better cliché, any publicity is good publicity.

I would not advise that you watch this film but if you do wonder what all the fuss is about, by all means do. Just remember that you know what the story line is and that it's going to be fucked up and while it doesn't disappoint, you'll probably end up being disappointed in yourself.

646: Post-Battlefront update.

Nothing exciting to really talk about but as a result of my involvement with Walk 4 Work, I received a letter from HMV HR yesterday asking me to have a look at their jobs site. It's not a job offer, but I think that the fact they sent out letters demonstrates the impact that Battlefront and Ready 4 Work had on them.

More press featuring Ready 4 Work has also come out. We were in The Daily Mail and there was also an article on the BBC News website. It is nice to feel part of something, particularly something like this and especially when I was feeling so down about job hunting before.

(via The Daily Mail)

I'm going to try and 'get away from it all' today and take in some nature, I have a busy few days ahead of me too so it will give me some time to de-stress before re-stressing.

Trash Arts: Wasters

A few months before I finished Uni I had the pleasure of meeting Sam Mason Bell. One of the first things Sam told me when I met him was that he was an aspiring filmmaker. Bringing us up to present day and Sam has just released the teaser trailer for his upcoming feature-length film, 'Wasters'.

The film is set in March 2010, and follows three nameless characters on a long weekend of decadence, ignorance and hedonistic pleasures. The idea of the film stems from Sam's personal observations of party lifestyles and drug culture while he was out and about last year. However, the aim of the film is not to preach that this culture is right or wrong, but to tell the story and allow the audience to observe. So stop thinking in 'glamourous' 'Skins' terms.

The casting process for 'Wasters' was very straight-forward. Having made films around the Portsmouth area previously as well as having a lot of friends, Sam wasn't short of people to help. However, something that I think quite admirable of Sam is his utilisation of the University. The main 'Wasters' cast comprised of drama students from the University of Portsmouth, all good friend's of Sam's. In addition to using the University, he also found two actresses on StarNow, an online talent agency.

The film uses various locations in Portsmouth including Envy's popular alternative club-night, the aptly named, 'Waster'. The production process was mainly a smooth one, with any issues coming to light earlier in pre-production with writing and cast members dropping out.
Luckily, he pulled it all off, so expect a premier around Portsmouth some time in the New Year.

Sam is part of Trash Arts, a Portsmouth-based production company which has had minor success with both various short and feature films, come 2012, they will be entering their fourth year. This is Sam's first attempt at going it alone under Trash Arts, and it's bloody good stuff, so expect to see more in the future.

Related links:
Take a look at the Trash Arts blog
Like Trash Arts on Facebook.
Follow Sam on Twitter.

Trash Art's next project is called 'Our Last Summer' and casting begins on 9th October at the Groundlings Theatre in Portsmouth; if you think you have what it takes, have a look at the Facebook event and head over to audition.

Haven't heard of SBTV?

You soon will; SBTV's founder, Jamal Edwards is a star on the rise.

You may notice that the up and coming Ed Sheeran owes a lot to SBTV, a simple search on Youtube can't deny the facts. SBTV is currently one of the youngest new media companies on the scene, letting other young people know about new music and what's going on. During the riots earlier this month, SBTV was at the forefront of informing it's audience of the issues in an accessible way. However, SBTV are putting no limits on what they want to achieve and how they're going to achieve it.

Earlier this year SBTV was the subject of the T4 documentary 'Inside SBTV: From Bedroom to Boardroom' and despite being around for four years previously, their popularity then soared.

Edwards is a gent and if I'd had the time, I would have been happy to have taken up the offer to blog some news articles for SBTV. But, due to my current situation, I'm happy to admire Edwards' achievements from afar and be quite pleased to have been aware of SBTV for a few months prior to 'Bedroom to Boardroom'; it's always great to feel as though you've grown with something.


Currently featuring on the Youtube homepage, earlier this evening Edwards' Google Chrome advert appeared in X-Factor's prime advertising slot and the SBTV website went down! Jamal Edwards is an inspirational young man in these times of arguable uncertainty and I'm looking forward to seeing what he's got coming up next.

Follow Jamal Edwards on Twitter
Follow SBTV on Twitter
SBTV Website

'Carry Yu Around'.

I know I've never really done this before but I wish that I had the chance to do it more often. It may or may not be quite apparent, but I'm pretty interested in fashion and fashion blogging, I'm just not particularly good at carry out the process myself - in my opinion anyway.

The first page of my blog is full of where I've been while I've been in Hong Kong, so I hope that this will make a slight change - although the two are kind of loosely linked.

YUCCA (pronouced: 'Yoo-ka') is an upcoming designer handbag company based in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Currently, they distribue their products all over Hong Kong as well as in department stores in China, Indonesia and Singapore. The range of designs that YUCCA offers is huge, so there is something for everyone, with most styles coming in varying colours.

We were lucky enough to have a look around YUCCA's head office this afternoon as the Director, Sian Pang, is my cousin. However, that is not the only reason that I am writing about them, I love their designs, ranging from totes to purses, I was very impressed. Sian was kind enough to allow Mum, Lucy and I took take our pick and choose a handbag each, it was a bit overwhelming but I think I managed to make the right choice and I've needed a grown-up handbag for a while now.


As well as YUCCA itself, which is the name which most of the products are under, the company also offers a more delux brand, YUCCAdelac, as well as Odette, their wholesale brand.
Obviously because my handbag was a gift, I may be biased in terms of the price, but even looking at the prices, I found them to be very reasonable, considering how unique some of the designs are as well as the overall fact that these are designer handbags made from high quality Italian leather.
I recommend that you take a look at the rest of the collection, they are making headway in to potentially coming over to the UK in the future, so you could have the chance to be ahead of the times.

Below are photos of the bags my sister and I picked out, the orange one is mine and the pink one is Lucy's; affectionately nicknamed the 'Angry Bird', I don't think I've really ever seen a similar design before.


YUCCA Website
YUCCA on Facebook
YUCCA Collections
YUCCA Distributors

Thanks, Daily Fail.

Women waste £1.6 billion on clothes.
Not only does this make me think, I probably have way more than 22 items of clothing that I never wear, but also that I do need a wardrobe clear-out and this might be another project idea that gets on my nerves, so I'm unsure about it now.

What I really wanted to do was another simple portrait series based on well known characteristics of recognisable personalities, but it's been done to death, just like stuff with masks. I wish I didn't have to strive to be so fucking individual. Although, without meaning to be a bitch, I'm so far from the worst on my course, even with an irritating idea, I might be ok.

DON'T SAY CHEESE.

© Thomas Ruff

I cannot believe Thomas Ruff was in Vice, so they're helping me with my set-brief project and my dissertation, thanks Vice.
I really like the aesthetics of his portraits and I love that he makes them massive.

Colour Drkrm, take two.

So it seems that my worry about getting back into the colour darkroom was unfounded due to the fact that I'm actually suddenly not too bad at it. Despite the fact that it takes around 2 and a half hours to produce three decent enough prints, I think it's actually pretty fun. It will be really scary to go in there when other people not in my year are in it though, or to be in there on my own, in that situation though, it's just like the normal b&w darkroom and now I know that I know how to do it I can just get on with it.
You soon get used to knocking on every door you encounter and saying 'going out' every 10 minutes.
It still looks like a pretty decent setting for a Saw film though.

I realise these are a bit scuffed but I didn't have any medium format negatives with me so I had to bring in old 35mm ones, which had been hiding at the bottom of a drawer since I got them developed.
I tried to pick images that focused on 'the body', but overall, these images have nothing to do with the kind of photographs I will take for the final brief, although I still have no clue where I am going with that. So the 'St Malo' one was printed in the chemist already, I just wanted to see if I could reproduce it, and it turns out I could, but the other two are from the old 'City Spaces' project from way back in my very first semester, back when darkrooms were daunting. I was a little nervous about going back in seeing as I hadn't used the colour darkroom since the introduction but I remembered everything.

© Ruth Johnston 2010

So, for research into the next shoot I am doing for one of The Body briefs (lol), I have been looking over the Sunday supplements that accompany Sunday newspapers - as we have to shoot an actress/actor/sportsperson - and I came across this:
I almost forgot he existed, I bet he's lived a truly amazing life, I must remember to reference him in my RDB.

© David Bailey, 2009 - The Observer Magazine 21st February 2010.

Interesting fact of the day, according to Facebook, based on use of positive and negative words, the saddest day in Facebook's existence was 22nd January 2008..

3 days to go.

I've just downloaded the E.P because I couldn't wait for it to come in the post. It's quite nice, but I thought there'd be more songs on it and I'm suprised that "368" - a song that was so brilliantly performed when I went to seem him earlier this year - wasn't on it, I guess he's saving those ones for the album, which is meant to be out in September.

In the meantime, he seems to be on a rise, making the homepage of The Guardian with this delightful article.

Jamie T Talks Punk and Hip-hop
I can't wait to see him, it's wonderful when you know someone from nothing. The iTunes Festival can only mean good things for him.
I disagree with this though:
"Revelations that he comes from a middle-class family in suburban Wimbledon, and for a period went to the same Surrey public school as Tim Henman, might have invited scrutiny of his authenticity."
Hardly.

I will get cracking with some work to put up here at some point, it's been very hot and I've been a bit pre-occupied.
I got going to the gym, but turns out I have to do some safety regulations rather than just being able to go along with my sister, and I'm not paying £120 for 3 months when I'm not even here for that long. I'm going to start trampolining, by Lord the gym was painful though. I am joining one properly in the next uni year, and going to a pay as you go one when I next get to Dorking. I will be fit as a fiddle.

I kind of want to start looking for jobs within the Photography field, I feel a bit useless at the moment. Even shadowing a wedding photographer for no money would be good right now.

CORRECTION: New album out in August, Kings & Queens ♥