Salty skin

I am currently taking a paper at University about Animal Welfare Law.

Instead of going on a massive stream-of-consciousness rant about all the issues I am now mulling over after each class, I wanted to talk about a relevant issue which faces us all:  whether or not to eat meat.

At present, I am about three weeks into a trial period of vegetarianism, which is to span across the length of my course.  I told myself that by the end (two weeks time) I would have come to a decision about my long term position.  Either way I go I want to have a complete understanding of why I do (or don’t) eat meat.

The problem this presents though, is that a lot of thought is needed. On the one hand you are willingly cutting out an entire food group for life. The alternative is eating animal flesh (which is slowly starting to repulse me at a basic level), not to mention fuelling an industry plagued by inhumane practices and a complete disregard for the status of animals as sentient beings.

New Zealanders are big meat eaters.  Steve Braunias devoted seven brilliant columns to his love of steak (The beef and Liberty series).  In the first he writes:

Rolled rib roast, fillet, scotch fillet, T-bone, porterhouse, sirloin, rump, silverside, shank, shin, brisket, blade – no matter how you cut it, beef is good. God eats beef. Vegetarians dream of beef.  

Which I suppose presents another issue for me to consider: can your moral position truly overcome your fundamental hunger? Will I be dreaming of beef? Envying my meat eating friends and taking stray whiffs of their dinner for fun? Or would it become ingrained and habitual: meat is abnormal, its smell is stifling, 
its appearance is sweaty. 

Does it matter? 

Watch this space.

xx

Yip, I ate a lot of little sea creatures in Japan.

Peach and polka dots

I generally tend to prefer winter clothes to summer clothes.  Maybe it's something to do with the fact that summer is a bit simple.  Winter involves a little more thought, a little more coordination.  

Of course winter has many down points: dismal weather, dry fruit and grumpy moods. But all these things can be overcome by the excitement of new clothes and ridiculous spending, a great way to brighten up a generally dull season.

I was inspired to write this post after seeing the new collection from Ruby Boutique online.  Everything in it is beautiful, wearable and interesting.  Here are a few images from the look book, but for the full collection plus Madame Hawke, see the link below.

xx

http://www.rubynz.com/Autumn-winter-2010_102.aspx

Laneway

Not long now until St. Jerome's Auckland Laneway Festival and I am excited to say the least!

Having spent years shying away from festivals that involve: heat, crowds, obnoxiously drunk people and acts I am ambivalent about seeing, I am now counting down the days for an event which will probably be a mixture of all these things. But exceptions can be made in exceptional circumstances, and I can endure the burning sun and a deadlocked maniac thrashing around in front of me if I get to see Florence and the Machine, my pick for the Laneway Festival . She is amazing.

xx

You look nice

 
If I’m honest I would have to say that I’ve always had a penchant for the 1990s and all its trends (excluding the meat/fruit culinary combination and the colour lime green). 

Plaid shirts, power suits and bad horror films all gained prominence in a decade when I was an unfortunately surly teen, oblivious to the glory surrounding me.

  

I am reminded of this glory in my newest obsession: David Lynch’s series Twin Peaks.  Yes, yes, I know this is not a unique discovery and although I’m aware of being behind the times, Twin Peaks has a newness to me beyond the bandwagon jump.

What I love about this series is – amongst many things – the make up and style throughout.  Make up in the 90s was, in my opinion, brilliant.  Paleness was desired and everything was matte.  Following this decade came a blizzard of bronzer, sparkles, outrageous colours and excessive application. But let's put that aside and focus on the simplicity of the 90s palette.  Twin peaks is a great example of female characters who are striking without asking to be.  

Red lipstick, theatrical heavy eye-brows and orange eye-shadow are all staples in this series.  I also love the androgynous clothing many of the female characters adorn (Josie particularly). Take a look:

xx

Nippon love

My dad has recently moved back to New Zealand after 3.5 years living in the beautiful city of Tokyo. The move has been one of those huge changes which gradually rolls over you instead of hitting you in an instant. I can only imagine how he must feel: going from such a chaotic environment to comparatively sleepy New Zealand.

I wanted to mark this occasion by expressing how much I love Japan – Tokyo particularly - but it all just seems a bit hard to articulate, hopefully these photographs will do it justice: 

xx