Hello Kitty - Fashion Victim

Hi,

Daughter No 2 has been avidly watching Hello Kitty since I bought her a DVD when I was in Jakarta last.

It's hard not to buy DVDs in Indonesia when most disks cost less than a cup of coffee back home.

It is wholesome stuff, and good toddler-education. Covering such subjects as sharing, saying you're sorry and being a friend.

As with all toddler telly the theme tune is catchy and continues to drive me insane. Especially when your daughter sings it at full volume.

Of course Hello Kitty has been around for ages and is a huge character in the Japanese "Cute" culture phenomenon. Where mainstream adults display their affections for their favourite cartoon characters in the way they dress.

You can get everything from neck-ties through to Hello Kitty g-strings. And it turns out that Thailand are getting in on the act - but with a completely different angle...

Police officers who commit minor offences are being forced to wear a rather distinctive little Hello Kitty armband.

You can find the BBC article on it here.

So we've got the juxtaposition of people displaying affection to a character and those being punished and made to look soft by being forced to wear an icon that lessens them.

This all got me wondering... as you would expect.

Could people be punished by forcing them to wear unfashionable labels, or to advertise products they use which fall into the "unmentionable" category?

I find the idea of a drug possessing Paris Hilton being forced to wear items from J C Penney's, or a vote defrauder Hilary Clinton being forced legally to wear a shirt advertising Super Size Tampons, bloody hysterical.

Not a fashion crime - more of a fashion punishment. Definitely a low cost approach to home detention.

NP out

I don't know much about art...

... but I know a good prank when I see one.

Last year Damien Hirst produced the piece on the right called "For the love of god". It an impressive piece of work with a short recipe list of skull + 8601 flawless diamonds.

It's more impressive than dumping bits of animals in formaldehyde. But disappointing in it's complete lack of impact on me when compared to the hastily embalmed livestock.

Is it art? Of course it is, it has a price tag of UK 50 million.

Now on to the prank which is pretty much priceless.

This installation was placed outside of the White Cube Gallery Masons yard at 3.30 am on Sunday night in response to the first skull being exhibited.

The prank skull was created using 6522 Swarovski crystals
and took Laura, the artist, a month to create.

I just love this prank on so many levels.

At the very least you have to respect the artist / prankster. This work has a huge impact - and is oh so much better than posting a video response on YouTube.

The main reason for Mr Hirst's work making no big impression on me is that I've been fascinated with crystal skulls since I was a kid. After watching the Arthur C Clarke's mysterious world series on TV.

10 cool points if you can name the archaeologist who discovered the most famous, and disputed, crystal skull antiquity "The Skull of Doom".

NP Out

P.S. My better half didn't get the prank at all. The artist wanted to show the crystal skull being thrown out with the rubbish after the exhibition closed.

Magic Man Done It

Hi,

Intelligent design is something that has been obsessing the Determinist lately. As winding him up is one of the things that keeps me going I've taken an interest into it as well.

In the best traditions of UK culture those who ridicule and satirise make the best case here.

So basically the root cause of how life on Earth got its initial kick up the bum is still under discussion. It is the unknown nature of this beginning that makes it such a cool subject.

As with all unknown parts of human experience people fill in the big dark scary spaces in their understanding with imagination and belief. Whether it is belief in a creation myth or a much discussed and unproven scientific theory.

Personally I don't give a rats arse how things got started. I just adore the way that these discussions affect the people involved.

Whether they build a big fire in the cave-mouth of their reality to keep the unknown out - or jump into the darkness and hallucinate their tits off because of sensory deprivation.

So I don't see a huge gap between Creationists and Scientists. They're both trying to tackle a big scary subject with belief.

Though I have to say the scientific method of discovering knowledge is more my cup of tea than someone quoting from a bad translation, of a translation, of a translation of a book which I consider to be ill conceived and poorly written.

So I'll be watching the fight with interest. I am willing to bet a large sum of money that the Creationist camp will pull weapons first.

Anyone want to take that bet?

NP out

P.S. 10 cool points for identifying the person in the photo above and what aspect of the Tarot they are portraying.

Happy Easter!

Hi,

Well I'm giving the blog thing another try. This time I will avoid members of my family knowing it exists, which should make life alot easier.

So I'm shouting into the void, let's see if anyone is listening.

Oh and happy Easter - it's my favourite Pagan holiday. The only one those lovely Christians would not dare change the name of.

Families giving fertitlity symbols in chocolate as presents to each other never gets old. Eggs and bunnies are excellent, though I am waiting on the come-back of the huge chocolate phallus...

Oester approves I am sure.

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

NP signing off