And talking about strength....

India’s Pink Gang, the largest women’s vigilante group in the world, shames abusive husbands and corrupt politicians by going door-to-door clad in electric pink saris and wielding sticks called laathis—the same sticks used by local cops when patrolling their beat. Recently, they’ve gained political clout by winning seats in the panchayat elections—the equivalent of American municipality elections.

For further information: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-26/meet-the-woman-behind-indias-pink-vigilantes/?cid=hp:mainpromo7

Stregnth

I follow a beautiful person both inside and out named 'Kandee Johnson' who is deeply passionate about her work, herself, her family and life itself. To me, she is one of the best people in the world, as she has survived A LOT of accusations and judgements with positivity and glee for the future. She has recently shared a very personal 9 months of the journey of pregnancy through video and posts everyday of new information to help other parents and girls like me who are scared and unsure about the whole process.

In my mind I thought she was almost perfection in the way she handles everything and coming through it with the same amount of passion, and of course if I was able to see this over a screen then surely everyone else could. Surely.
Recently she had been getting a blast of anger and false accusations, completely destroy ing her trust of the internet and people who visit her blog. Today it got too much for her as she wrote a blog entitled 'saddened' and that title in itself shows how the comments have affected her. In this blog she describes some of the comments she had been getting like threatening the life of her newborn, which is quite frankly disgusting, because even if the accusations of Kandee were true threatening the life of a 2 month year old child is NOT acceptable. It made me made however she concludes explaining "Please know that I do not hate or wish any bad things upon any of the people behind any of this...if anything I wish these people could be a friend..so they would know truth...and maybe I could fill their life with a little more love than what they have." I think that sums up herself in a little nut shell. I wish I will be able to, one day, get the strength she carries herself with everyday, because no one deserves what she is suffering with at this very moment.

Here is the blog post:
http://kandeethemakeupartist.blogspot.com/2011/03/saddened.html

and I would like to add I am very sorry if you are learning about this wonderful person in a time of utter sadness, but please look through her blogs and just find out for yourself just how great she is.

Humanity.

I'm a thinker. I often spend hours thinking and just overall think too much. Most of my thoughts go down to an endless line of wanting to help, to change to world and just get a world where everyone can walk out of their homes and not worry or fear what may happen next. Whether it's political war or bullying I think all the prejudice and hate should be and could be controlled and hopefully gone one day.

Of course, everyone who is a thinker knows, some thoughts can go in bad ways, where you become hopelessly apathetic to the world and its outcome. Let's just say to those who don't, sometimes you need to see humanity in the world.

I found a site called 'Care2.com' with a tag line 'Make a Difference'. I've longed to help another as many ways possible but my age has stopped me from doing anything, however on this site age is not an issue. The site holds every area you can think possible from racial to sexual issues to the environment and health laws. The reason I got it was to help women at first. I was really annoyed by the lack of respect and equality in United Kingdom (where I live) and knew it was even worse almost everywhere else in the world, and I REALLY wanted things to change. The peitions were endless, the discrimination was unbelievable. I speant a whole day reading and signing the petitions, in anger and disgust. However the best part was when you get an email back. An email saying something has been done, and that email regained all the humnanity I needed.

Now, I'm not saying just join for that, because everyone has different strong views and passions, and like I said the site offers a range of petitions and news (which isn't shown on television), just go and discovery something you can change and help.

I must say about the other parts of the site such as the blogs about successful achievements and ideas that work. Such as this blog:
http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/homeless-youth-help-homeless-animals/
where homeless people and animals work to help one another and like the blog says it's "is a win-win!"

but also making you aware of laws and policies that aren't successful and need attention which are missed in the everyday news, such as:
http://www.care2.com/causes/health-policy/blog/women-ignored-in-heart-device-studies/

I think everyone should have an account on this page as it turns ignorance into knowledge and understanding. Please go and have a look!

RANT ALERT.

I’d like to believe Terry Richardson is ‘the most prolific and compelling photographers of his generation’ which the fashion and art industry would like us to absorb without consciousness, but I think his work is quite frankly what anyone who has his equipment could do (and they would take quite frankly more respectful and dignified images).

I know everyone who knows this ‘photographer’ knows about the sexual allegations.. well that’s what I thought.. too many times you put in his name and you see compliments of the highest level and remarks such as ‘he is so unique’ but for those people out there - pick up an I-D magazine and perhaps even a Vogue and you will find a handful with photos you could swear Richardson done.
I am really sorry if I’m coming over as disrespectful and normally I will construct a better argument - especially when it comes to art and pieces of personal work - however I don’t think abusing models for ‘fun’ and to ‘get the relaxed’ makes his work ‘impressive’.

I’ll just let this source sum it up before I get a little too angry: “A Jezebel source said that Richardson “is tolerated because the fashion industry folk are just sheep. There are only a handful of photographers who have the power. […] “[They] are tacitly giving their approval that whatever he does is OK.”

photobox.co.uk

This website has really helped me this week!
I thought as I was already talking about porfolio drama, I should probably share what made it a load easier; which I must say was this website.

Of course, this is because I am a media and photography student, I needed some magazine covers/posters and photographs printed asap for a low amount of money because, well I am a student!

I had heard of this site through a photographer but I was a bit worried about the timing and prices I had seen, but I thought I'd go through the process just to get an idea. I ordered 12 a5 gloss prints (which came to 24p!) and 6 a4 gloss prints which came to roughly £5 which is realyl extrordinary. The shipping was 1st class coming to an extra £1.25 and they gave me the 12 prints free as I was a new customer - good service eh?

Well , it gets better. The next day I come back from college and there they were sitting on my bed printed and shipped already!! The quality is mind-blowing and I just can't get over how quick it was - I was expecting 2-3days, not 12hours!

Seriously, don't panic and just look at this site!
I'll try to take some photos of my portfolio with the photos in as soon as I can!

Portfolio Drama

I think all creative A2 students out there have been or are inthe position of stuggling in a mass panic to get their portfolios ready.
I am going through this now and luckily the panic lasted 2 days and now I'm fine knowing all I have to do is stick down all the collected work.
However, now I'm starting to think about the interview, and it's getting me in a little mess - especially going with my own work (photographs/films and scripts) I feel like I'm having to give them a huge part of me and the idea of rejection after this will really hurt. Gosh, it's like I'm talking about a relationship here!

I do think the demographic this is aimed at will understand though, and I hope you all well in your portfolios and interviews.

My first interview is this tuesday at London College of Communication - which is my first choice, so there's no easing me into this process! What'is/was yours?

Boyle

So if you didn't know, Danny Boyle is directing Frankenstien at the National Theatre. (you can read about it here: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/frankenstein-draws-slumdog-director-danny-boyle-back-to-live-theatre-1875461.html

And I am now going to brag about how I have tickets to go see and tickets to his talk about putting it all together. That's right my friends, I'ma see him in the flesh. ajkiojwetij.

I really can't wait - unfortunaley I'm seeing the production with my English class which is most probably the most unbearable class put together, howevermy best friend Korinne will bring much joy to the situation so it don't really matter :D The talk I'm going to is with my Michael, Korinne and her +1 so it's a completely different atmosphere! Plus we were really lucky because it was almost sold out by the time we got our tickets!

I have to wait 'till March but there will be an uncontrollable rant all about it on here afterwards.

A new website I found last year, around october, is full fo adorable rockabilly and vintage inspired clothing. On my journeys through Camden market a new store opened coloured in cutesy pastels and splattered in dresses andknitwear. Luckily there was a sale and my aunt bought me this red and black Paige Dress which we fell in love with. I also recieved a 20% off which just inspired me to go on their website and I bought loads of new dresses!

Two of my favourite dresses are these:

This is a gorgeous empire, polka dot dress named 'Paige dress dot flock' which comes in a variety of colours. This was actually the first dress I saw and bought in Camden - me and my aunt fell in love with straight away!

The next is a turquoise empire dress with really pretty detail over the bust. I actually bought a dress size a little smaller then my own and it fits so brilliantly it makes me feel rather slim and curvy!

I also bought a sweetheart neckline cherry dress which was on sale for only £10 which I snapped up faster then the other two put together.

Anyone who enjoys pin-up or vintage-inspired wear should really visit: collectif.com plus the people there are so sweet so if you want to visit the store (which is always fully-stocked with sale items) visit Camden stables and it's one of the first shops on the corner (:

It's been a long time - again.

It's been a rather long time since I blogged here and I'm ever so sorry for the neglect. Since the last blog I have started the god-awful journey of universities and A2; the coursework is overloading the personal time, the sickening gut feeling whenever you log into your hotmail to check on universities has commenced and the teachers becoming paniced and restless has begun. Thus 2011 hasn’t been too great, but then again it could be worse.

A particular piece of work (which can bee seen here: http://a2emilyjanecurtin.blogspot.com/) has taken a lot out of me, both emotionally and physically. I think I spent two weeks straight working on it and trying to get through my two other classes, and as soon as the deadline was approaching I spent a week on about 4 hours sleep – I wasn’t even behind mind you! Trying to please my media tutor is near impossible, extra work was added almost every day and it still wasn’t enough and I’m not sure if even it is enough now. I must add this treatment has only been given to me, lucky right? Most of my class was a lot further behind and I don’t think ever caught up with the deadlines and that was never a problem. (Sorry that this has turned into quite the rant) I figured however, that I knew I done as much as I possibly could and I actually had the pride to say I tried to my absolute best, and I suppose that settles the conscience.

I would change the subject to a much happier one to add a lighter feel to the ending of this blog, however it seems lately my time is spent with all work and no play and so I haven’t really been up to much within these couple of months – even my Christmas was spent ill in bed due to sleep deprivation and really bad flu! Gah, how apathetic! Oh, actually I have got tickets for my best friend, her sister and my boyfriend and I to see a speech given from the award-winning British Director Danny Boyle in March about his new play adaptation of ‘Frankenstein’ (which I am also seeing with the school in February) it’ll be a breathe of fresh air! Furthermore, my best friend and I have planned to go up London a little earlier on the day of Frankenstein to do some shopping and cheer us up which I think will be the highlight of these few months!

Again, I apologize for the apathetic nature of this post! In the near future I hope some positive will happen in my life that I may have to brag about on here for a bit!

I am disgusted and appalled by the thoughtless behaviour that happened today in London. Why can’t people (of any age) perceive that a peaceful protest is more respected and useful towards it’s cause then a violent one.

These riots, pictures and words spoken by individuals are exactly the opposite to how the youth should be portrayed; isn’t ‘chavs’ and ‘happy-slapping’ enough rubbish we teenagers need to battle against. What’s more there are people promoting the actions as good and necessary, which is quite frankly scary; 10 people are injured and buildings are destroyed and smashed to pieces, and this is good?

Ah. I know the intentions of the few students who honestly care was good, but this has probably affected many of the ‘little’ people’s views on the youth, let alone the more powerful!

I would go on but

Emily. Is. Frustrated.

On the up!

Even though swapped with coursework and uni deadlines there are ups!

1) My aunt is a flipping good dress-maker and has made me a beautiful red pencil skirt that fits like a glove and a navy circle skirt that hangs in all the right places, which I can't thank her enough for! She's starting on a pinafore dress for me soon in black - can't wait! (photos will be put up soon I'm sure)

2) I got some new cream brogues to go with my new camel coat and because my old black heeled ones are slightly damaged and sad - quite frankly I missed them! (This shopping trip also made me fall in love with Zara - now my favourite shop!)

3) I had a Chocolate Dreamcake Krispy Kreme Donut and it was the best thing I've ever tasted. If your feeling a bit low - I recommend!!

anddddddddd

4) I found out Hanson covered The temptations - My Girl. It's so pretty! I would quite happily marry Taylor. :')

My theory.

I have had this little theory for about 5 years - it could be a very naive or a very 'teenage drama' theory however life ( or in fact my life) has proven it right time and time again; so I'm going to believe it. The theory anyway is that life is made out of little parts or sections - social/friends, family, work/career and you/health-wise. These parts all effect your life obviously and you can never have them all perfect, all at the same time.

The reason why I say this? 'Cos it seems this past month has thrown all those areas up and they're still a bit jumbled and unsettled, and it's taken a big blow to the self-esteem and to the little things in my life like this blog. (sorry blog!) But one of the biggest reasons why I'm pissed with all these things is because the lack of time I've got to spend with the best friend - especially with all our halloween plans. I've hardly seen her at all this week and it is due to my lack of input in the whole thing, it's a bit poo! However, I will tries me best to fix it :) I also found something that may be her christmas pressie because it made me nearly pee myself when seeing it - well, it was either that or seeing Michael Mcintyre in Waterstones.

The Blue Creatures

Being ill leaves everyone with the excitement of spending hours in front of the tele - and this week was my week of tele watching and geeking out on my media blog and book-reading!

However, my main point is actually a short one:

I WANT TO BE:

I first saw this sky+ advert this morning (at 6am! Silly medicine time scheme) and I literally wet myself and when it becomes present on my little tele, I light up. Jeez -this is how sad my life has gotton!

Au Reviour.

Meadows' England

Shaun Meadows is the known director and writer of 'This Is England' and once watching it a couple of years ago it did the job of shocking and acknowledging me to that period of time. However, I must admit - I didn't want to watch it again and it didn't make on my 'favorite films' list. In contradiction, I have high respect for Meadows as this new series of 'This is England '86' shows how amazing he is as both a writer and director; there's shots that just enlighten the eye and make the mundane streets look extraordinary and place to explore and the writing is of the same style as the previous film - the same tense air, joking yet tough behavior and blunt truths. The only criticism I had was the controversial scene of 'Milky' in the film. It was left ambiguous, needing the viewer to decide whether or not Milky died. In the series he's up and running,having sex and punching people and this completely threw me. I had decided in my opinion Milky was dead and I had to adjust my view on the situation totally when I saw this, which was a bit odd.

This is just a quick note and I defiantly recommend watching both - but you'll need to be prepared to be shocked and have your emotions-a-flying!

Welcome to...

I've always liked learning new things, and when I was little, I was always the one at the back of the classroom or in a group of friends that had my head in a book. A series of books that my nan got me when I was 10 have always stayed in my top favourites because of the sheer creativity and enjoyment of reading them- this collection of books are called 'The Horrible Histories' by Tony Deary.

I remember the first books my nan gave me from them was 'Vile Victorians' and 'Woeful Second World War' because even back then I was tad bit obsessed. They were quite easy-read books with various cartoons and little jokes to break up the pages of history, but even those pages of history paragraphs were written in such a way that you forget it's a classroom subject - in particular a subject many find tiring - and read it with anticipation and humour, just like any ol' fiction book.

Anyways, the reason why I bring this up today is because my recent fascination with a cbbc programme that one day, whilst on holiday, I accidently turned on the television to see. This, ladies and gentleman is of course the Horrible Histories. I was pretty amazed at how well the whole 30mins was shot and that it kept all the elements of the actual books - which is always a plus when it comes to adaptations. Ever since that luck one day, I've been looking it up on iplayer and trying to catch as much of it as I can on the television channel I'd never thought I'd be watching again. Plus, the actors play the roles brilliantly with a cast of Mathew Baynton (Gavin and Stacy ), Sarah Handland (That Mitchell and Webb Look) and Simon Farnaby (Mighty Boosh).

Here's some clips so you can see how good it is (and I guarantee they will get in your head):

Currently

I'm rather forgetful when it comes to social networking sites (including this blogger and Deviantart) I seem to go through periods where I'm updating and being sociable every chance I can and then I somehow randomly forget or have less time to commit for a while. However, in saying this, I'm currently working on a music video with my best mate Korinne at the moment and I've been doing the storyboard all day, yet somehow I've had time to make a new layout for this blog and committed to Deviant art by uploading and looking at various inspiring pieces all at once! This has made me feel rather proud of myself - I didn't realise just how much I could multi-task!

From tomorrow my life gets pretty busy for once. I'll be starting to shoot the music video both tomorrow and thursday, meaning I'll be shooting all over London. Then on friday I'll be packing and getting all the last minute euros and necessities for both my Disneyland Paris trip and Lourdes trip! Really exciting! Although I'll guarantee by friday I will be panicing - it's the first time I've left the country in 10 years; and this time I'm doing it without the parents! However, it's my first time to France, and I'm so looking forward to it. I have my rolls of 120 film, brand new Holga camera and the good ol' Canon 450D ready to take many photos of the times ahead!

All these travels make the rest of my summer holidays look like nothing! Hope next years like this...

A skill I really want

I admit that I'm completely jealous of the people able to do stuff like this! I would love to learn how to make cakes half as good as this! Is there a course? I might start looking...

Amy Blakemore

There's something so bittersweet about this poem, but it's one of my favourites and it appeared on my deviant art today and thought I'd share it on here.

The day folded;
Like a Cabbage White closing its wings
On a windowsill.

With the old, worn-out risk,
the unexplainable, skewed
trigonometry
of drunkenness

you climbed the fire escape.

Got on the roof.
But once you were there, you
envied the stars

their height

and could not get back down.

- Amy Blakemore

In the Evening

I have realised today that I'm 100% an evening person. As a toddler my Grandad and Mum used to take me on these evening car drives to get me to go to sleep and I remember seeing the lights of London going past and people in different paths of lives crossing in many different ways. It's what I think of nowadays when i take an evening car journey - they always seem the best - you can nose around people in other cars and on pathways without feeling as guilty. Plus the roads are less jammed so the car always seems to be moving - showing you another image and another life.

I also love the smell in the air when the sun has finally settled away and the sky has turned a misty navy blue in the summer, or the bitter cold temperature outside as you poke your head out just to comfort in the warmth inside a little bit more. It's also the time where I feel I can reflect, snuggle and relax - far more then if the sun was a-shining at 10am in the morning when it all feels a bit busy because people have plans for the day. The feeling of a new day on the horizon is comforting for me.

The television seems to get good then, but some days I'd trade in a night in watching CSI or Comedy to just laze around in my garden with a cup of tea and a friend to talk to or a book to read. The noises seem to be a little sharper too - the cars driving on the distant main road, the lone plane flying by and the whispering television coming from a neighbours window. Everything seems more interesting.

Yes; I'm defiantly an evening girl.

Day 19

Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them

I used to have many because I think everyone has a time in their life where somehow you get loads for the most silly reasons. The most recent is something I've already discussed - the whole Superman and Wonderwoman thing so I fear that there is nothing I can really write here.

Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future

Aha. Well, there's a question. Someone tall, dark and handsome right?

There's many people whom have come in my life that I swore would still be in it 10years later, and well, that just isn't to happen. Call my naive (again) and even a bit silly to believe I know two people who I would believe to still be in my life 10 years later - and those people are Korinne and Michael.

Korinne and I have an odd yet really good relationship, and to be honest I'm not quite sure why she calls herself my best friend - but I'm really happy and proud she does (aww). We've had a soppy moment here and there, and we've had times and memories of which every best friend couple share and honestly she's one of the most inspirational and confident people I've ever met yet still an aspiring geek and clumsy as ever! I've been quite a stupid friend in the past and i hope to change that - with this whole 'optimistic' thing I have going on now. Fingers crossed I don't mess it up!

The next is Michael, and it's quite stereotypical that I'm going to be placing his name here - but I honestly think that if we ever did break up, we'd still be close/friends. So it may not be marriage that keeps us together in our future, but it'd still be that he keeps Emily happy :D (and I think there's a little more then 99.9% chance it'll be the marriage thing too...but shhhh)

Oh, and then there's Adam - becuase if Mike's in me life then I guess Adam has to as well :P

Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy

(There are many, but these two picture never cease to fail!)