I love these photos so much, they're sooo autumnal! I carved four of the pumpkins you can see above, can you spot them? There's Jack Skellington, a sugar skull inspired one, a scared looking one, and the classic pumpkin face. (Not too sure what that third photo is even of, but I really like it.)
We lit them up just as the sun was going down and it was really beautiful, and really hard to capture on camera!
Those first two are mine and the bottom one is another example of how your pumpkin does not have to have a face. This cross one carved by my mum's friend is fantastic!
Ok, so then, classic me, I went a bit wild and started twirling around with my camera to get some photos like these. It's the little things.
This week we're having a little Halloween party in our Community Garden (you can read a bit more about it here), and so it felt only right that we get people together to carve lots of pumpkins ready for the event on Saturday. I'm not going to tell you how to carve a pumpkin because a) I'm sure you already know, and b) there are people out there who can do it much better than I can. What I am going to show you is how I carved mine, and some of the different designs we came up with. Look out for Part 2 tomorrow when you'll be able to see the pumpkins all lit up!
We followed the usual steps; cut the top off the pumpkin, scoop out the innards (and save them to make pumpkin soup!) and carve your design. Below is my attempt at Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas, he looks better lit up.
Here are some more of our designs, altogether we made about 12. As you can see, you don't have to carve a face on your pumpkin, abstract designs like this spotty one on the bottom left work just as well!
2014 has been pretty slow so far music-wise, so I was pretty surprised to find three albums I'd been waiting for ready to download in October. These came in the form of Ben Howard's 'I Forget Where We Were', Jessie Ware's 'Tough Love' and Taylor Swift's '1989'. (A quick aside: I don't like Taylor Swift, but, as I'm sure you'll have realised by now, I have quite strong opinions and like arguing. I therefore feel like I have to at least listen to her music to be able to intelligently argue my hatred. Cool, glad we cleared that up.)
I Forget Where We Were | Ben Howard
Ben's first album 'Every Kingdom' was incredible, so I had very high hopes for album number two. It's unfortunate then that I have to say that it didn't live up to my expectations. I think Every Kingdom was a lot more accessible, every song sounded like a single, whereas for this album it just feels like Ben is making the music he wants to make, with no thought of success or anything. This is great, obviously, but I'm selfish and would've liked another 'Only Love' at least. With all that said though, it is still a very good album, and I could listen to Ben's voice forever.
Listen To:
Rivers In Your Mouth
Tough Love | Jessie Ware
You can tell it's a great album when you struggle to choose the top three songs. The only bad thing I can say about this album is that the lyrics are very simple; they are quite predictable, and rarely include a word that's over two syllables. However, I don't know if I'd have picked up on this had I not been listening to Girls by The 1975 on repeat for the past 6 months. This is a really great album, better than her last, and can see myself listening to this a lot over the next few months.
Listen To:
Champagne Kisses
Kind of ... Sometimes ... Maybe
Say You Love Me (can you recognise the voice leading the choir?)
1989 | Taylor Swift
Ok, so I'll admit that my hatred of Taylor Swift is pretty unfounded, she just really gets on my nerves and I want to punch her in the face. I've downloaded each of her albums over the years, and do tend to like about three or four songs on each, a tradition that's continued with this album. However, I think that there are more bad songs on this album that on her previous ones, and it does feel like she's trying too hard to be original and it's not really working.
Listen To:
Style
Skip: (the rest of the album, but especially these two)
Last week I went to visit some friends in Bristol, and while I was waiting for them I stumbled upon this incredible gallery in Broadmead.
There were some really fantastic artworks that have inspired me to get back into doing and making.
I wanted to buy everything, but a) I have no money, and b) I have no space to hang any art. However, I did buy a little card, that one with the insects on at the top, because the exhibition was free and they definitely deserved my £3.
If you notice a difference from my usual picture quality it's because these are taken on my point and shoot, I was too lazy to take my DSLR to Bristol.
Over the past decade (or more!) there seems to have be a trend towards music videos having to include half naked black women shaking their asses. I for one am not OK with this! Even if you don't acknowledge the blatant racism and sexism, you've at least got to admit that it's getting boring, right? I don't want to get into a whole debate about this (I'll save that for another post), but I just want to share some videos made by people I think are doing it right. Music Videos, in my opinion, are an art form, but as chart music is getting more and more generic, so are the videos. Did Michael Jackson teach us nothing?
The following artists show how videos can be great, without the need for objectification (but if you need a bit of objectification to satisfy you, stick to this). These videos make you feel something (other than anger), whether it's awe or confusion, jealousy or sadness, these are videos you participate in, you don't just watch them passively. These are 5 minute short films that can be watched over and over again.
3005 | Childish Gambino
This video utilises a technique that you can pretty much only do in music videos (and I guess short films) - it is filmed in one single shot! That means this video must've taken a while to rehearse, but more importantly, it makes it quite disorientating. What I like about this video is that it makes you think. It's interesting! Every time you watch it you pick up something new. It's also very beautiful (the lights, not Donald Glover's face, but that's not too bad either). Bino's other videos Sweatpants and Telegraph Ave are also excellent examples of what can be done with Music Videos.
Hideaway | Kiesza
This is another example of a one-shot video, but gives a very different effect to that seen in 3005. In this video the camera is moving about 75% of the time, and is still the rest; the opposite is true of 3005. This video is all about movement, and has me in awe every time I see it. I hate to think how many 'dress rehearsals' there were for video.
Won't Look Back | Duke Dumont
This video does something totally different, it's funny! I'm not sure what else to say about this video, but that scene where the guys are pogo sticking along a busy street with their masks on in slow motion is gold. To me that is art. I'm also a sucker for slo-mo.
Marry The Night | Lady Gaga
I wanted to include Marry The Night, because the first time I saw this video I cried. Granted, I'm an emotional wreck, something you know already, but I couldn't get over how perfect this was. This is the kind of video I'd like to make. Now, I definitely prefer the video after about the eight minute mark, i.e when the song begins, but everything before that is still pretty great. It's like a look into the wild, genius mind of Gaga. Plus, you need those first minutes to set up the rest. I like how every set up is perfectly styled and executed; it's epic. I also wanted to include this particular Gaga video to show that female nakedness doesn't have to be sexualised or objectified, something people seem to forget all too often.
Don't | Ed Sheeran
This video, like Hideaway, is all about movement and dance, something that goes hand in hand with music. However, it manages to do it in a completely non-sexualised way. See, it IS possible!
OK, I couldn't go through this whole post without calling out some of the worst offenders:
Taylor Swift 'Shake It Off', not only does she have these twerking black women has her back up dancers, she has the cheek to laugh at them and shrug their performances off as 'WTF'
Wiggle by Jason Derulo - urgh
Lily Allen 'Hard Out Here' - I don't even have words, she's just the worst. Again, urgh.
Writing this list is making me too angry, I'm going to have to finish here.
She's incredible. Not just her music, but her message and her attitude too. Recently her popularity seems to have dwindled, and I'm not sure why. It's not because her music is any worse, ARTPOP is a great follow up album to Born This Way, with just the right amount of sameness and evolution. I guess it could in part be due a lack of promo, and quite a long time between the release of BTW and ARTPOP, BUT personally I think it's a psychological thing. When Lady Gaga came onto the scene she changed everything. Her rise to icon status was spectacularly fast, and led some people to ponder whether her descent would be just as fast. I think now that the majority of music in the charts is by one hit wonders, people expect artists to burn bright and then fizzle out pretty quickly. I also believe sometimes it is the novelty of a track or an artist that can make them successful, hence why so many artists don't get the opportunity to make a 2nd/3rd/4th album. Anyway, incoherent rant over, lets get to the music!
Gaga attempts so many genres, and masters every single one of them. She can make banging electro-pop anthems, tear-inducing piano ballads, and big uplifting love songs. These songs showcase all the sides of Gaga, and if you've not given her a chance before reading this, I bet you will now.
Note: the reason I'm writing this is because I'm seeing Gaga live this week and I'm so so so excited I can't stop thinking about it!!
