Retro, art deco and glam rock references are at the forefront of the season, while 1970’s punks meet space-age geishas and the original “New Look” translates into a juxtaposed new look of postmodern time. Basket weave manipulations, heavy placement embroidery, sequins, intricate cutwork and an abundance of tulle are opulently seen alongside more fluid, lighter textiles such as silk, satin and sheers. Also, there were quite a few moments of fur and wool, which is quite surprising considering the season in question. A captivating blend of classic tailoring alongside innovative silhouettes is apparent, with fitted & flared shapes and graphic cuts taking the front row. White seems to be the most dominant colour of the season, with black, emerald green, blood red, fresh pastels and chrome yellow to follow. A sea of layering, frills, paneled applications, surprises at the back and bulky accessories are certain evident details, with strapless, high-neck/waist and knee/ankle-length proportions in the foreground.

1. IRIS VAN HERPEN

2. Donatella Versace for ATELIER VERSACE

3. STÉPHANE ROLLAND

4. GIAMBATTISTA VALLI

5. ZUHAIR MURAD

6. ELIE SAAB

7. Giovanni Bedin for WORTH

8. Maria Grazia Chiuri & Pier Paolo Picciolifor VALENTINO

9. BOUCHRA JARRAR

10. Giorgio Armani for GIORGIO ARMANI PRIVÉ

That’s that for Paris Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2013; I hope the article was informative, exciting and inspirational in some capacity.

To watch full show videos of Paris Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2013, visit my YouTube channel @ http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdRvGI3XoFUIb6a2Xq5wLCZLdVY3EsNsm/

Stay tuned for updates on Menswear and Ready-to-Wear Fall/Winter 2013 to follow shortly!

Wishing you a fashionably sick Spring/Summer 2013! X

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

BIBLIOGRAPHY

All images (2013) [online images]. Available from: <http://www.vogue.it/en/shows/season/haute-couture-spring-summer-2013/> [Accessed: 18.03.2013]

Stephané Rolland (2013) [online images]. Available from: <http://djursh.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Stephane%20Rolland/> [Accessed: 18.03.2013]

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

I am starting the log cabin blocks for my Christmas quilt. This is ten of the 100 I need for the queen bed. I hope I can chain piece 5 a day, or at least every other day. We’ll see. The fabrics are a majority of civil war repros in chrome yellow, turkey red and poison green.

Many thanks to my cyber darling Managua for yet another sunny surprise, he is the guy who by default sees the light where it’s concealed – as it  seems – by default.

We are all a part of the new phenomena of BLOGOSPHERE – of the brand new paradigm, the most revolutionary and most exciting shift the written word made ever since the Guteneberg’s invention of the printing press.

Gone is the middle man – the publisher, gone is the monopoly on information, gone is the editor – in our parts, hand in hand with the infamous censor, followed by its doppelgänger - the self-censor…

Gone are beach reads, chick lit and all other euphemisms used for fiction of low quality – and the new phenomena is born – that of the confessional and memoir blogging.

It will take time until all of it is canonized, academi-zed and, basically, subjected to all kinds of ISMs which will eventually make it mainstream and probably – over time – quite boring and passe and something newer will be born then…

For now though, we are enjoying the ride, the free flowing, the utter lack of mercantilism and the profound immersion in the unadulterated joy of the intellectual exchange and emotional bonding with folks who are wired the same way.

We could say it’s all very much like some cyber version of Huxley’s Chrome Yellow, in which he conceived The Brave New World where (in words of Mr. Scogan, one of the characters) an “impersonal generation” of the future “take(s) the place of Nature’s hideous system. In vast state incubators, rows upon rows of gravid bottles will supply the world with the population it requires. The family system will disappear; society, sapped at its very base, will have to find new foundations; and Eros, beautifully and irresponsibly free, will flit like a gay butterfly from flower to flower through a sunlit world.”

In the cyber, mind you. Otherwise, many (most?) of us couldn’t and wouldn’t give up on some previously existing commitments – be those down to an spoiled-rotten cat, eccentric parents, an ancient system of belief and a tiny nation – or anything and anyone else that’s, by our own choice or not, between us and the abstract category of the ‘absolute freedom’.

Yet, within blogosphere, miracles are the norm.

Within last 72 hours or so, i’ve been with Managua to Starý Smokovec - don’t listen to his exalted ravings, it’s a boring Slovakian village for which – for unbeknownst to me reasons – he has a thing.

Larry and i had one of those posh academic exchanges about stuff we both know, but call different names;

the moving force behind realmanure and i have developed one of those epic bonds that transgress the personal and local, rectifying thus the universal;

thanks to Arlen i learned what’s Armenian alphabet like – and got infected once again with the wanderlust…

I was with sohojay in NYC, we mourned.

I met lichtbilwefer and they told me of goats’ skins and sweetened teas in places mysterious and not-so-clean.

I check out on Zoey regularly, she got under my skin.

Bonnie Cehovet told me of urban magic and where to find it in the city.

Nonoymanga got me hooked on Manga, hand drawing and animation – and i became their follower number 1001.

I’ve peeked into the curious cabinet of Le Fanu, everyone’s favorite Tarot collector in the far off lands.

Jema tok me for a stroll in Savannah – she hadn’t warned me though it will be snowing! I was taken aback by encountering fully dressed giraffe walking on her back legs – accompanied by an easygoing elephant – but it turned out to be the norm when it’s snowing in Savannah!

Stephen took me for a walk along the cobbled streets in Stromness; Author Dianne Gray pointed out that fickle finger of fate, while wondering wasn’t it all just a little too intense for her own good…

Amras was telling me about healing powers of crystals and the pirate whose heart got stolen by the sea, told me the story of the Copper Sun…

Nyan Cat from Dallas, USA

“Can’t get much better than a pop tart and cat! Please consider donating to the Red Cross and thank you all Nyan Cat lovers!”

Welcome Nyan Cat to the Kitty Tartan Registry! http://kittytartan.com

TARTAN SPECS:

THOUGHTS ABOUT KITTY TARTAN

“Long live LOL-Comics!”

All colours have an energy, a particular vibration, a healing quality. Yellow radiates joy, its energy is infectious and we are drawn to it, like the bees.

What could be a better Good Morning?

Click on the link and follow the centering exercise to put you in the best place for contemplating the picture below.

Gaze without words to distract.  Finish with the awareness exercise under the picture, repeat it throughout the day.  Take it with you.

Find joy, today

It was two hours cut clean out of his life, two hours in which he might have done so much, so much–written the perfect poem, for example, or read the one illuminating book.

Two hours. One hundred and twenty minutes. Anything might be done in that time. Anything. Nothing. Oh, he had hundreds of hours, and what had he done with them? Wasted them, spilt the precious minutes as though his reservoir were inexhaustible. Denis groaned in the spirit, condemned himself utterly with all his works. What right had he to sit in the sunshine, to occupy corner seats in third-class carriages, to be alive? None, none, none.

Misery and a nameless nostalgic distress possessed him. He was twenty-three, and oh! so agonizingly conscious of the fact.

–

Curves, curves: he repeated the word slowly, trying as he did so to find some term in which to give expression to his appreciation. He made a gesture with his hand, as though to scoop the achieved expression out of the air, and almost fell off his bicycle. What was the word to describe the curves of those little valleys? They were as fine as the lines of a human body, they were informed with the subtlety of art. . . .

He really must find that word. Curves curves. . . . Those little valleys had the lines of a cup moulded round a woman’s breast; they seemed the dinted imprints of some huge divine body that had rested on these hills. Cumbrous locutions, these; but through them he seemed to be getting nearer to what he wanted. Dinted, dimpled, wimpled–his mind wandered down echoing corridors of assonance and alliteration ever further and further from the point. He was enamoured with the beauty of words.

–

Parallel straight lines, Denis reflected, meet only at infinity. He might talk for ever of care-charmer sleep and she of meteorology till the end of time. Did one ever establish contact with anyone? We are all parallel straight lines.

–

“You have a bad habit of quoting,” said Anne. “As I never know the context or author, I find it humiliating.”

Denis apologized. “It’s the fault of one’s education. Things somehow seem more real and vivid when one can apply somebody else’s ready-made phrase about them. And then there are lots of lovely names and words–Monophysite, Iamblichus, Pomponazzi; you bring them out triumphantly, and feel you’ve clinched the argument with the mere magical sound of them. That’s what comes of higher education.”

“You may regret your education,” said Anne;  “I’m ashamed of my lack of it. Look at those sunflowers! Aren’t they magnificent?”

“Dark faces and golden crowns–they’re kings in Ethiopia. And I like the way the tits cling to the flowers and pick out the seeds, while the other loutish birds, grubbing dirtily for their food, look up in envy from the ground. Do they look up in envy? That’s the literary touch, I’m afraid. Education again. It always comes back to that.” He was silent.

Anne had sat down on a bench that stood in the shade of an old apple tree. “I’m listening,” she said.

He did not sit down, but walked backwards and forwards in front of the bench, gesticulating a little as he talked. “Books,” he said, “books. One reads so many, and one sees so few people and so little of the world. Great thick books about the universe and the mind and ethics. You’ve no idea how many there are. I must have read twenty or thirty tons of them in the last five years. Twenty tons of ratiocination. Weighted with that, one’s pushed out into the world.”

One entered the world, Denis pursued, having ready-made ideas about everything. One had a philosophy and tried to make life fit into it. One should have lived first and then made one’s philosophy to fit life. . . . Life, facts, things were horribly complicated; ideas, even the most difficult of them, deceptively simple. In the world of ideas everything was clear; in life all was obscure, embroiled. Was it surprising that one was miserable, horribly unhappy? Denis came to a halt in front of the bench, and as he asked this last question he stretched out his arms and stood for an instant in an attitude of crucifixion, then let them fall again to his sides.

“My poor Denis!” Anne was touched. He was really too pathetic as he stood there in front of her in his white flannel trousers. “But does one suffer about these things? It seems very extraordinary.”

“You’re like Scogan,” cried Denis bitterly. “You regard me as a specimen for an anthropologist. Well, I suppose I am.”

“No, no,” she protested, and drew in her skirt with a gesture that indicated he was to sit down beside her. He sat down.”Why can’t you just take things for granted and as they come?” she asked. “It’s so much simpler.”

“Of course it is,” said Denis. “But it’s a lesson to be learnt gradually. There are the twenty tons of ratiocination to be got rid of first.”

“I’ve always taken things as they’ve come,” said Anne. “It seems so obvious. One enjoys the pleasant things, avoids the nasty ones. There’s nothing more to be said.”

“Nothing–for you. But, then, you were born a pagan; I am trying laboriously to make myself one. I can take nothing for granted, I can enjoy nothing as it comes along. Beauty, pleasure, art, women–I have to invent an excuse, a justification for everything that’s delightful. Otherwise I can’t enjoy it with an easy conscience. I make up a little story about beauty and pretend that it has something to do with truth and goodness. I have to say that art is the process by which one reconstructs the divine reality out of chaos. Pleasure is one of the mystical roads to union with the infinite–the ecstasies of drinking, dancing, love-making. As for women, I am perpetually assuring myself that they’re the broad highway to divinity. And to think that I’m only just beginning to see through the silliness of the whole thing! It’s incredible to me that anyone should have escaped the horrors.”

–

“The Mountain Road may be steep, but the air is pure up there, and it is from the Summit that one gets the view.”

“The Things that Really Matter happen in the Heart.”

It was curious, Denis reflected, the way the Infinite sometimes repeated itself.

“Seeing is Believing. Yes, but Believing is also Seeing. If I believe in God, I see God, even in the things that seem to be evil.”

Mr. Barbecue-Smith looked up from his notebook. “That last one,” he said,” is particularly subtle and beautiful, don’t you think? Without Inspiration I could never have hit on that.” He re-read the apophthegm with a slower and more solemn utterance.  “Straight from the Infinite,” he commented reflectively, then addressed himself to the next aphorism.

“The flame of a candle gives Light, but it also Burns.”

Puzzled wrinkles appeared on Mr. Barbecue-Smith’s forehead.  “I don’t exactly know what that means,” he said. It’s very gnomic. One could apply it, of course, to the Higher Education–illuminating, but provoking the Lower Classes to discontent and revolution. Yes, I suppose that’s what it is. But it’s very gnomic, it’s gnomic.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. The gong sounded again, clamorously, it seemed imploringly; dinner was growing cold. It roused Mr. Barbecue-Smith from meditation. He turned to Denis.

“You understand me now when I advise you to cultivate your Inspiration. Let your Subconscious work for you; turn on the Niagara of the Infinite.”

–

“That’s the test for the literary mind,” said Denis; “the feeling of magic, the sense that words have power. The technical, verbal part of literature is simply a development of magic. Words are man’s first and most grandiose invention. With language he created a whole new universe; what power to them! With fitted, harmonious words the magicians summoned rabbits out of empty hats and spirits from the elements. Their descendants, the literary men, still go on with the process, morticing their verbal formuas together and, before the power of the finished spell, trembling with delight and awe. Rabbits out of empty hats? No, their spells are more subtly powerful, for they evoke emotions out of empty minds. Formulated by their art the most insipid statements become enormously significant. For example, I proffer the constation, ‘Black ladders lack bladders.’ A self-evident truth, one on which it would not have been worth while to insist, had I chosen to formulate it in such words as ‘Black fire-escapes have no bladders,’ or, ‘Les echelles noires manquent de vessie.’ But since I put it as I do, ‘Black ladders lack bladders,’ it becomes, for all its self-evidence, significant, unforgettable, moving. The creation by word-power of something out of nothing–what is that but magic? And, I may add, what is that but literature? Half the world’s greatest poetry is simply ‘Les echelles noires manquest de vessie,’ translated into magic significance as, ‘Black ladders lack bladders.’ And you can’t appreciate words. I’m sorry for you.”

“A mental carminative,” said Mr. Scogan reflectively. “That’s what you need.”

by Amazon.com

The Cheapest Price is Here, Buy Now & Save More Low price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) Available

Last Special Deals by Amazon.com

With its plush cushioning, innovative upper and mesh inner sleeve, and great flexibility, the Nike Air Max 2012 Mens Running Shoe delivers lightweight comfort and maximum support for serious runners. Dark Grey / Black -Chrome Yellow Full-length, segmented Max Air unit for maximum impact protection Full mesh inner sleeve that wraps the fooWith its plush cushioning, innovative upper and mesh inner sleeve, and great flexibility, the Nike Air Max 2012 Mens Running Shoe delivers lightweight comfort and maximum support for serious runners. Dark Grey / Black -Chrome Yellow Full-length, segmented Max Air unit for maximum impact protection Full mesh inner sleeve that wraps the foo… Show all Product Description by Amazon.com

by Amazon.com

Low price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Offer for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Save Price for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Best Buy NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Best Price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Sale for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Lowest Price for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) on Sale.

by Amazon.com

The Cheapest Price is Here, Buy Now & Save More Low price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) Available

Last Special Deals by Amazon.com

With its plush cushioning, innovative upper and mesh inner sleeve, and great flexibility, the Nike Air Max 2012 Mens Running Shoe delivers lightweight comfort and maximum support for serious runners. Dark Grey / Black -Chrome Yellow Full-length, segmented Max Air unit for maximum impact protection Full mesh inner sleeve that wraps the fooWith its plush cushioning, innovative upper and mesh inner sleeve, and great flexibility, the Nike Air Max 2012 Mens Running Shoe delivers lightweight comfort and maximum support for serious runners. Dark Grey / Black -Chrome Yellow Full-length, segmented Max Air unit for maximum impact protection Full mesh inner sleeve that wraps the foo… Show all Product Description by Amazon.com

by Amazon.com

Low price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Offer for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Save Price for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Best Buy NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Best Price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Sale for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Lowest Price for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) on Sale.

by Amazon.com

The Cheapest Price is Here, Buy Now & Save More Low price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) Available

Last Special Deals by Amazon.com

With its plush cushioning, innovative upper and mesh inner sleeve, and great flexibility, the Nike Air Max 2012 Mens Running Shoe delivers lightweight comfort and maximum support for serious runners. Dark Grey / Black -Chrome Yellow Full-length, segmented Max Air unit for maximum impact protection Full mesh inner sleeve that wraps the fooWith its plush cushioning, innovative upper and mesh inner sleeve, and great flexibility, the Nike Air Max 2012 Mens Running Shoe delivers lightweight comfort and maximum support for serious runners. Dark Grey / Black -Chrome Yellow Full-length, segmented Max Air unit for maximum impact protection Full mesh inner sleeve that wraps the foo… Show all Product Description by Amazon.com

by Amazon.com

Low price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Offer for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Save Price for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Best Buy NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Best Price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Sale for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Lowest Price for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) on Sale.

by Amazon.com

The Cheapest Price is Here, Buy Now & Save More Low price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) Available

Last Special Deals by Amazon.com

With its plush cushioning, innovative upper and mesh inner sleeve, and great flexibility, the Nike Air Max 2012 Mens Running Shoe delivers lightweight comfort and maximum support for serious runners. Dark Grey / Black -Chrome Yellow Full-length, segmented Max Air unit for maximum impact protection Full mesh inner sleeve that wraps the fooWith its plush cushioning, innovative upper and mesh inner sleeve, and great flexibility, the Nike Air Max 2012 Mens Running Shoe delivers lightweight comfort and maximum support for serious runners. Dark Grey / Black -Chrome Yellow Full-length, segmented Max Air unit for maximum impact protection Full mesh inner sleeve that wraps the foo… Show all Product Description by Amazon.com

by Amazon.com

Low price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Offer for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Save Price for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Best Buy NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Best Price NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Sale for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , Lowest Price for NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) , NIKE AIR MAX 2012 MENS 487982-009 (10.5, DARK GREY/BLACK-CHROME YELLOW) on Sale.

The Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said,
“One who gives us adulterated goods is not from us.”
He repeated this sentence thrice then said,
“And Allah will remove barakat from the livelihood of the Muslim brothers. (Allah) will destroy his economy and leave him upon his own condition.”

However one of the most serious problems Pakistan today is the phenomenon of adulteration of food. Food commodities in the country have always been vulnerable to fraudulent admixture or adulteration with cheaper inferior materials. This unprincipled and nefarious practice, increasing in degree as it has been found difficult of detection, is now applied to almost every commodity, and is carried on to a most alarming extent in every part of the country, and food adulteration certainly has now become one of the biggest proliferating industries. Fruits, vegetables, edibles especially beverages, bottled water, cooking oil/ghee, spices, tea, sweeteners like sugar, sweetmeats and bakery products, milk and milk products might be contaminated that producers can save a few rupees; are constant threat to the health of the  citizens. Contaminated foods and drinks are common sources of infection.

Food adulteration in Pakistan starts from the field itself where fertilizers and pesticides are overused. Therefore one kind of contaminant that is present across all range of food is very high level of pesticide residues. In the market very often food is adulterated by merchants and traders who are unscrupulous and want to make a quick profit. But shortages and increasing prices, consumer demands for variety in foods, a lack of awareness, negligence, indifference and lethargy among consumers and inadequate enforcement of food laws and food safety measures also lead to food adulteration. Food insecurity and adulteration have not only worsened but also playing havoc with the lives of people. From mixing of edible oils with inferior varieties to ripening of bananas and mangoes with banned chemicals, Pakistan is home to the worst kind of adulteration of food in the country. While these details are startling, what is alarming is the fact that most of the culprits engaged in this illegal activity in the country go unpunished. Not a single person or a company has been convicted for food adulteration in the country in the last four years.

There are about 60 million children in Pakistan. Malnutrition, diseases like polio, typhoid fever or bacillary dysentery, cryptosporidiosis, cholera, rotavirus infections, and a variety of worm infestations, and even prejudice continue to threaten their healthy existence. Urea, which is used in the preparation of synthetic milk, is particularly harmful for kidneys, and caustic soda is a slow poison for people suffering from hypertension and heart ailments. When we see such young children and adults suffering from various diseases due to the adulteration of food, we realize that it become a big problem now. There have been various debates in this regard in the parliament, but no action has been taken so far. Two years back National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights was informed that 70% adulterated food and 52% adulterated mineral water was being sold in the market and also cadmium, hair removing powder, surf, bleaching powder, salt and lead was being used in tetra pack milk, which is dangerous for human health but no stern law has been introduced to apprehend the adulterators in the country till now.

The average Pakistani family is eating dangerous dyes, sawdust, soapstone, harmful chemicals and other harmful substances mixed with consumable goods. According to our Ministry of Science and Technology there is 35% microbiological contamination in bottled water and 1 kilogram of pure milk is being mixed with 39 kg of contaminated milk consisting of Urea, bleaching powder and other poisonous chemicals. High Level of pesticides content is present in grains, pulses, in fruits and vegetables that we eat. Arsenic is being used in mineral water, which is common particularly in Sindh province. Salt is the classic preservative, but is seldom classified as an adulterant. Many products used in everyday cooking, such as cottage cheese and clarified butter, are adulterated. Coloring agents in spices are also posing problems. Apples are the basis for many jellies, which are colored so as to simulate finer ones. In confectionery, dangerous colors, such as chrome yellow, Prussian blue, copper and arsenic compounds are employed. Cream is adulterated with gelatin, and formaldehyde is employed as a preservative for it. Brick dust in chilly powder, colored chalk powder in turmeric, injectable dyes in watermelon, peas, capsicum, brinjal, papaya seeds in black pepper etc are frequently used.

Due to the lack of fresh clean water in rural areas, people are forced to drink water that is high in fluoride content; it consists of high impurities and other harmful pesticides contents. Due to the consumption of such impure water, people are prone to diseases of the bone, cancer etc.   It is estimated out of the total, 40% of the diseases prevalent in the country are water borne and about 20 to 40% hospitalizations are due to these diseases. Consumption of food and beverages obtained from street food vendors has been associated with an increased risk of illness. Pesticides that are now banned in the western world (such as DDT) are still used frequently by our farmers. I can go on describing the harmful impacts adulterated foods can have on your health. What is however disturbing is the complete indifference being shown by the consumers as well as the regulatory bodies in checking the menace of adulterated food products, milk, fruits and vegetables.

Just take the example of Karachi. As reports suggest, the authorities have absolutely failed to tackle the menace of adulteration, which puts the health of consumers at risk. There are only 13 food inspectors in this city of 18 million people and a tedious legal procedure mean that the city government is unable to keep a check on adulteration. Apart from the insufficient number of food inspectors in Karachi, reports from other parts of the country reveal that in some instances the inspectors are not qualified for their job. The state needs to take food safety seriously qualified food scientists need to be recruited. The number of food inspectors in our cities and towns must be increased and eateries` staff better trained. Officials must also be equipped with better technology to test food quality, and empowered through legislation to take swift action against those who flout food safety laws. The available laws against adulteration are just the tip of the iceberg. The roots are much deeper and embedded in the weak legal and regulatory procedures that allow the indicted to go scot-free even after being held for a culpable crime, and pursue his business as usual. Extremely low conviction rate raises a finger at the probity of the Government to book the culprits. There is no denying the fact that the officials do file a case against a company when its food samples are found adulterated in the laboratory and then matters are settled underhand.

The overall picture for the country too is not impressive enough regarding anti-adulteration measures. In Pakistan no Prevention of Food Adulteration Program has been developed to regulate the quality of food and to ensure safe food for the consumers. There exist a large number of food laws in Pakistan. However, most of them deal with control of production, distribution and supply of food; adulteration, however, goes on unabated in our country and no one ever has been handed down this maximum punishment. Punishments on food adulteration, in fact, are very rare in the country. The adulterator after been caught red-handed settles the issue with the regulators that benefit both of them at the expense of the consumers. Adulterators are not scared of any legal or punitive action due to the various loopholes in the existing laws. Majority of adulterators arrested or challaned for the offence easily get bails from courts. Now that the reality behind what we eat has come out, the indirect poison that we intake unknowingly, has to be corrected with immediate steps. Adulteration of food items has become a severe health hazard which needs to be curbed with stern action. Food adulteration, and for that matter any type of adulteration should be stopped at any cost.  The practice of injecting chemical substances to ripen the fruit has caught the attention of many people.  Even though they are practiced day in day out, there is no mechanism or legislation to prevent such kind of acts.

The lives of the people are endangered and simple fines and small imprisonments are not enough for the adulterators. There should be provision for stringent punishments like confiscation of property, life imprisonment, and even death sentence. So long exemplary punishments are not given, this menace cannot be stopped. The same punishments needs also be given to the officials and politicians who collaborate with them. There are stringent punishments to the adulterators are prevalent in some countries. Pakistan is a soft state where crime has taken the cancerous dimension.  The cases pending against violators could set examples instead of letting the violators to go untamed by the law. People should start suing the shop owners who sell tainted food. And law should be impartial. Provincial and local governments need to work in coordination for the provision of hygienic and healthy food and the departments concerned should take necessary steps to cancel licenses of factories of adulterated food and food related other products manufacturers and mineral water producers in order to cope with the situation. Consumers have to be aware of their rights, and nonprofit organizations should play an active role in this regard. The Government should also periodically intimate as how many adulterators were punished for food adulteration.

I had Yeats on my mind this morning, so I added a little from the first stanza of his poem The Second Coming. The lettering and pen & ink I did with my bowl shaped Tachikawa nib.

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

          –W.B.Yeats (1865-1939)

(click the image for a larger view)

Number 9 in the Eating Oranges Still Life Project again features the cup and saucer and adds two tangerines.  I also worked this one up without my glasses on and being more than a bit stigmatic I think this adds some interesting distortions to the shapes. 

For the next piece in this project I have decided to expand my palette and use colors I haven’t used in quite some time in order to go in what ever direction the muse may lead. I also want to use more pure color in the following work exploring a more expressive approach to the painting.

Chris Hitch, meh

Some who know me may be surprised to learn I was no fan of Christopher Hitchens.  The jaded raver in me with a satirical disposition often described in mono-syllabic words ranging from ‘dry’ to ‘dark’ should find something to like and admire about Hitchens right?

To a point.

I always saw Hitchens as a drunk that could win an argument, any argument, with a bit of panache, bile and wit.  I always saw myself as a drunk who could lose an argument, any argument, with a bit of panache, bile and wit.  To the extent that is true, we are polar opposites.

When William S. Burroughs is your hero growing up the idea of Hitchens as some sort of wild eyed contrarian always struck me as not quite right.  Is there anything more mundane than a well educated, equal parts charming and maddening Englishman endlessly drinking, chain smoking and calling Mother Theresa a cunt?

If he was such a contrarian why such fawning remembrances  of him in every milquetoast, middlebrow ‘merican magazine from The Nation to Reason, Salon to Slate, Andrew Sullivan to surely the most pseudo-intellectual feel good grocery store checkout line purchase of the late 20th century for which he wrote, Vanity Fair?

He was prolific to be sure, an admirable virtue to this late blooming lowly blogger.  An entertaining writer and talk show guest no doubt; though one should remember his lackluster competition.  I liked Hitchens best at his arguably least popular in the 90s attacking the Clinton’s and their whole enterprise for being conniving, blood thirsty and the ultimate in the American version of shallow, banal evil.  His militant atheism left this godless heathen cold.  One of the things I abhor about organized religion is precisely its militancy and fundamentalism.  It is no less of a buzzkill when issued from an atheist.  His advocacy of western-led genocide in Iraq and the Middle East always struck me as the pose of an adolescent: ‘Daddy Liberal believes X so I’m going to advocate Y in the most boorish way possible to really piss him off’ and right in the middle of the shopping mall.

My best comparison for Hitchens would be Huxley’s Chrome Yellow.  Well written.  Intellectual.  Satirical.  Dry.  Occasionally brilliant.  But please, more scenes with Barbecue-Smith!  Perhaps a couple good doses of the psilocybin and LSD Huxley would later use could of pushed ‘Hitch’ beyond the rascally English rebel every Beltway pundit could love and admire.

and now…

the Monticello website says of the color on the walls:

Color: Originally unpainted plaster, then “chrome yellow,” then wall-papered, then blue in the post-Jefferson era. Currently the walls are a “chrome yellow” recreated following paint analysis studies.

“Susan R. Stein, Monticello’s curator  says, “The blue dated from 1936. So we began to do paint studies and concluded this chrome-yellow shade was applied to the dining room around 1815, only 6 years after it was invented in France.” “Thanks to a generous donation from Polo Ralph Lauren”, the house was repainted it’s first color. Read the full article and see additional pictures at Elle Decor

I love the transformation!  It was very chic to have these bright colors then.  Mount Vernon’s dining room is a (pretty awful) green, but chic and expensive at the time.

Some Exciting Colors for 2012 - Russet, Oranges and Chrome Yellow!

On the heals of announcements of the exciting color trends for 2012, we like everyone are gearing up to put a face on the best of what we have to contribute to forecasted hot groups of colors, texture, and surface in the year to come. I have had blog-neglect guilt as we have been preparing to load some 500 new selections in bedding, pillows and area rugs, in vibrant and jewel – like colors. Some of the pillows remind me of Gauguin paintings!

A Designers Guild Pillow in Amazing shades of Turquoise, Sulfer, and matt black and grey

I have honed in on some of the trends that I feel have the greatest potential for broadcasting style in a way that delivers a 1-2 impact offering both style and the ambiance of home.

I loved the joyful and unapologetic energy of trend toward Russet and Chili-pepper reds mixed with Terracotta, as seen above in in-coming Design Legacy furnishings and rich russet pillows. If you throw some Turquoise accents into the mix, you get an energetic palette whose color origins inspired ancient Romans, who left us a tragic snap shot of their exuberant color palettes in the form of the ash entombed ancient resort city of Pompeii, in Italy…

Proving yet again, that what is new are just great looks rediscovered!

The surfaces and textures are also amongst my favorite parts of the design story for 2012. The combination of matt finish, and transparency is a recipe for design romance (as seen above left). I love the floating and airy vibe of glass and lucite accent pieces, like this gorgeous lamp that will be making a debut on MyHomeFaceLift next month. Lighting Designer Ann Yancy knocked this floor lamp out of the park. The Pantone forecast’s chrome yellow is combined with matt semi-opaque chrome yellow beads that appear to float atop the lucite column.

Here’s another amazing look in our own forecast - the worn, textured surface of bound fibers punctuate russet glass beading that emulate the shape of chili peppers!

This pendant offers the color and shape of chili peppers, and the play of matt and transparency

We are thrilled to be welcoming Ro Sham Beaux on board in April! Stayed tuned for more amazing color and welcoming style!

Related Articles

• Mystery Behind Fading Van Goghs Solved (cbsnews.com)
• Chemists Try To Keep Van Gogh’s Sunflowers Yellow (scientificamerican.com)
• Pantone Palette Predictions for 2012 Home & Housewares 2011 (apartmenttherapy.com)
• Pompeii exhibit in NYC shines light on buried city (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Kirsty Connell on what science has found out about a Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflowers

Like submarines, bananas and phone books, the yellow of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings is so recognisable it describes itself.

But the yellow hues of  Vincent Van Gogh sunflowers, straw and starlight that light up the canvases of the most famous Post-Impressionist have begun to turn brown: not through age, but from a chemical reaction never before observed in paint.

According to a study published this week in the journal Analytical Chemistry, van Gogh’s use of a paint known as Chrome Yellow produced brighter brushstrokes at the cost of random degradation under sunlight.

The degradation is random, because the yellow pigments in some works remain golden, while others have become brown. Curators keep van Gogh’s works out of sunlight, but have been unable until now to predict affected paintings.

To discover why, three tubes of paint produced at a similar time van Gogh worked were bombarded with ultraviolet radiation for three weeks to mimic the process of aging underneath sunlight.

Only one sample turned brown, but tests with electron or infrared microscopy indicated no differences between it and the remaining yellow samples.

“Our eyes told us something had changed but all our equipment told us no change,” said Koen Janssens, the Antwerp University chemist who co-wrote he study.

It wasn’t until the samples were tested with a high-intensity X-ray that it was found the yellow samples had chromium in its pure, crystalline form, while the brown sample contained a contaminant: barium sulphate. A white pigment for paints, it was probably added to make the paint go further.

The predominance of yellow in van Gogh’s work is ascribed to various causes: digitalis poisoning; synesthesia; a need to cheer up. But perhaps having to paint with a slightly different Chrome Yellow will mean we never see Vincent’s canvases quite as he intended.

I’ve been to Arles.  I’ve seen the sunflower fields that grow in abundance in the area.  I was there just after the bulk of these crops had been harvested, so I not only saw some bright examples of the real flowers, but also some faded, past-their-prime ones.  I have a feeling I know what Vincent was trying to capture on the canvas.  Arguably he did, but the ravages of time mean that you can hardly tell now.

Here is (approximately) how the painting looks today:

If you look at the petals in close up, it can’t be denied.  The petals are brown.  Look at the close up below.

How did this happen?  Well, at the time that Van Gogh was painting this canvas (1888), one of the new yellow pigments he used was called Chrome Yellow.  It’s made from Lead Chromate, so it’s toxic and this pigment is no longer used for that reason.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_yellow

http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/LE/lead_chromate.html

Lead Chromate reacts with air and oxidises, turning a yellow pigment into a dull brown.  Here’s a swatch of (approximately) how Chrome Yellow looks fresh from the tube:

You can see what a bright, happy, vibrant colour it is.  If ever there was a pigment evocative of sunshine, this is it.  Sunshine and happiness in a tube!

Ironically, exposure to sunlight also adversely affects the colour of this pigment, over time.

It’s unlikely that this great work of art by one of our most beloved artists is going to be restored any time soon.  Even if the task were to be attempted, nobody in good conscience could advocate using a toxic pigment in the restoration.  A close substitute would have to suffice (probably a Cadmium Yellow, even though that is toxic to some degree as well).

That got me to wondering what the painting might have looked like when first painted.  Without doing a serious digital restoration of a high resolution colour photograph, we will never be able to visualise that with anything like accuracy or fidelity, but a few brief minutes with Paint.NET can give a quick and dirty rendition of the effect.  So, for your viewing pleasure, I now unveil this rough impression of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers Re-Chromed.  I hope you enjoy it.

It makes me smile to think how the painting might have originally been.

(OK, OK, I know it’s as coarse as you can get and the original painting would have had much more subtle blends of the yellow pigments, but I was curious  :)   )

For more information about this fugitive pigment, see this excellent web site:

http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/overview/cryellow.html

Visit the National Gallery online:  http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-sunflowers

This is an excellent discussion about the potential symbolic meanings of the painting (e.g. happiness):  http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/learn-about-art/paintings-in-depth/sunflowers-symbols-of-happiness

Incidentally, the astute reader will notice an obvious influence in my choice of web site background colour.  I got close, I think.  :)

EDIT:  Researchers have discovered that the browning of the yellows is due to UV light.  They also discovered a hitherto unknown chemical reaction was at the heart of the matter.  Vincent’s practice of mixing yellow with white apparently made the browning worse, over time, but the good news is that the browning takes place in a very thin region of the paint where the paint surface meets the varnish.  Below that, the colour remains true to the original.  Scientists are now studying ways of reversing the oxidation through reduction reactions.

Read more here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12453610

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac1025122

“It’s the fault of one’s education. Things seem more real and vivid when one can apply somebody else’s phrases about them and then there are lots of lovely names and words – monophysit, iamblichus, and pomponazzi: you bring them out triumphantly and feel you’ve clinched the argument with the mere magical sound of them …”

I have come across the odd Dennis Stone in Vancouver (and Dublin) and had occasion to sit across the table from him. He tends to luxuriate in the sound of himself (usually — if you remain awake long enough to listen carefully — constructed on borrowed ready made phrases and tag words that plume out of him). One tires quickly of Dennis because with the ready-made phrases come ready-made ideas and he ceased listening to anything other than his own  pitter patter, which is not really his own, it’s derived pitter patter that works for the attentive spawning minions necessary for the legacy of Dennis.  Dennis, while bathing aloud in himself, often misquotes things he hasn’t bothered to read and wouldn’t bother to read because Dennis has already Decided. Dennis may have an interesting idea or two, but you cannot get near them for Dennis is constantly in the way. Dennis also places himself in the way of your own ideas, for in the shadow of Dennis no one has lived except Dennis who has lived all, everywhere, endless, in the name of the Dennis, Glory be to the Dennis, the bold, holed, souled Dennis.  Finally Dennis knows more about ovaries than well an ovary because Dennis has a direct telephone line to the ovary.

There’s something concrete bout Dennis, he’s an early relic, he no longer budges or moves.

In an inter-related matter, perhaps this explains why I rapidly fatigued watching the Charles Olson documentary and was struck by the doorways over all else. The male poet just takes up sooo much space. (thanks Lori for the distinction)

Behind the doorway is the possibility of an opening, an entry point into something, someplace, where Dennis FM, is not the sole (hole!) station.

The 2010 Chrome Yellow Special Edition will only heighten the anxiety!

MSRP $13,290, the vehicle comes equipped with air conditioning, electric windows, radio 9, some yellow and a tasteful touch of chrome….

Call or email today if you are interested – 615-762-7822 (www.smartcenternashville.com)

2010 Chrome Yellow Special Edition smart fortwo

Here I used MAC Chrome Yellow.

MAC Chrome Yellow shadow, Fluidline in Blacktrack, Plushlash mascara

For added interest, choose a complimentary bright shade to place just under your lower lash line.  I went with MAC Lucky Green.

And that’s it!  Simple and fresh, an on trend look for spring.  Which colors would you like to try?

XO E

PS: If you’re in a foul mood, wear bright  happy eyeshadow! It will perk you right up!

What I used & Dupes:

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

MUFE #75- a bright Hot Pink or Fuchsia, try the 88 matte palette, the 120 palette, Medusas’s Makeup Electro pink, and the hot pink from the Harajuku Hunnies Cherry Blossom quadriset are all about the same, or switch it up!

MUFE #99- A true Matte Red. There’s one in the 88 matte palette, but I don’t think there is one in the 120 palette. Any matte red or deeper magenta will work

MAC Chrome Yellow- a super bright matte yellow. There’s dupes in the 120 palette, but you could also use MUFE #2 of #71.

NYX’s Yellow- I didn’t include this in the video because it really doesn’t show up, so it seemed like a pointless step.

NYX White- A super smooth matte white.

Lorac Front of the Line Pro eyeliner – your liquid eyeliner of choice

Fiberwig Mascara

Lips:

Sephora Nano Liner Candid Candy

MAC Viva Glam Gaga

I hope the list of products/possible dupes helps if you want to recreate the look

I cycled in today, all the cunting leaves have gone a chrome yellow and were falling in my face as I passed through the dwindling…hang on

sorry, just needed to roll a bum cigar, Christ that is so much better… canopy by the stream, it was all rather beautiful, serendipity if you will.

I decided that a beer in the evening was essential. I hooked up with a mate from work, Nick, his missus, Fee and their 6-month-old daughter who is a smiling pink little thing. We sat in a walled garden supping ale and playing with Sunny who was happily gurgling away. The sun went down and there we still were, quite suddenly a fucking rat the size of a fucking rat shot past me, I leapt into the air nearly knocking my pint over. At about the time I recovered the fucker ran back again, suddenly feeling very unhappy in my location we upped sticks and went back to Nick and Fee’s for a night cap and to put Sunny to bed. On my walk home I saw at least 6 rats, all large enough to be of major concern to a musophobe (or indeed murophobe) such as myself and fully responsible for disrupting my sleep on account of nightmare encounters with a variety of the cunts presented as a series of short horror stories. Ugggh.

When I got back home yesterday I was rather hoping to see a police car outside my flat and two large officers having a word with Cunt, no such luck of course but there was no sound from downstairs. As I was leaving for the pub I heard a baby crying, ‘shit’ I thought, I was rather hoping they’d all been taken into care.

I got in last night at 10-ish and made ham and cheese on toast, my intention to eat a defrosted rice and chicken thing I made a few weeks ago didn’t happen as the fucker wasn’t fully defrosted and you don’t want to be buggering about with re-heated rice -get it very wrong and it can be fatal believe it or not- besides I required something beer friendly. After an hour I realised that I not heard anything from downstairs, at about this point Cunt crashed in through the front door, he’d obviously decided to take his little fucked up self on a solo bender because he’s unable to cope with the fucking pressures of not having to work at all, having a free fucking house with all mod cons, state of the art musical equipment (which as you may have ascertained is about as effective as giving Stephen Hawkins running shoes, but that’s not the point) and a healthy baby daughter and a women* that loves him. Oh, poor ickle fuck-wit, my fucking heart bleeds for it.

Mercifully that was the last I heard from the drip all night, sadly my chance to catch up on sleep without the grunting plunking fuckery of a retard permeating my somnambulist psyche was interrupted by black rats the size of cats jumping out of pushchairs to sink their teeth into my eyes. You just can’t win can you.

*clearly mad

Post punk anyone? (turn it up) Great video too