Fallen Disney Princesses: Happily Never After Photography

I’ve always found the Disney Princesses fascinating. Each has their own distinct story- generally that of emotional hardship and lack of physical freedom, and each of them manages to rise above their situations and find peace and love. Sure, all of them seem to need a man to do so, but the happy ever after tale is one that’s repeated throughout books and films, so it’s understandable in that context. The Disney Princesses seem to have it all- the looks, the power and yet they remain unfulfilled till they find love.  First love can be tricky though, as the Princesses have never dated so don’t understand how romance can become stale, or what’s needed to make a marriage work. Will there still be singing and fairy godmothers in the happy ever after?

Thinking on this topic reminded me of a feature I’d seen in the Times a few years ago. It took me a while to remember the name of the artist (stupid brain) but when I finally worked out it was Dina Goldstein the images were every but as good as I remembered. Dina took the Disney Princess premise and translated it into ‘happily never after’, all the various life choices that may have befallen the famous frocked ones- and where they might have enede up. She adds some gritty reality to Disney, and I love how playful her photots are- even when they show harsh realities.

Take Princess Jasmine for example- she may have got her Prince, but war in the Middle East means she can’t rest easy. Snow White has to contend with handling many children and lazy husband, whilst Pocahontas becomes a crazy cat lady. This series of photographs really doesn’t age, and seems as timeless as the movies themselves. Check out the rest of the Fallen Princesses project (and more) below.

Read more…

Tags: Dina Goldstein, Disney Princesses, Fallen Princesses, Giselle Natassia

The rise of high tech job hunters- and the related feelings of inadequacy

The job market is a vast and scary place. We all know we’re going to have to fight to carve a niche in our industry, and it’s even scarier for fresh graduates, whose dreams of swanning into a high paying job have been destroyed and who now have to fight for work against people with NO degree but real life experience.

In this vacuum of scared and frightened talent a few gems emerge- bright sparks who manage to stand out from their fellow job hunters by dint of their intelligence, focus and dedication. When these bright sparks emerge they are feted by the media, envied by their peers and rise meteorically to great jobs in their industry. Great for them- seriously, kudos for their effort- but it does leave everyone else feeling rather deflated and envious. If you’re a perpetual B/C student you’re used to being overlooked for those who can debate as well as they can eat and produce the  type of clever analytic essays that have teachers wooing them; but it was nice to think that when you entered the job market these glaring discrepancies would be ironed out. Sure, there are always leaders and followers, bosses and grunts, but ideally you’d have a lot of people who were a team and that would generally be good enough.

The rise of the super hungry job seeker has left a lot of people scared and uncomfortable- even those who are actually in position of a full time job. Younger people will take less money, work later nights, and often lack the extra pressure of family commitments /mortgage payments etc that those older might have, (Yes, this is a generalisation, but that’s the point of this piece).

I came across Celine is looking for a fashion job recently, an online CV/portfolio of Celine, a young French girl looking for a job. She created a slick online website with a magazine feel that lists her qualifications, her goals, and displays some very pretty photos of her. It also links to a personal blog where she writes about style. My first thought was ‘Wow’- it’s clever, well executed and looks very slick. My second thought was ‘Oh’- and that was slightly less exciting. She’s remarkably pretty, she’s very talented and she’s very young- combined with a huge ambition- makes hers somehow seem like a threat. Not a threat to me directly- her goals are different from mine- but an acknowledgement of the general threat of young hungry people and how they are making me feel inadequate. Why didn’t I do a website like that? One of the main reasons would be that others existed, and you often fall into the trap of thinking that a website like this has a onetime lifespan- good for a novelty and then becomes old hat. What we forget is that not everyone has seen all the CV websites and that there’s always space for something new and fresh.

I was recently giving a lecture on how to get into journalism at the London College of Fashion, and when I asked the question, ‘Who here has a blog?’, most of the room raised their hands. Ten years ago this would of been highly unique, but advancements in tech and younger people’s greater drive has meant that most media savvy students will be putting themselves ‘out there’ in some form on the internet. Read more…

Tags: high tech resume, online job hunter

Sounds like I do with Sakura Koshimizu Soundwave jewellery

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m fairly obsessed with rings, the more unique the better. I was initially drawn to the Waveform rings because of their distinctive design- I like the combination of the simple band with the laser cut element. When I realized that the laser cut hollow actually reflected a recorded sound wave I was over the moon. This is exactly the kind of jewellery I love, unique, beautiful and a little bit geeky.

Sakura Koshimizu has created a line of pretty pieces called the ‘Waveform Series’. What he does is take beautiful pieces of precious metals and then laser etches out a pre recorded soundwave. The ‘I do’ rings are perfect for a wedding, as he’ll transcribe your loved ones recording exactly. He makes them out of 18k white and yellow gold or silver.

He also has some more ‘fun’ pieces, where he has captured yawns, giggles and sneezes and combined them with precious metal. I think they’re stunning, and such a novel concept. If only he’d do a line of swear words… Read more…

Tags: sakurako shimizu, Waveform ring

Woouf beanbags are geeklicious

Woouf is a Barcelona based company that aims to reinterpret common objects by ‘inverting the dimensions in relation to spectators.’ They’ve successfully fulfilled their brief with their stunning line of Woouf beanbags. You can choose from a retro Camera option (my favourite) or a retro looking speaker and they also have cute keyboards and faux luggage beanbags to enjoy. Read more…

Tags: geek beanbag, Woouf, Woouf beanbags

The strange Origin of Gadget Terms

‘Names are an important key to what a society values.  Anthropologists recognize naming as one of the chief methods for imposing order on perception,’ said David  Slawson, and this holds true to most things in society. A name denotes place, culture, idea- and the likes of Gucci and Manolo Blahnik have profited by associating their name with an idea of luxury and quality. Many of us willingly use names without any idea of the origins of the words, and as many words have a rich cultural history, I wanted to examine the etymology of some of the most commonly used gadget terms. Technology is a rich landscape of strange beginnings- did you know that the term mouse was created as the peripheral chased an ‘on screen cat or that boondoggle can be used to refer to your gadgets?

Read on to discover the origins of Top Ten technology terms.

1. Geek

People use the term geek to denote many things nowadays, from people who wear glasses to those who have an uncanny knowledge about the ISO ratings on cameras. Add tech know how to that list, an in depth knowledge of sci-fi, and well, you see where I’m going here. The origin of the word is a little stranger though, with its roots in 1916 USA slang, where the term referred to a ‘sideshow freak’ who was well known for biting the heads of chickens. Yes, chickens.

The word also has roots back in 1510 where it was an imitative verb in Scandinavian which meant to ‘mock and cheat’. Quite how chicken biting sideshows artists and Scandinavian cheaters turned into the modern day geek I’m unsure- perhaps just a predilection for the unusual?

2. Gamer

The term gamer is synonymous nowadays with XBOX/Playstation/Warcraft addicts, but it has really only had this association since 1999. The word is a shortened version of Gamester, with the first recording of this term being in 1590. It didn’t mean someone who was particularly good at egg and spoon,  but rather a prostitute. You could read into this that prostitution was ‘the first game ever played’, or that they were ‘game’ for anything. It later was used to refer to gambling, and so we learn the seedy past of today’s mainstream term.

(It was also sometimes used to refer to a swan keeper which is a nicer way to look at it…). Read more…

Tags: boondoggle, doohickey, gadget, Gamer origin, geek eytmology, pin gun, technology terms

The Science Fiction whale maps the genres rise

How does one map an entire genre of fiction? Can this even be done without horribly under representing some areas? This is just what Ward Shelley has attempted with his Science Fiction Whale diagram, entitled the History Of Science Fiction which you can see in much greater detail on Ward Shelley’s website here (or here). He has mapped the evolution of the genre, from the early days of literature right up to the cyberpunk era, and the mass of tentacles above encapsulate decades and trends in this field- even including Ron Hubbard and the Dianetics movement!

I think the archetypal whale was a great choice as the basis of the diagram, as a whale’s size is immense and seems like a good fit for the size of the task at hand. I can also draw some allusions to the use of whales and their kin (the Kraken immediately springing to mind) being common refrains in many books (similar to how the King Arthur fable plays out in many science fantasy novels) and the mysticism imbued with ‘creatures of the deep’ is a good reflection of the science fiction genre, which seeks to learn, explore and create.

I was happy to see some of my old favourites included in this chart- such as Ray Bradbury, Greg Bear and Douglas Adams. I also had a small eye roll at the inclusion of a ‘soft’ science fiction category, and the selected authors such as Octavia Butler (agree) and Margaret Atwood (disagree). That’s part of the joy of the genre however, as you’re allowed to make up your own mind as to who are the masters of it, and the fact that Shelley likely compiled this whole list himself warms me to him, and makes me disinclined to contest the order of some of the names- fiction is after all a very personal affair so I’m happy to agree to disagree on certain points.

I love how thorough Shelley has been with this diagram, and I also found that this not only maps the history of this branch of literature, but also my own love affair with science fiction, as I can personally point to the different branches my reading has taken and sigh in happy familiarity at the inclusion of authors that feel like old friends.

[via BigThink]

Tags: history of science fiction, science fiction whale, ward shelley

Seven sweet Web comics for geeks

The mere fact that web comics exist imbues them with a slight sense of geekiness, the fact that you can get your daily comic hit online is almost absurd with someone who grew up in the era of weekly strips and mags, and I still remember Bunty with a certain nostalgia. There are a lot of really intelligent and funny web comics out there, and these are a few of my favourites for you to enjoy. They all have their own brand of geekiness, from the web comics that revolve around computer hackers and their exploits to those that mock the latest gadgets, from iPhones to E3 escapades.

Heidi, Geek Girl Detective

This comic has been going for a number of years and stars Heidi, a web expert with a complex past and a fondness for khaki colours. She uses her computer skills to solve crimes and her adventures tend to involve a lot of processing and downloading, with the odd break in. She’s smart, sassy and sarcastic and you’ll love the dry humour and the way all her hacker friends have pseudonyms, e.g., Fruit Cup Boy. I also love how you’ll actually learn about tech whilst reading it, as the author doesn’t shy away from descriptions of web proxies etc in the text,

(pictured above).

Check out Heidi, Geek Girl Detective here.

Diesel Sweeties

This is an amusing pixelated comic that originated in the year 2000. It’s written by Richard Stevens the Third (I know, eye roll) and is highly entertaining. It revolves around the awkward relationship between Maura and Clango (an ex porn star and a robot) with a cast of interesting characters, from morose indie boys to goth kids and the dynamic and the one liners are always spot on. It takes a while to get used to the graphical style, but once you’ve stopped squinting you’ll really enjoy it.

Read Diesel Sweeties here. Read more…

Tags: Ctrl Alt Delete, Geek comics, Questionable Content, The Oatmeal, web comics