"This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today."
-Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
The Five Laws of Library Science
I was linked to this website the other day and had never heard of Ranganathan. I spent a lot of time in the library at uni this year and I reckon they could take a few pointers from this guy.
Shiyali Ramarita Ranganathan
1) Books are for use: It is wrong to conclude from my words that books are the only library materials that matter to me. My point is that libraries must acquire materials and make them accessible so they can be used. This law gives definition both to the concept of an open-stack library and to a library that is appointed with tools and furnishings that make the books it contains useful. Books are to be taken from locked back rooms and brought out to welcoming rooms with open shelves. Shelves need to be accessible to more than one user at a time. Libraries are to be located in the midst of their communities. Whatever be the library location, hours of operation, type of furniture and the way in which books are kept, it is the Library Staff that ultimately make or mar a library. A Modern Librarian who has faith in this law is happy only when the readers make the shelves constantly empty.
Limiting access to books has prevailed through time, and exists even today. The maintenance of special collections with limited access, storing materials off-site, restricting access to libraries based on membership or fees, and even by selecting materials that are contracted in such a way as to limit use, such as when print resources are eliminated in favour of an electronic version of the material that is only accessible to certain patrons with passwords, are all modern equivalents of chaining books to the shelves.
Another aspect of this first law that is still relevant is that libraries are about service or they are about nothing. In order to deliver and reap the rewards of services, libraries must identify the benefits that society can reasonably expect and then devise means of delivering those benefits. Service always has a purpose, and our careers of service still have purpose.
2) Every reader his/her book: This law reveals the fundamental issue of tension between the cost of materials and the basic right of all persons to have access t the materials they need. This makes acquisitions very important; each acquisition should call to mind a potential user. One must always be mindful that since no one individual can own all the 'books', the libraries must acquire a body of literature or research materials that will benefit each of its readers and researchers. The collection must be appropriate to the Library's Mission. Librarians must know the materials, its uses, and how to use it. Reference service gains its legitimacy and its purpose from this law. Clearly, it is the business of librarians to know the reader, to know the books, and to actively help in the finding by every person of his or her book.
Any library that limits access in any way must ensure that this restriction does not prevent adequate access to the collection by the people that the library was created to serve. Access policies also have implications for interlibrary loan, cooperative acquisitions, and consortia to which the library may belong. Libraries must also be concerned with programs that provide for the preservation of materials in alternate formats, such as microfiche, CD-ROM, and other electronic formats. Librarians need to ask themselves:
Which formats are appropriate?
Which format will be most useful for the user?
What additional hardware or software must be acquired to facilitate their usage?
Who will or won't have access?
What are the issues surrounding access to printing, passwords, etc?
Librarians must acknowledge that users of the libraries, themselves included, use and value different means of communications in the pursuit of knowledge, information and entertainment. Libraries must value all means of preserving and communicating the records and achievements of the human mind and heart.
3) Every book its reader: This law addresses the fundamental issue of open access. Open access means that the collection can be examined with as much freedom as if it was the reader's private library. In addition, when a library user comes to the library, or gains access to the library's services, there are certain materials that will meet his or her needs. It is the library's job to ensure that the connection between the user and the materials are made, and that the connection is as speedy and practical as possible. There are many ways in which a library can connect its users to its resources:
In the digital age, getting the 'book' to its reader presents librarians with unique challenges, and the challenges presented by the emergence of electronic resources cannot be overstated! Libraries today must deal with electronic resources that are available 'within' the library but are neither owned nor shelved by the library. Libraries also have the additional challenge of providing access to 'cyber visitors' who use the library's web site for research. Technology, when intelligently applied, is a wonderful, life-enhancing thing. Technology exists to support the mission of librarians to assist in ready and free access to recorded knowledge and information, and to deliver library services effectively. However, technology must be useful, affordable, and cost-effective, and anything beyond that is on the path to dashed expectations and skewed priorities.
4) Save the time of the reader: Perhaps this law is not so self-evident as the others. None the less, it has been responsible for many reforms in library administration. A Library must examine every aspect of its policies, rules, procedures, and systems with the one simple criteria that saving the time of the reader is vital to the library's mission. Policies must formulate with the needs of the library's user in mind. For example, hours of operation must be set in order to ensure appropriate and convenient access, and the collection must be arranged in an inviting, clear, and obvious way so as not to waste the time of the users. Saving time of the user means providing efficient, thorough access to materials.
When a library subscribes to electronic resources, appropriate access to them must be provided. When electronic databases are made available to the public, public access terminals and printing resources must also be made available. Naturally, libraries must also make the best use of available IP and networking technology. If materials are stored off-site (which in essence breaks the first law), provision must be made for easy and timely retrieval of those items.
Well-planned and executed library handbooks, stack guides, and library tours, or research instruction sessions also serve the goal of saving the time of the reader. The library must also provide adequate staffing of reference, information, and circulation desks, as well as telephone and chat reference. Ultimately, employing the best available technologies to provide quick access to materials saves the time of the reader.
5) The Library is a Growing Organism: The 5th law tells us about the vital and lasting characteristics of the library as an institution and enjoins the need for a constatnt adjustment of our outlook in dealing with it. Libraries grow and change, and will always do so. Collections increase and change, technology changes and budgets change. Change comes along with growth, and in order to be healthy, that change and growth requires flexibility in the management of the collections, in the use of space, in the recruitment, retention and deployment of staff, and the nature of our programs.
I have shown, both in my original writings and in the adaptations of those laws to the present, how libraries have changed over time. The most obvious change I've addressed here is the shift to electronic resources. This shift has had a major impact on library funding and budget management. It is a common fallacy among many library administrators (professionals and non-librarians alike) who control library budgets that one way to save money is to merely cancel groups of subscriptions and then restart them in a year or so. As a living organism, libraries consume information, and any cessation in the flow of information starves the organism. Cutting a library off from its resources at any arbitrary point will surely make it ill, and perhaps may even kill it.
Shiyali Ramarita Ranganathan
1) Books are for use: It is wrong to conclude from my words that books are the only library materials that matter to me. My point is that libraries must acquire materials and make them accessible so they can be used. This law gives definition both to the concept of an open-stack library and to a library that is appointed with tools and furnishings that make the books it contains useful. Books are to be taken from locked back rooms and brought out to welcoming rooms with open shelves. Shelves need to be accessible to more than one user at a time. Libraries are to be located in the midst of their communities. Whatever be the library location, hours of operation, type of furniture and the way in which books are kept, it is the Library Staff that ultimately make or mar a library. A Modern Librarian who has faith in this law is happy only when the readers make the shelves constantly empty.
Limiting access to books has prevailed through time, and exists even today. The maintenance of special collections with limited access, storing materials off-site, restricting access to libraries based on membership or fees, and even by selecting materials that are contracted in such a way as to limit use, such as when print resources are eliminated in favour of an electronic version of the material that is only accessible to certain patrons with passwords, are all modern equivalents of chaining books to the shelves.
Another aspect of this first law that is still relevant is that libraries are about service or they are about nothing. In order to deliver and reap the rewards of services, libraries must identify the benefits that society can reasonably expect and then devise means of delivering those benefits. Service always has a purpose, and our careers of service still have purpose.
2) Every reader his/her book: This law reveals the fundamental issue of tension between the cost of materials and the basic right of all persons to have access t the materials they need. This makes acquisitions very important; each acquisition should call to mind a potential user. One must always be mindful that since no one individual can own all the 'books', the libraries must acquire a body of literature or research materials that will benefit each of its readers and researchers. The collection must be appropriate to the Library's Mission. Librarians must know the materials, its uses, and how to use it. Reference service gains its legitimacy and its purpose from this law. Clearly, it is the business of librarians to know the reader, to know the books, and to actively help in the finding by every person of his or her book.
Any library that limits access in any way must ensure that this restriction does not prevent adequate access to the collection by the people that the library was created to serve. Access policies also have implications for interlibrary loan, cooperative acquisitions, and consortia to which the library may belong. Libraries must also be concerned with programs that provide for the preservation of materials in alternate formats, such as microfiche, CD-ROM, and other electronic formats. Librarians need to ask themselves:
Which formats are appropriate?
Which format will be most useful for the user?
What additional hardware or software must be acquired to facilitate their usage?
Who will or won't have access?
What are the issues surrounding access to printing, passwords, etc?
Librarians must acknowledge that users of the libraries, themselves included, use and value different means of communications in the pursuit of knowledge, information and entertainment. Libraries must value all means of preserving and communicating the records and achievements of the human mind and heart.
3) Every book its reader: This law addresses the fundamental issue of open access. Open access means that the collection can be examined with as much freedom as if it was the reader's private library. In addition, when a library user comes to the library, or gains access to the library's services, there are certain materials that will meet his or her needs. It is the library's job to ensure that the connection between the user and the materials are made, and that the connection is as speedy and practical as possible. There are many ways in which a library can connect its users to its resources:
Distribution of acquisition listsThe use of a structured, well-thought out classification scheme is a necessity for connecting library users to materials, as it ensures uniformity of treatment of various materials on similar topics. Also important is the accurate arrangement of materials, as misshelving a book can make it all but invisible to the user.
New Book displays
Providing Research Guides
Newsletters
Book Lists
In the digital age, getting the 'book' to its reader presents librarians with unique challenges, and the challenges presented by the emergence of electronic resources cannot be overstated! Libraries today must deal with electronic resources that are available 'within' the library but are neither owned nor shelved by the library. Libraries also have the additional challenge of providing access to 'cyber visitors' who use the library's web site for research. Technology, when intelligently applied, is a wonderful, life-enhancing thing. Technology exists to support the mission of librarians to assist in ready and free access to recorded knowledge and information, and to deliver library services effectively. However, technology must be useful, affordable, and cost-effective, and anything beyond that is on the path to dashed expectations and skewed priorities.
4) Save the time of the reader: Perhaps this law is not so self-evident as the others. None the less, it has been responsible for many reforms in library administration. A Library must examine every aspect of its policies, rules, procedures, and systems with the one simple criteria that saving the time of the reader is vital to the library's mission. Policies must formulate with the needs of the library's user in mind. For example, hours of operation must be set in order to ensure appropriate and convenient access, and the collection must be arranged in an inviting, clear, and obvious way so as not to waste the time of the users. Saving time of the user means providing efficient, thorough access to materials.
When a library subscribes to electronic resources, appropriate access to them must be provided. When electronic databases are made available to the public, public access terminals and printing resources must also be made available. Naturally, libraries must also make the best use of available IP and networking technology. If materials are stored off-site (which in essence breaks the first law), provision must be made for easy and timely retrieval of those items.
Well-planned and executed library handbooks, stack guides, and library tours, or research instruction sessions also serve the goal of saving the time of the reader. The library must also provide adequate staffing of reference, information, and circulation desks, as well as telephone and chat reference. Ultimately, employing the best available technologies to provide quick access to materials saves the time of the reader.
5) The Library is a Growing Organism: The 5th law tells us about the vital and lasting characteristics of the library as an institution and enjoins the need for a constatnt adjustment of our outlook in dealing with it. Libraries grow and change, and will always do so. Collections increase and change, technology changes and budgets change. Change comes along with growth, and in order to be healthy, that change and growth requires flexibility in the management of the collections, in the use of space, in the recruitment, retention and deployment of staff, and the nature of our programs.
I have shown, both in my original writings and in the adaptations of those laws to the present, how libraries have changed over time. The most obvious change I've addressed here is the shift to electronic resources. This shift has had a major impact on library funding and budget management. It is a common fallacy among many library administrators (professionals and non-librarians alike) who control library budgets that one way to save money is to merely cancel groups of subscriptions and then restart them in a year or so. As a living organism, libraries consume information, and any cessation in the flow of information starves the organism. Cutting a library off from its resources at any arbitrary point will surely make it ill, and perhaps may even kill it.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
LINK: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Loie_Fuller_-_Vue_Lumi%C3%A8re_No_76_-_Serpentine_Dance_-_1896.ogv
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
.gif found here
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Vegan Shepard's Pie
Made this last night. It's got sweet potato and sesame seeds on top and underneath it has tomato/tomato paste, brown lentils, celery, green beans, baby carrots, onion and garlic. It's probably going to be my lunch for the next few days as well (but that's fine by me...)
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Chocolate Chia seed pudding
So I tried making THIS
It turned out pretty good but it was still a little bit crunchy, even after leaving it in the fridge all night and adding extra liquid. Also, next time I'm putting less cocoa powder and more agave syrup for a sweeter taste. Still this is an excellent idea for a healthy dessert and tastes yum.
Extra note: you can do this with any type of milk and any type of sweetener (e.g. honey). It's up to you. I just happened to have a whole lot of health food alternative vegan stuff but next time I'm probably going to use the honey (we have so much of it sitting around from dumsptering) or try some rice milk because that seems to be a lot sweeter.
It turned out pretty good but it was still a little bit crunchy, even after leaving it in the fridge all night and adding extra liquid. Also, next time I'm putting less cocoa powder and more agave syrup for a sweeter taste. Still this is an excellent idea for a healthy dessert and tastes yum.
Extra note: you can do this with any type of milk and any type of sweetener (e.g. honey). It's up to you. I just happened to have a whole lot of health food alternative vegan stuff but next time I'm probably going to use the honey (we have so much of it sitting around from dumsptering) or try some rice milk because that seems to be a lot sweeter.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Maybe I should have a Tumblr...
" Some of you are way too comfortable making “hip-hop is misogynistic” the cornerstone of your comments.
First, hip-hop is a culture that encompasses a variety of different mediums commonly associated with urban culture. Graffiti, urban fashion, rap(both MCing and DJing) and breakdancing were the original forms of expression, but hip-hop has spread into many other forms of expression
Moving on, some rap music is misogynistic. The key word there is “some”, since off the top of my head I can give you a laundry list of rappers who are a credit to the genre. Listen to someone like Lupe Fiasco or Mos Def before dropping some ignorant, off-hand bullshit about hip-hop being misogynistic.
What I find interesting is that it’s so easy to approach hip-hop as being misogynistic which divorces it from the greater truth that music as a whole has a tendency towards misogyny/sexism. Back during the 80’s there were several all-white hair metal bands releasing some of the most aggressively misogynistic/sexist music ever recorded. However, no one ever seems to bring that up or make any attempt to contextualize the erroneous perception that hip-hop is the shining star of misogynistic music. Misogyny/sexism bulldozes its way into every form of expression we have, not just rap.
Just know, the next time you start with some ignorance like “hip-hop is misogynist” you’re insulting an entire culture that has been crucial in publicizing the socioeconomic plight of black and brown people in this country while serving as the unifying culture for many of those same people.
Have some damn class about stuff that isn’t made for white people
Read more: http://jezebel.com/5678519/jay+z-regrets-thug-em-fuck-em-love-em-leave-em#comments#ixzz145gY3mi5 "
—
From a commenter on Jezebel with regard to some Jezebel comments on Jay Z’s strong backpedalling on his lyrical misogyny. (via leonineclaire)
one time a (white) friend of mine said I was homophobic for not liking acoustic folk and then said she didn’t like hip-hop cause it was misogynistic
we’re not really friends anymore
via There's our catastrophe
First, hip-hop is a culture that encompasses a variety of different mediums commonly associated with urban culture. Graffiti, urban fashion, rap(both MCing and DJing) and breakdancing were the original forms of expression, but hip-hop has spread into many other forms of expression
Moving on, some rap music is misogynistic. The key word there is “some”, since off the top of my head I can give you a laundry list of rappers who are a credit to the genre. Listen to someone like Lupe Fiasco or Mos Def before dropping some ignorant, off-hand bullshit about hip-hop being misogynistic.
What I find interesting is that it’s so easy to approach hip-hop as being misogynistic which divorces it from the greater truth that music as a whole has a tendency towards misogyny/sexism. Back during the 80’s there were several all-white hair metal bands releasing some of the most aggressively misogynistic/sexist music ever recorded. However, no one ever seems to bring that up or make any attempt to contextualize the erroneous perception that hip-hop is the shining star of misogynistic music. Misogyny/sexism bulldozes its way into every form of expression we have, not just rap.
Just know, the next time you start with some ignorance like “hip-hop is misogynist” you’re insulting an entire culture that has been crucial in publicizing the socioeconomic plight of black and brown people in this country while serving as the unifying culture for many of those same people.
Have some damn class about stuff that isn’t made for white people
Read more: http://jezebel.com/5678519/jay+z-regrets-thug-em-fuck-em-love-em-leave-em#comments#ixzz145gY3mi5 "
—
From a commenter on Jezebel with regard to some Jezebel comments on Jay Z’s strong backpedalling on his lyrical misogyny. (via leonineclaire)
one time a (white) friend of mine said I was homophobic for not liking acoustic folk and then said she didn’t like hip-hop cause it was misogynistic
we’re not really friends anymore
via There's our catastrophe
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Studystudystudy.
All I've been doing lately is assessment. I don't have time to cook anything really nice or do anything exciting without feeling guilty. I made this pasta for dinner last night and it tasted pretty good. It's just Za'atar (dried thyme and sesame seeds) with olive oil, some fresh spinach, some tomato and some fetta. Pretty simple really.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
The Fete
We got all these plants from the school fete around the corner. The kids there grew all the pants from seed and they were only 50 cents each!! We got some dill, eggplant, leeks, beans, beetroot, thyme and queen anne's lace. I also picked up some homemade pomegranate, plum and cardamon jam. Fetes are THE BEST!!!! On my way home I saw a sign for another one next week.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Bed
I'm bidding on beds at the moment and on the weekend I'm going to find a mattress. Fascinating, I know but that's pretty much my life right now... This painting is by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1893)
Saturday, July 3, 2010
MOVING OUT
Let me fill you in, I just got Youth Allowance and was offered a room in a share house quite close to the city. I happily accepted both and I'm planning to move out in 2 weeks. It's rushed as hell but I'm really looking forward to it. Time to start budgeting and being responsible.
I'll be a lot closer to uni which will be a great help next semester. I'm trying to sort out my room which is a total mess but my lovely cat doesn't seem to mind. She looks at everything as a potential bed.
There will be a massive cleanup going on. I want to get rid of all the things I have managed to accumulate over the years that I just don't need. I feel like I need my cat but unfortunately she needs to stay here.
I'll be a lot closer to uni which will be a great help next semester. I'm trying to sort out my room which is a total mess but my lovely cat doesn't seem to mind. She looks at everything as a potential bed.
There will be a massive cleanup going on. I want to get rid of all the things I have managed to accumulate over the years that I just don't need. I feel like I need my cat but unfortunately she needs to stay here.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Oasis Bakery
Oasis Bakery is a warehouse cafe/supermarket that is down the road from my house. It basically stocks middle eastern foods and just recently it expanded to the property next door. The first time I came to visit after the move I was so shocked. What was once a relatively quiet place has become really busy. People are now lining up for food, cooking classes are advertised on the walls, there are new products and there is lots more space.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Midnight Snacks
I made some vegan blueberry and lemon pancakes tonight. Instead of eggs and milk, I used corn flour, plain flour, soy milk and canola oil. This combination works wonderfully to keep your pancakes together and I swear, they taste just as good as normal pancakes! Also, instead of using sugar, I used maple syrup which is kind of expensive. If you want a cheaper version, try that golden syrup that is flavoured like maple syrup.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
B&W
I was finally able to get some film developed today(above). Uni has slowed down and I have more time to enjoy myself. I can now spend my time doing things I actually want to do. Tomorrow I'm planning to take a load of pictures so stay tuned. Other things I can get down to doing:
Planting my coffee cup/window sill garden
Eating at Oasis bakery all the time
Learning to knit
Applying for Centrelink youth allowance (this one I'm not so optimistic about)
Wish me luck! I will try to blog about ALL these things in the coming weeks (...unless i don't get Youth Allowance and then I just don't want to talk about it OK).
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Fifty people, one question.
I was supposed to be doing homework SO I decided to watch all these videos instead. These short clips made me feel sad but it could just be my mood at the moment. I like the ones in America too. I also like seeing everyday people on the street. To see the other videos you can go HERE
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Heart of the city
Barcelona had some great graffiti art but I don't know how this happened. I have no idea how you achieve 'ghosting' with film... this seemed to happen by itself.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Vegan Treats
Today I made a vegan Lemon Bundt Cake which actually worked out (surprise!) When it comes to my diet, I try to be as ethical as possible but I don't think Vegan is always the answer. I do, however, believe that we should be making use of all the food that is available to us and so I've had heaps of fun lately putting strange ingredients in my recipes. Vegan recipes are a really good way of experimenting with food. Once you realise that eggs and diary are not always necessary in your baking you can start to learn a lot more about how you can use fruit and vegetables in your cooking! For example: everyone should try putting beetroot in their chocolate cakes, its an amazing way to keep it moist and gives your cake a beautiful browny red colour.
I felt better about leaving out the eggs in this recipe, its not that I don't think eggs can be healthy, but I'm not satisfied that the free range I'm buying is actually treating the chickens better. (see Peter Singer on this one...) That said, I think if you farm your own chicken eggs, or can guarantee they are coming from an ethical farm then you should go for it.
I think that when the population relies on one type of food or foodgroup, its hard to make sure the industry stays ethical and sustainable when such mass production is going on. I try to eat and use vegetables and fruit in as much of my cooking as possible. I also think its great to be self sufficient and grow and make lots of your food yourself. Its quite simple to grow your own vegetables in your garden. It's less simple to raise a cow in the suburbs...
I really liked this explanation of why this blogger doesn't consider herself plain vegan:
I think a strict vegan diet isn’t necessarily the most ethical diet- I know vegans who drink Coca Cola from Safeway and buy tofu imported from Japan. I know omnivores who eat roadkill and grow their own vegetables. I try to be an ethical eater/consumer, because that’s why I went vegan in the first place, not for taste/spiritual/discipline/hxc, whatever, reasons. I feel like claiming “vegan” can be a bit of a cop-out because you don’t have to look past the ingredients list.
Also, before I get too high and mighty I should mention, I love feta. I would find it very very VERY hard to give it up... I also find it hard to stay enthusiastic all the time and end up buying lunch at uni quite a bit. Luckily we have a lovely food co-op that serves some great stuff! point is, I congratulate anyone who cares enough to try to make a difference because I think its really hard to keep up. My pet hate is hardline Vegans giving others a hard time. Especially when they smoke...
I felt better about leaving out the eggs in this recipe, its not that I don't think eggs can be healthy, but I'm not satisfied that the free range I'm buying is actually treating the chickens better. (see Peter Singer on this one...) That said, I think if you farm your own chicken eggs, or can guarantee they are coming from an ethical farm then you should go for it.
I think that when the population relies on one type of food or foodgroup, its hard to make sure the industry stays ethical and sustainable when such mass production is going on. I try to eat and use vegetables and fruit in as much of my cooking as possible. I also think its great to be self sufficient and grow and make lots of your food yourself. Its quite simple to grow your own vegetables in your garden. It's less simple to raise a cow in the suburbs...
I really liked this explanation of why this blogger doesn't consider herself plain vegan:
I think a strict vegan diet isn’t necessarily the most ethical diet- I know vegans who drink Coca Cola from Safeway and buy tofu imported from Japan. I know omnivores who eat roadkill and grow their own vegetables. I try to be an ethical eater/consumer, because that’s why I went vegan in the first place, not for taste/spiritual/discipline/hxc, whatever, reasons. I feel like claiming “vegan” can be a bit of a cop-out because you don’t have to look past the ingredients list.
Also, before I get too high and mighty I should mention, I love feta. I would find it very very VERY hard to give it up... I also find it hard to stay enthusiastic all the time and end up buying lunch at uni quite a bit. Luckily we have a lovely food co-op that serves some great stuff! point is, I congratulate anyone who cares enough to try to make a difference because I think its really hard to keep up. My pet hate is hardline Vegans giving others a hard time. Especially when they smoke...
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Photo Books vs. Photo Blogs
These photos are from the Dazed and Confused Photo Book that a friend gave me for my birthday.
Here's hoping.
I would like to start knitting in the near future. I'm not going to make any promises here so if you never hear of this again, I failed. Still, I'm pretty inspired by it all and hope that I can pick it up quickly. I'll probably ask my mother for help as she is quite a good knitter. Also, I found a lovely group called 'Brown Owls' that I could join (see side links). I'd love a bike too but I think that will have to wait.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Islamic Tiling
These pictures are from a Medersa I visited in Fez, Morocco. I only got to take a few pictures before my camera jammed (faulty film) and so I only have these photos. It was a really beautiful place, and would have been an amazing place to study in!
Higher Education
The other day I went to visit my friend at her uni. She is doing printmaking so she gets to work in her own little studio space. I'm so jealous. I'm in an arts degree and my workspace is pretty much my laptop on the dining room table...so borrrinnggg.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Are your cosmetics safe?
Lately I've been taking an interest in what exactly I'm putting on my face. It started when I became concerned about Palm oil showing up in my products see here but before long I started to wonder what all these other scary chemical names were doing on products that were supposed to be "natural" or "organic".
I've found a great site where you can enter brands, ingredients or companies and get a full ingredient list and analysis of the product. It doesn't have all the brands on its database but it has quite a few. I was shocked to learn that some of the brands that are considered to be good for you can also contain harmful ingredients like parabens! Or that your lipstick could contain traces of lead...I don't want to harp on but if you are interested in skincare and haircare that isn't going to affect your health I would strongly advise visiting this site!
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
When I see how hard it is to find makeup that won't put my health in danger its really tempting to say FUCK YOU to the racist, sexist cosmetic industry altogether... but I'm not that strong or confident yet. I still feel a lot better with a little help from makeup but I'd really like to change that some day. I'm all for using makeup in creative ways to help play with your identity or challenge gender stereotypes (instead of just enforcing them) but I think there's a real problem when we rely on it to feel normal/attractive. Are our priorities a bit fucked if we continue to wear it even though we know it's linked to cancer? I'm now on a search to find safe, affordable products that are honest about what ingredients they contain. (I just hope they actually work! It would be a real shame if we couldn't look like Ziggy anymore.)
I also found this ARTICLE which is pretty interesting.
I've found a great site where you can enter brands, ingredients or companies and get a full ingredient list and analysis of the product. It doesn't have all the brands on its database but it has quite a few. I was shocked to learn that some of the brands that are considered to be good for you can also contain harmful ingredients like parabens! Or that your lipstick could contain traces of lead...I don't want to harp on but if you are interested in skincare and haircare that isn't going to affect your health I would strongly advise visiting this site!
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
When I see how hard it is to find makeup that won't put my health in danger its really tempting to say FUCK YOU to the racist, sexist cosmetic industry altogether... but I'm not that strong or confident yet. I still feel a lot better with a little help from makeup but I'd really like to change that some day. I'm all for using makeup in creative ways to help play with your identity or challenge gender stereotypes (instead of just enforcing them) but I think there's a real problem when we rely on it to feel normal/attractive. Are our priorities a bit fucked if we continue to wear it even though we know it's linked to cancer? I'm now on a search to find safe, affordable products that are honest about what ingredients they contain. (I just hope they actually work! It would be a real shame if we couldn't look like Ziggy anymore.)
I also found this ARTICLE which is pretty interesting.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
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