vogue zombie

walzerjahrhundert: Art Nouveau restaurant in Paris,France: “La...

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:57:58 -0400

Art Nouveau restaurant in Paris,France: “La Fermette Marbeuf”, originally created around 1898-1900 as the dining room of Hôtel Langham, then covered up when the style had become unfashionable.It was rediscovered by accident in 1978 and then restored to life.

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Fri, 17 May 2013 22:54:20 -0400

ikenbot: Star Trek: Into Whiteness If there’s one thing that...

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:49:17 -0400

ikenbot:

Star Trek: Into Whiteness

If there’s one thing that most fans of Star Trek will agree on, it’s the fact that Gene Roddenberry’s vision for the show — and, more optimistically, for human society — was predicated on the idea that all life is valuable, and that the worth of a person should not be judged by their appearance. Much of this was done through the old sci-fi trope of using aliens to stand in for oppressed groups, but Star Trek didn’t rely on the metaphor; it had characters who were part of the ensemble, important and beloved members of the Enterprise crew, who were people of colour. It had background characters who were people of colour. And, here and there, it had anti-heroes and villains who were people of colour … one of whom, Khan Noonian Singh, became well-nigh iconic.

Image 1: “Who is your favorite villain?” ; Actor John Cho (Lt Sulu) answers.

Image 2: TOS Khan looking at a watercolor of himself. Yes, he’s wearing a dastar (Sikh turban)

Image 3: Cumberbatch and Montalbán (as Khan)

And who is now being played by white actor Benedict Cumberbatch in the new JJ Abrams reboot movie, Star Trek: Into Darkness.

We’re all cynical and jaded enough to know the standard dismissal when it comes to matters of media representation: Paramount Pictures and most film studios are not interested in diversity or visibility, they only care about the bottom dollar. Star Trek as a franchise is too much of a juggernaut to affect with boycotts. There are too many people who love it, who love those characters and that world, and will go to see the movie. And for some of these people, this devotion to the idea of a future where even South and East Asian men get to pilot a starship and love swashbuckling, where Black women make Lieutenant on the Enterprise and actually get the boy, will be trivialized and eroded and whitewashed when the most formidable and complex Star Trek baddie becomes a white man named Khan.

It wasn’t perfect in the 60s when Ricardo Montalbán was cast to play Khan (a character explicitly described in the episode script of Space Seed as being Sikh, from the Northern regions of India). But considering all of the barriers to representation that Roddenberry faced from the television networks, having a brown-skinned man play a brown character was a hard-won victory. It’s disappointing and demoralizing that with the commercial power of Star Trek in his hands, JJ Abrams chose not to honour the original spirit of the show, or the symbolic heft of the Khan character, but to wield the whitewash brush for … what? The hopes that casting Benedict Cumberbatch would draw in a few more box office returns? It’s doubly disappointing when you consider that Abrams was a creator of the television show Lost, which had so many well-rounded and beloved characters of colour in it.

Add to this the secrecy prior to release around Cumberbatch’s role in the film, and what seems like a casting move that would typically be defended by cries of “best actor for the job, not racism” becomes something more cunning, more malicious. Yes, the obfuscation creates intrigue around and interest in the role, but it also prevents advocacy groups like Racebending.com from building campaigns to protest the whitewashing. This happened with the character of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, as well as ‘Miranda Tate’ in The Dark Knight Rises, who ended up being Talia al Ghul but played by French actress Marion Cotillard. This practice is well in effect in Hollywood; and after the negative press that was generated by angry anti-oppression activists and fans when Paramount had The Last Airbender in the works, studios are wising up. They don’t want their racist practices to be called out, pointed at, and exposed before their movies are released — Airbender proved that these protests create enough bad feeling to affect their bottom line.

So the studio has now found a way to keep it secret and underhanded. Racebending.com was there for most of the production of The Last Airbender, and were even able to correspond with Paramount Pictures about it. This time, for Star Trek: Into Darkness, their hiding and opaque practices has managed to silence media watchdogs until the movie’s premiere.

As I said, this racist whitewashing of the character of Khan won’t affect how much money this Trek movie makes. And I’m happy that the franchise is popular, still popular enough to warrant not only a big-budget reboot with fantastic actors but also a sequel with that cast. I’m happy that actors I enjoy like Zoë Saldaña and John Cho are playing characters who mean so much to me, and that they, in respect for the groundbreaking contributions by Nichelle Nichols and George Takei in these roles, have paid homage to that past.

But all of that will be marred by having my own skin edited out, rendered worthless and silent and invisible when a South Asian man is portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch up on that screen. In the original Trek, Khan, with his brown skin, was an Übermensch, intellectually and physically perfect, possessed of such charisma and drive that despite his efforts to gain control of the Enterprise, Captain Kirk (and many of the other officers) felt admiration for him.

And that’s why the role has been taken away from actors of colour and given to a white man. Racebending.com has always pointed out that villains are generally played by people with darker skin, and that’s true … unless the villain is one with intelligence, depth, complexity. One who garners sympathy from the audience, or if not sympathy, then — as from Kirk — grudging admiration. What this new Trek movie tells us, what JJ Abrams is telling us, is that no brown-skinned man can accomplish all that. That only by having Khan played by a white actor can the audience engage with and feel for him, believe that he’s smart and capable and a match for our Enterprise crew.

What an enormous and horribly ironic step backwards. For Star Trek, for media representation, and for the vision of a future where we have transcended systemic, racist erasure.

(via RaceBending)

Euglossa watsonia from retrollama on 8tracks Radio. so Julian and I made this Elementary fanmix!!...

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:05:00 -0400

Euglossa watsonia from retrollama on 8tracks Radio.

so Julian and I made this Elementary fanmix!! listen to it.

track listing:

good intent kimbra
straight edge of the blade jenny and johnny
heroin the velvet underground
irm charlotte gainsbourg
medicine daughter
the good thing the talking heads
equal mind beach house
sleep azure ray
let me take you out class actress
twice little dragon
i want to be well sufjan stevens
i know fiona apple
catholic pagans surfer blood
the wanting comes in waves/repaid the decemberists
lonely lonely feist
know better learn faster thao + the get down stay down

“i’m going to do art this summer!”

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:39:00 -0400

“i’m going to do art this summer!”

thegestianpoet: make hugh dancy kissing people illegal. make hugh dancy with dogs illegal. make...

Fri, 17 May 2013 02:20:57 -0400

thegestianpoet:

make hugh dancy kissing people illegal. make hugh dancy with dogs illegal. make hugh dancy looking sad and scruffy with a little bit of a beard VERY illegal. we can do this. we can protect society

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Fri, 17 May 2013 02:04:32 -0400

Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation was the only record that I could...

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:46:03 -0400

Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation was the only record that I could kinda listen to after work to kinda unwind, you know? …Drive home, crank that shit. Oh, I’m sorry!

mudwerks: interaction 101…

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:29:00 -0400

mudwerks:

interaction 101…

elementary

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:44:00 -0400

elementary

coralshort: Claes Oldenburg, Cake, 1963

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:43:06 -0400

coralshort:

Claes Oldenburg, Cake, 1963

zaboomafoo/elementary crossover

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:17:02 -0400

zaboomafoo/elementary crossover

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Thu, 16 May 2013 18:08:32 -0400

Keira Knightley on spring trends.

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:42:32 -0400

Keira Knightley on spring trends.

neoamericana: thegreatbibliophile: Denise leaving for...

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:13:00 -0400

neoamericana:

thegreatbibliophile:

Denise leaving for Hillman.

I can’t help but think of the pertinence in Clair’s “But because I like you”. Because parents are basically obligated to love their child. But like them? That is earned. Mamma Rashad, everybody!

*sobs*

eatbloganddie: Franklin Delano Roosevelt …who knew,...

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:11:29 -0400

eatbloganddie:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt …who knew, right?

ryan gosling

jettavegas: rawlivingfoods: Seattle’s vision of an urban food...

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:34:18 -0400

jettavegas:

rawlivingfoods:

Seattle’s vision of an urban food oasis is going forward. A seven-acre plot of land in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood will be planted with hundreds of different kinds of edibles: walnut and chestnut trees; blueberry and raspberry bushes; fruit trees, including apples and pears; exotics like pineapple, yuzu citrus, guava, persimmons, honeyberries, and lingonberries; herbs; and more. All will be available for public plucking to anyone who wanders into the city’s first food forest.

“This is totally innovative, and has never been done before in a public park,” Margarett Harrison, lead landscape architect for the Beacon Food Forest project, tells TakePart. Harrison is working on construction and permit drawings now and expects to break ground this summer.

The concept of a food forest certainly pushes the envelope on urban agriculture and is grounded in the concept of permaculture, which means it will be perennial and self-sustaining, like a forest is in the wild. Not only is this forest Seattle’s first large-scale permaculture project, but it’s also believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

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OP is outdated, but it’s still happening.

the-tones: The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid // The...

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:17:04 -0400

the-tones:

The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid // The Decemberists

moonbrains: avocadoghost: Daisies, ‘66 this will always be me...

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:15:23 -0400

moonbrains:

avocadoghost:

Daisies, ‘66

this will always be me and kelsey

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Thu, 16 May 2013 01:11:33 -0400