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.

'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