Aww….

OMR….

This video was made by Kate from the ever so infamous Robsessed Blog!

It’s set to the tune of Kate Walsh’s Your Song.  What a wonderful video of some gorgeous photos and lovely song choice!

Please visit their site!  I love it and you will, too!

Source.

Cunard is in the process of building a new ocean liner, the much anticipated Queen Elizabeth.  She is to be the sister ship to the Queen Victoria and is set to make her maiden voyage to the Iberian harbours and the Canary Islands in October 2010.  Cunard picked this itinerary because the original Queen Elizabeth also took this same voyage.  She will sail out of Southampton, and make calls to Vigo, Lisbon, Cadiz, Las Palmas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santa Cruz de la Palma, and Funchal for this two-week voyage.  Her decor will be an art deco style, and the music and dance will also mirror this era.  As the website says,

“Relive in modern glamour high society events of the 1930s and 1940s as you grace ornate rooms whose rich décor recalls the halcyon days when our first Queen Elizabeth ruled the waves.”

For former Cunard President Carol Marlow’s press conference announcement introducing Queen Elizabeth, click here.

To see a video of the keel laying ceremony of the Queen Elizabeth, click here.

There have been visits to the Fincantieri Shipyard, in Italy by Cunard’s videoblogger, and here are the videos, enjoy.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 (Adding the Queen Elizabeth name to the bow)
Part 4 (Interiors)

(Photo from Cunard.com)

 –Saundra

There’s nothing like a good Sunday Roast.

I came to The Water Poet on one of those ‘maybe this is the last nice day before winter’ days where, even though it’s a bit brisk, you force yourself to sit outside. (And also, outside was the only place to sit, as there was a football game on, and heaven help you if you tried to have a decent meal in the midst of that.

Sunday lunch menus are generally pretty straightforward: beef roast, pork roast, chicken roast or veggie sausages. This one was fancy!

I went for the pork, but it was more like pork belly, with really nice crackling. It came with… deep breath… roasted potatoes, parsnips, applesauce, carrots, gravy and an amazing Yorkshire pudding.

I’ve got to say, this is one of the best roasts I’ve  had in a long time. Even though it was ridiculously huge, I finished every last bite.

Service was a bit spotty, but that’s only because they put one server out to handle at least 20 tables by herself.  Honestly, it was just cruel. She looked like she was going to cry the entire time.

Inside, the restaurant is a bit of a labyrinth, which is fitting considering it’s tucked away off a very small street near the bustling Spitalfields market. Walking in, it doesn’t look very large, but as you move toward the back, there are separate dining rooms and the giant aforementioned patio. I realised shortly after, that I had been to this pub about a year before.  Apart from the screaming football fans this time around, it has a good vibe.

Definite thumbs up. And a special kudos to our poor waitress for keeping it together. I hope she made a lot of money.

More pics on Flickr

Although admittedly my certificate in meteorology is from a non-accredited correspondence course, I am in possession of some important weather facts. I would like to share these with you now to help you avoid embarrassment in future interactions with humans who have, at some point, traveled outside of the British Isles.

England’s weather is mild. Why you refuse to accept this, I do not know. It’s not a bad thing, we don’t mean it as an insult. For those of us who have ventured the world, mild weather is often a blessing. It keeps us from having to purchase entirely separate wardrobes for each season and it allows children to be left out in the garden for the better part of the day without fear of sunstroke or frostbite. Mild weather is something to treasure, and I can testify that I do.

England can get hot in the summers, this is true. Why, I remember that I almost broke a sweat while sharpening my secateurs one July afternoon! Heat in England is lovely because it means the sun has come out. Alas, sunny days in England are too few but when you’ve got one, you should surely make the most of it. Sit in the garden, cool yourself with fan, but for goodness sake, do not whinge about the heat. Try telling the people of El Azizia that you feeling a bit parched by an English swelter and see how much sympathy you receive.

Let me also assure you that, despite recent news reports, Britain will not suffer from “arctic weather.”  Would you like to know why? Because you’re stupid. You have got a very narrow view of winter if you think -7C is arctic conditions. I was raised in Trenton (NJ), which is hardly a hotbed of frigidity, but even Trentonites know that -7C is next to nothing (in fact it’s seven degrees next to nothing). The average temperature on 1 December in my hometown is 0C and we’ve even been known to drop down to -26C. So shut up about the bleeding cold. When it feels like this in your sitting room, then you will know the true meaning of arctic.

I hope I have cleared up a few misconceptions about weather for my English friends. I know you don’t mean to be the way you are, it’s just your silly imperial pride that compels you to complain about the temperature when they are more pressing things to complain about. In some respects, it’s charming. In others, it’s annoying as fuck.

Five Britons who were sailing from Bahrain to Dubai have been detained by the Iranian navy, the Foreign Office says…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: big boat. For a different topic see best ham recipes. The blog is also related to: boat pictures.

need something new to listen to? maybe something with a British accent? i got you. listen to Brit rapper Evon’s take on Blacks, women, and Londoners rapping on “No One Raps From London”.

listen here.

PEACE

Mbt sale   Mbt shoes sale   Mbt trainers  Mbts   Mbt shoes

Britain had about 500 members of special forces active in Afghanistan, Gordon Brown disclosed yesterday.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the presence and numbers of the SAS and other special groups as President Obama gave the go-ahead to a surge of at least 30,000 US troops that he hopes will change the dynamics of the war.

Mr Brown confirmed that an extra 500 British troops would be deployed this month, taking the number of troops above 10,000. The country had a right to know about the brave and full role being played by the 500 or so Special Forces, who have previously not been included in the numbers of British Forces, he told MPs. Downing Street sources said that Mr Brown had secured the approval of the director of special forces, and “all relevant people” at the Ministry of Defence, before revealing numbers.

Mr Obama had informed America’s military leadership of his long-awaited decision on troop numbers and strategy at an Oval Office meeting on Sunday, the White House press secretary said.

In a televised address Mr Obama will seek tonight to convince the US public that a surge of additional troops into Afghanistan, a war supported by only a third of Americans, is the right option. Last night Mr Obama and Mr Brown spoke via a video link.

The Ministry of Defence announced yesterday that a soldier from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards had been killed in Afghanistan. In a Commons statement Mr Brown said that the conditions for sending the extra 500 regular troops had been met, including that of burden-sharing with Nato allies. He said that eight countries had responded to the appeal for more troops.

He hoped that their total number would reach 5,000 by the time of next month’s London conference on Afghanistan. Pressed by MPs to give more details, however, he said that it was for the countries to make their own announcements.

Mr Brown denied that Britain and the US were fighting alone in Afghanistan. The Afghans had vowed to deploy 5,000 members of the new national army corps to Helmand, to be partnered by British troops next year.

No 10 later pointed to an announcement by Slovakia that it was sending 250 more troops. Officials also hinted that Australia and New Zealand would be sending more. Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, told the BBC that the eight countries included Turkey, Slovakia, Georgia and Portugal, but he believed that others would follow. Nato said that there would be more announcements at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

Mr Brown told the Commons that at a time of increasing international effort it was right to give a more comprehensive account of Britain’s military commitment in Afghanistan.

Details of the special forces’ activities in Afghanistan have been a closely guarded secret. By talking about the forces Mr Brown was breaking with convention but his spokesman said that while no details would be given of their deployments or activities it was right that their achievements should be recognised.

Mr Brown told MPs that the “military surge” would be complemented by a “political surge” with more Afghan police, a police reform plan and more effective and accountable local administration in Afghanistan.

Attractive cover design for the British edition from HarperCollins UK:

Boring cover design for the North American edition from Nation Books:

I also appreciate Nation Books changing the title to make it relevant to ME, Mr Joe Average North American. Nice touch…

The biggest ‘non’ surprise of the year so far is the admission from Morrissey that he has had dark thoughts and understands why people commit suicide. Seriously! is anyone really shocked by this fact?

However, his recent appearance on Desert Island Discs was worth a listen to. His choice of a bed as his luxury item and The Ramones and the New York Dolls as his music were again not too surprising. However, I have to admit I was surprised to hear that he is more comfortable around horses than people! huh! ok…still nice to hear his views. Worth a listen.

I started writing about things that were definitively British earlier this year – Blue Peter, Burtons, Ultravox, Victoria Wood - but I think that I am learning just as much about Canadian culture by living with B as I am managing to indoctrinate her in the ways of the Brits. So she taught me all about what Hallowe’en is like in Canada a month ago. And last night I had an education in Canadian Football. Specifically in the cult of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

B is from Saskatchewan and her football team, the Roughriders, who usually lose, had made it to the final of the Grey Cup – I suppose the equivalent of the Champions League here. They were playing Montreal in Calgary. The game started at 11.30pm GMT, and some friends of hers had very kindly offered to host a game night with nibbles and live streaming of the match. We painted our faces green, learned the words to ‘True North, Strong and Green’ and the rules (roughly) and watched until gone three in the morning.

I got quite into it towards the end – the Riders were winning all the way through and it was a nailbiting finish, with Montreal two points behind with one second on the clock and a penalty kick that would win the match for them if they got it.

The kicker ran back, hit the ball, it soared through the air and… missed!

No seconds left on the clock and the Riders’ fans filling the stadium began to celebrate.

But there was a problem. The referee had his flag up and it turns out the Riders had had one too many players on the pitch. Montreal got the chance to take their penalty again.

And of course this time they got it, winning the match by one scabby point.

Poor B. I’ve still got ‘Rider Pride’ stuck in my head though…

Recently I wrote a short story about the Zombie Apocalypse. Yes, yes it is a subject that fascinates me…..so for the first post of the day I thought I would post the first part of the story. If anyone actually reads it or comments I may post more!

Blackheath Internment Camp 2062

I can’t help thinking of a film I watched the night before I died. Trainspotting, a gritty film that I needed subtitles for. Ah the Scots! But I have to say it keeps running through my head now that I am a zombie:

Choose life! Ha! More like choose death, choose your grave, choose to rise, choose a fucking big graveyard, choose sitting on that couch waiting for the revolution, choose brains, choose to fight….ha, oh the irony of it all. You see I chose nothing, neither in life nor in death. My God, I didn’t even choose to be a zombie.

I never wanted to be one oh I know a lot of people aspire to such a lifestyle but frankly I was happy to be dead.

I hadn’t even been dead that long. I was just settling into the role, letting go of the world and getting ready for a well deserved eternal sleep. But I never had had good luck in life and it seems that I wouldn’t in death either. See my grave just happened to be placed right next to Jacobi’s, the self proclaimed King of the Zombies and well it wouldn’t look good if his neighbour didn’t join his little gang now would it. So that night when he dug me up I could hardly say no.

I think the thing that surprised me most though was that being a zombie was so boring. Nothing like the films, although I have to admit there are some similarities. In general we are slow, but that isn’t because we are undead! God no, it is because we spend so much time sitting on our arses doing nothing but snacking that we are all out of shape. I would have much preferred to be a vampire. Hollywood got it right on that one! They are beautiful people and oh so cool. You know like the hippest people you have ever met. Too cool for the graveyard.

Anyways I digress, you don’t want to hear about my views on popular culture. You are here to find out about the revolution aren’t you? Well then I guess we need to go back to the days leading up to it. You need to have a feel for the mood, for the prejudice we faced. Oh I don’t want your sympathy. We all took sides, even you. But you asked me to tell you this story, so please listen with an open mind. I ask nothing more of you.

First you need to know that in the early days we had no plan of attack. When I was first converted we were more like a rag tag group of idealists, hoping to orate our way back into society. But wait; again I am jumping ahead of myself. I think it is important that you know more about Jacobi; perhaps then my tale will shock less.

He is a much-maligned figure now. History is written by the winners and the picture they paint of him is so far from the truth. He was so much more than the brutal killer they portray him as. He was a poet, a scholar, and a protector. Without him I wouldn’t be here to tell this tale.

Jacobi was my favourite neighbour. For the most part he was quiet and respectful of those around him. He was as old as time and rumours said that he was one of the first settlers here. In those early days he would regale us with tales of the comings and goings of the estate. The things he had seen in his years of death and before. But again my dear friend. Let me not put my opinion on this. This is a historic record so let me just tell you what I know about our dear departed leader.

Jacobi never knew when he was born. He always said that he had a vague idea but that the amount of acid he had consumed had left him confused. He talked about Dylan and Hendrix a lot so I guess that he was around in the 1960s. England was a very different place back then. Well I am sure you don’t need me to tell you this.

If you have visited Japan, perhaps you have noticed that people tend to pay attention to where they stand on an escalator: one side is for standing, one side is for walking. Now, if you live in Japan, you’ve surely figured out which side to stand on and which side to walk on…but have you really? While it is common knowledge to most Japanese, it may not be widely known to others that Kansai (especially Osaka) and Kanto have different escalator rules. My first sojourn in Japan was in Tokyo, and I learned to stand on the left and walk on the right; when I came to Osaka for the first time, I was confused to find that people here stand on the right and walk on the left. This tendency persists in the vicinity of and to the west of Osaka, and the Tokyo rules apply all around eastern Japan (as far as I know).

I have asked many people why this occurs, but nobody had any idea, so I searched the interwebs in Japanese and English and found the following theories:

• During the Tokugawa Period, Edo (now Tokyo) was a city of samurai, who preferred to be on the left so they could draw their swords easily. Osaka, on the other hand, was a city of rich merchants, who preferred to be on the right so they could protect their money and valuables. This was, of course, before escalators existed, and most samurai probably didn’t walk around looking for chances to cut people down. Not to mention many other holes in this theory.
• Osaka adopted the “American style” and Tokyo adopted the “British style.” I don’t know about the British, but I know that we have no established customs for using escalators in the United States. Furthermore, Tokyo is the one with more American cultural influence, not Osaka.
• Because Osaka wanted to be different.

The last possibility seems to be the least unlikely one, as Osaka and Tokyo are rivals, culturally and otherwise. But in the end, it’s still a total mystery to me. Additional theories are welcome.

At least you now know how to spot a Tokyoite in Kansai.

BONUS WALKING TIP: In Tokyo, bikes dodge pedestrians. In Osaka, you’d better move or be prepared to die when you hear that bike bell ding.

These are things are that have overexposed in the year of the Lord 2009. Here are they in no particular order:
1. Lin Ping the baby panda. Lin Ping was the first panda born in the history of Thailand and the Thai just can’t seem to get enough of him. He has appeared in numerous promotions and commercials. You cannot go anywhere now without running into the image of a panda. As a result, pandas have seemed to have overpassed elephants at the most popular animal.
2. Super Junior. Super Junior is a Korean boy band that is composed of 13 members. They had a concert in November of 2009. Like the panda, they have appeared in many promotions and commercials. The Thai media cannot seem to get enough of them They have seemed cast a spell on the media as well as the young girls who have crushed on them. They are popular despite the fact that they do not speak the same language as their fans.
Korean bands and popular culture have become more popular in Thailand. It helps that when you get local cable channels, you usually two or three Korean channels. Thais can even change their appearance to look more Korean by wearing contact lenses that make their eyes look bigger. It should be said that you should be careful when you wear these lenses as the changes could end up being permanent instead of cosmetic. As they used to say on an American cop show, ”Be careful out there.”
3. British football. British football is going to be any overexposed list in Thailand for a long time time. Thais just can’t seem to get tired of the game, especially if it is European. If you are lucky enough to have True Vision, you can watch this game 24 hours a day. It is true that you could live here for years and you would not even know that there is a local professional soccer league. Thais seem to barely pay attention to it. They do try to promote it by having it on Thai TV. It does not seem to work. The only team that they seem to pay attention to is the Thai national team.
Next year is the World Cup. There will be promotions in connection with the World Cup in South Africa. There will probably be sleepless nights for Thais as they try to follow the tournament that is taking place in such a different time zone.
4. Mum the comedian. He is a Thai comedian who seemed to appear almost every other movie this year, especially if it was a comedy. He has his own TV show called the Mum show which he does use to promote his movies. He appears in at least 3 or 4 other TV shows. This would mean that almost every day, Mum is appearing somewhere in Thailand. He seems to be one of the hardest working people in Thailand. He must be very exhausted from going to studio to set to stage appearance and back again. How he manages to do all these movies and TV shows without dying of exhaustion is unknown.
5. Thai comedians like Mum. There seems to be only 5 to 10 comedians in the country and they appearing right now in at least TV show or movie near you. They seem to be running constantly from one set to studio to another. As a foreigner, you will probably recognize their faces, but you would not know their names unless a Thai tells you what their name is. The Thai government should start a program to get more Thai comedians in the country or the current ones are going to die of exhaustion.
6. Thaksin Shinawatra. Despite his exile, he just can’t seem to go away. Love or hate him, he just can’t seem to stay away and the Thai media seems to be willing to be used as a tool to promote him. Whether you seem as a bad penny that keeps on turning up or a saviour that could improve the country upon his return, he is here to stay

‘New Moon’ costume designer Tish Monaghan on Edward’s suit and Jacob’s cut-offs

You have to immediately like a costume designer who’ll admit that she’s wearing sweatpants while chatting with you from her Vancouver home. We phoned Tish Monaghan, who took over styling duties for The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Eclipse, to talk about how Edward ended up in a suit, …

Entertainment Weekly:  Anyone who’s listened to the Twilight DVD commentary knows that Robert Pattinson wasn’t a fan of Edward’s pea coat.
TISH MONAGHAN: He wasn’t a fan of the pea coat. He wore it in virtually every scene, and I think maybe he just got tired of it. I’m guessing. [Laughs] He just wanted a more mature look. That was part of Edward’s Grade 11 year, and now he’s getting into his graduation year, he’s in a relationship. He had worn hoodies and jeans and sneakers, and Robert, the director [Chris Weitz], and I all wanted to portray him more as a gentleman, more elegant and classic. With our vampire characters, I always went back to the time period in which they were turned to see if there’s any element I could try to simulate in contemporary clothing. He came out of the Edwardian period, around 1910. Of course, most of the gentleman from that time would be wearing suits, coats, hats, etc. We had to pick something that was iconic for the character that would suffice to be used throughout the whole film. At the very beginning of the film, he has one school outfit, and then there’s Bella’s birthday party and disaster strikes. So Edward ends up in that same costume for the remainder of the film. I was thinking of just putting him in a dress shirt and a pair of pants, but Robert wanted to be in a suit.

So I found a modern contemporary look that would be appealing to him and to the massive fan base, a very slim cut, and a fabric that to me was a bit Old World — this beautiful tweed fabric that we got out of England. It had the gray base, which is kind of essential for the Cullen characters in their cool tones, but also had little interesting flecks of blue, which is also Cullen, and a tiny little bit of rust, which I liked because Bella wears earth tones and that kinda linked her into the picture. The general texture of the suit would hold up well no matter what setting he was in: Inside the house for the party, or in the forest, or in the Volturi chamber. We had to show wear on the suit, and it’s much easier to rough up something that has texture to it than just a flat piece of wool. His pants are worn at the knees, they’re rumpled.

EW:  I don’t know if anyone’s looking at his pants when he removes his shirt in Italy.
TM:  The fans were very excited to see that, I don’t know if Robert was particularly excited to perform that in front of 1,500 people. I think it was quite hard for him to do. We originally tested Edward in a plain white shirt, as a forlorn-looking option. That is also what Robert wanted — he wanted something that would wash him out. But you need to have a color that makes you pop, and so we actually dyed the fabric this beautiful ink blue ourselves. It highlighted his vampire white skin really well. I think it’s a great moment when we see him in these clothes that he’s worn from September to May. When he goes to sacrifice himself, he’s in disrepair. Robert and Chris wanted his shirt to have a rip across the chest, so that’s what we gave him. It’s really kind of tragic to watch him take off his shirt, because he really is sacrificing himself. It looks like he’s just giving up. He’s exposing himself and he’s completely vulnerable, and he just takes his shirt off and he drops it at his feet with his eyes downcast. Then he gets attacked by Bella, who shoves him inside the doors. [Laughs] I don’t find it like a beefcake moment. It really is a moving moment, and I think Robert did a really amazing job for that scene.

EW:  The tear across the chest was to symbolize that his heart was torn out when he thought he lost Bella?
TM:  Maybe. [Laughs] They just said, “Rip it across the chest.” I said, “Are you sure? No shirt’s gonna rip like this.” And they said, “Yes.” So I did it.

EW:  Why couldn’t he remain shirtless for the indoor fight scene? Why put on the robe?
TM:  Originally, the guards who grab him were supposed to be coming from the outside — that’s why they give him the robe. But the setting was changed, and they grab him on the inside. So why do they hand him this robe? Because, quite honestly, it looks very cool fighting with this long, flowing garment, and it does hide pads, protect him.

Source.

Rob Pattinson was picked along with 24 others for one of People Magazine’s 25 Best Celeb Photos of 2009.

I must say, I can see why they picked this picture.

It is one of his best.  He looks so freakin’ happy & who can deny him that?

Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson gets pulses racing – in the daylight! – during a photo call at the Magestic Pier for the Cannes International Film Festival in May.

Source via RP Life via RPO.

Studies Claim Cutting Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reduces Diseases. Washington (AP) – Cutting global warming pollution would not only make the planet healthier, it would make people healthier too, newly released studies say. Slashing carbon dioxide emissions could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, the studies show. They were published in a special issue of The Lancet British medical journal, released Wednesday.

The calculations of lives saved were based on computer models that looked at pollution-caused illnesses in certain cities. The figures are also based on the world making dramatic changes in daily life that may at first seem too hard and costly to do, researchers conceded.

Cutting carbon dioxide emissions would also reduce other types of air pollution, especially tiny particles that lodge in the lungs and cause direct health damage, doctors said. Other benefits could come from encouraging more exercise and less meat consumption, to improve heart health, researchers said.

Separated by a common language, sometimes following recipes in the US / UK can prove difficult if you’re apparently not familiar with the ingredients mentioned.  Here is a simple run-down of equivalents that I hope will help.  Please let me know, by leaving a comment below, if you come across any more and I will include them.

BRITISH VERSION                       AMERICAN VERSION

Aubergine                                        Eggplant

Beans, Broad                                   Fava Beans

Beans, Soy                                       Edamame

Beef, Flank Steak                           London Broil

Beef, Rump Steak                          Beef, Top Round

Bicarbonate of Soda                      Baking Soda

Caster Sugar                                    Granulated Sugar

Cheese, Emental                            Swiss Cheese

Clotted Cream                                No equivalent  (The closest equivalent to this would be to use stiffly whipped heavy cream)

Coriander                                         Cilantro

Cornflour                                         Cornstarch

Courgette                                         Zucchini

Cream, Clotted                               No equivalent  (The closest equivalent to this would be to use stiffly whipped heavy cream)

Cream, Double                                Heavy Cream

Cream, Single                                  Half and half cream

Cream, Whipping                           No equivalent  (Whipping cream has the consistency of single [half and half] cream but with a higher fat content it can be whipped into peaks)

Digestive Biscuits                          Graham Crackers or similar

Flour, Plain                                     All Purpose Flour

Flour, Strong                                  Bread Flour

Flour, Wholemeal                         Flour, Wholewheat

Gelatine                                            Gelatin

Glucose Syrup                                 Light Corn Syrup

Golden Syrup                                   Corn Syrup

Icing Sugar                                       Confectioners’ Sugar

Madras Curry Powder                     Curry Powder

Mince (meat)                                    Ground meat

Mincemeat (for cakes)                    No equivalent  (A ‘preserve’ or mix of finely chopped fruits like apple, raisins, sultanas and citrus peel, with shreds of suet – often used in ‘Mince Pies’)

Pastry Case                                         Pie Shell

Pine Kernel                                         Pine Nut

Plain Flour                                          All purpose flour

Polenta                                                 Cornmeal

Salad Onion                                         Spring Onion, Scallion

Self-raising flour                                No equivalent  (Substitute All Purpose Flour with a raising agent)

Swede                                                   Rutabega

Tomato Puree                                    Tomato Paste

Vanilla Essence                                  Vanilla Extract

Vegetables:  Beans, Broad                 Fava beans

                              Beans, Soy              Edamame

                               Courgettes             Zucchini

                               Swede                     Rutabaga

Whipping Cream                                Heavy cream  (Whipping cream has the consistency of single (half and half) cream but with a higher fat content can be whipped into peaks)

On Saturday i went with a friend, B, to check out the Wellcome Collection’s new exhibition: Eight Rooms, Nine Lives. This is part of their season looking at Identity and Identification – of obvious interest to me as a trans person, especially as one of the ‘rooms’ was devoted to April Ashley, one of Britain’s most famous trans women.

As it happened, although Ashley’s room was interesting – especially the footage of her being interviewed by Michael Parkinson, it was the one which focused on the actress Fiona Shaw which made the greatest impression. It was supposed to demonstrate the multiple identities that an actor takes on; and, to this end, there were four or five TV screens on which you could watch Shaw playing various roles: for instance a mad woman in Gormenghast and a rather overwrought lady in an Ibsen play.

I can’t honestly say that i looked at these and saw someone changing their identity; but they were thrilling performances – Shaw is a true virtuoso. The standout was her portrayal of Richard II. For some reason though this only worked for me as an audio experience: if i looked at the screen there was no magic; but if i looked away and just listened I got goosebumps. It was that powerful.

I don’t think the issue was the ‘cross-gender’ casting – after all, her voice is just as female as her appearance; but rather that the physical aspect of her acting style is overdramatic. She has a tendency to gesture abruptly and stare wildly. Yet this exaggeration doesn’t carry through to her voice, so as long as you don’t look at her you aren’t bothered by it.

Not surprising then that the other exhibit which made a great impression on me was also audio-only. This had Shaw and her mother reciting a poem together. The idea here was to examine similarities and differences in their voices. For me, however, it was the relationship between them that was captivating: identity is interesting, human relationships are fascinating.

Other rooms focused on people such as Alec Jeffreys, who pioneered DNA testing, and Samuel Pepys - although in truth this room was really an exploration of diarists more generally. Some of these were interesting, but not always for reasons related to identity or identification (an old computer made you think of how technology had progressed, the cover of an old novel caused you to reflect on how illustration styles have changed). Only one disappointed where I’d been expecting great things: Claude Cahun, a French photographer obsessed with androgyny. The endless self-portraiture was exhausting and really rather boring: self speaking to self in a vacuum.

Overall, it was an interesting exhibition, if a bit uneven. B commented to me that she felt there was a lot of padding – exhibits that were very similar or of little relevance – and i agreed with her. I was also disappointed with the presentation. The rooms were little more than wooden partitions; little attempt had been made to make them feel like rooms or individual spaces of any kind.

More satisfying than the the exhibition is the book, ‘Identity & Identification’*, which has been published to accompany it. In it you find interviews with people as diverse as the singer Billy Bragg, the Jewish-British journalist Jonathan Freedland, the philosopher Julian Baggini, trans woman Roz Kaveney and the Somali-Dutch former politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Each interview is a thoughtful exploration of the person’s identity and in the case of the philosophers and scientists of identity as a concept and neurological phenomenon.

The depth and subtlety of the interviews is wonderful. Reading through them it came to me that identity is rather like an iceberg: we conceal more than we show. I can see two obvious reasons for this: the first is that aspects of our identity may rest on things which we feel might be contested or not understood by others; the second is that we take much of it for granted, so don’t think to ‘perform’ it. Unless asked, we may not even be aware of why it matters.

There’s a beautiful example of this in Jonathan Freedland’s interview. He says he identifies as Jewish, male and British in that order. When asked why he has singled out the fact that he is male, Freedland replies:

I suppose because i think it goes to something quite psychological – the inner voice as it were… And that, to me, feels like such a male voice.

As soon as i read his words i realised that this is also true for me – so true that i’d never even noticed. Fascinating from a trans point of view but also illuminating in a broader sense: we only really come to understand who we (feel we) are when we engage with others. Human relationships: not just more interesting than identity then, but essential to it.

All in all: 7/10 for the exhibition; 9/10 for the book of the exhibition.

* Identity & Identitification: ISBN 978-1-906155-86-5 (Black Dog Publishing)

I haven’t laughed so hard in a very long time.  I watched The IT Crowd season 3 on Netflix Instant Watch.  I laughed until I almost puked.  You don’t have to work in IT to get the jokes but it probably helps.

artists-

Audrey Kawasaki

 

Superstition by Audrey Kawasaki

 

One of our top ‘wish-list’ artists, on account of the fact that she has become astronomically popular, lives and works in the US, shows at some major galleries and her prints sell out faster than a road runner near an ACME plunger . However, it’s nice to dream, and what a dream it is. Sleepy eyed girls with exposed hearts, fragile and serene erotica, octopi, lights, chopsticks, bones, owls and forests all weaved into an ongoing fairytale played out on canvasses of sanded and exposed wood. Kawasaki’s work is a joy, and with the sexual peccadilloes and her frequently referenced Japanese heritage, it would hang very comfortably in a show about restriction and stereotypes.

Yinka Shonibare

How to Blow Up Two Heads at Once - Yinka Shonibare

 Yinka Shonibare uses sculpture, costume and references to 18th Century art to create artwork which encapsulates the superimposition inherent in colonial and multi-cultural societies. Referencing the kind of violent simmering tension from the colonial worlds of Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea or Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, and more subtle than Kara Walker’s silhouettes, Yinka’s paintings and sculptures show typically 18th Century clothing made with African-style fabric, which in turn has become a symbol of cross cultural assimilation because he actually buys the fabric in Brixton market and it is made in Europe. Being so strongly representative of a very particular kind of stereotype, and with the uneasy and frank allusions to slavery, Shonibare’s work would bring a legitimate historical message and some very colourful and thought-provoking social commentary to our exhibition.

Sarah Maple

I'm Feminist Because my Friends Are - Sarah Maple

I’ll admit, when I first saw Sarah Maple’s ‘I am £10,000‘ canvas at Salon Gallery (literally a canvas with ‘I am £10,000′ painted on it), I was quick to dismiss her as a spoilt, Hoxtonite, YBA groupie who had snuck into the art world on Tracy Emin pastiches and Benny Hill meets Al Qaeda humour. But, first impressions are sometimes made in haste and since then I have realised what a truly passionate, thoughtful and intelligent woman Maple is. Her views on sex, Islam, feminism, immigration and British politics are loud, brash and occasionally radical (Salon Gallery’s window was smashed by a Muslim protester during her solo show), but they are also witty, display a formidable knowledge of philosophy and sociology, take the piss out of the art world’s over-inflated ego and are a genuine reflection of her inner turmoils and family history. So I well and truly renounce my first opinion, because Maple is awesome and her art work would be a real coup for the show.

Vanessa Prager

Paper Tiger - Vanessa Prager

La luz, la luz! Vanessa Prager’s paintings are both eerie and innocent. There’s a childish whimsy within her subjects, but also a look of wild eyed trauma, as they scamper about in the half-light, clutching at nostalgic objects such as animal figurines, hobby horses, christmas lights and stuffed dinosaurs with frenzied abandon. Prager has had no formal training, but her use of theme and her sophisticated technique are frankly astounding, and it is all the more impressive that it comes naturally to her. Her use of light and shadow leaps straight from German Romanticism and Flemish Baroque, right into the electric age. Anglepoise lamps and incandescent bulbs have never looked quite so melancholy. Prager is another American artist, and therefore on our ‘wishlist’, Prager is also something of a square peg I would like to hammer in to the round hole of the show. Her themes may be tenuous, but abusing our widespread theme to display her work would be no crime. Confronted with those wistful tremulous eyes in a confined space would be a profound and unnerving experience, but also a beautiful one.

Dorothy Yoon

8 Heroines (fragment) - Dorothy Yoon

Dorothy Yoon found her name when she travelled to New York with her Korean class to meet Nam June Paik. She wanted to ask him what art was, but the trip was cancelled, and on a trip to MoMa she had the realisation that she was the most important element of her art. And so she changed her name to Dorothy after finding this knowledge inside herself rather than reflected in Paik’s  Oz of flickering images. Yoon has always been interested in dress up, she watched Western movies as a child and believed she would grow up to be blonde like Marilyn Monroe, embracing a Western ideal rather than traditional Korean ideas of beauty. In her work she dresses up as saints, celebrities, fashionistas, Disney princesses, always blonde and dressed as a parody of the Western idea of beauty. Identity plays an important part in her work, one picture has clones of her (blonde naturellement) all dressed in hospital gowns, and is reminiscent of when Yoon arrived in England and had to go for a tuberculosis check up just because she was arriving from Korea. Yoon’s work is a refreshing and personal take on the beauty myth and the dominance of generic beauty, but her work also embraces the underlying female desires and how deeply these are ingrained from childhood; with Paris Hilton, the little mermaid, ‘purple-eyed Disney Princes’ and the colour pink as her inspiration Yoon’s paintings reveal that maybe we are just being spun a fairytale after all.

Clare Amos

Red Riding Hood performance - Clare Amos

Clare Amos is a costume designer and performance artist. I first saw her ethereal Into The Woods performance at Xhibit 2008 where she was one of the young MA artists picked by Yinka Shonibare for the exhibition. Her costume had two separate parts and represented the psychosexual changes Red Riding Hood experiences during her encounter with the wolf. Amos graduated from the London College of Fashion and specializes in theatrical costumes and performance, but her work suits a gallery space well, entrancing the viewer with her strong and forceful movements, combined with the fragility of her hand-made costume’s material and the emotionally charged narrative of the story. Viewers are directly engaged as she turns the public space into a confrontational display. One of the few performance artists we have looked at for the exhibition, Amos’s work looks at female stereotype and representation and how women are subjugated to a set of universal roles. As performance art, especially a performance which works well within a small space, Amos’s work would be perfect. Her work in costume has included Occams Razor Theatre and Theatre Ad Infinitum. The hand-made nature of her stunning costumes also appealed to bare/not’s collective love of craft.

Ghada Amer

The Woman Who Failed to be Scheherezade - Ghada Amer

Embroidery usually involves flowers, pictures of fruit or bible phrases, however extremely well-renowned Egyptian artist Ghada Amer has raunched up the mainstay of grannies and WI biddies. Her Pollock-esque strands of thread reveal, as if peering into a veiled harem, women in various states of flagrante, turning a traditionally soft, feminine art into a brusque political commentary. The images which emerge from the swirling Freudian curtain of thread are violently and unapologetically sexual, and yet appeal to a female gaze, with her protagonists indulging both publicly and privately in self gratification. Amer’s Muslim upbringing is what makes her work so controversial, not only does it go against the Islamic artistic tradition of abstract form and the strict disallowance of bodily form, but her women’s aggressively sexual posing (inspired by Western porn magazines) is explicit and makes a strongly political statement. However, this background has added a layer of intrigue to Amer’s work – a self-confessed ‘prude’, who sometimes finds the sexuality of her work ‘difficult’ – this reticence, humility and piously modest creed, which counteracts and sanitises the tawdriness of her work; balanced with her courage and staunch opinions, which strengthens her work, makes her something of an enigma. Visually, the female forms, obscured and locked behind bars of thread, and a meaning which has to be teased from the writhing mass, makes Amer another perfect candidate for the exhibition.

Kate Jenkins

Tea-time - Kate Jenkins

I’m not ashamed to admit that I suggested Kate Jenkin’s work for the exhibition because, well, it’s adorable. Provisionally, perhaps because we chose a great deal of female artists, we decided to include a crafts quota to bring a bit of home-made whimsy to the exhibition, as an antidote to the hefty philosophical and moral themes, which tend to make the exhibition a little sombre. Her knitted cakes, fish and chips, cups, cigarettes, food packets, butterflies and pizzas are exquisite, and an interesting take on the traditional nature of craft.