a Photoblog: Baybeats @ Esplanade

all photos by me, more on Flickr

the Tattoos

So these are long, long overdue. I've had my most recent tattoo finished since December 2010. Better late than never, eh?

Here they are, then. The smaller one is a stylized Eye of Horus, and is the second tattoo I had done. The first, a stylized Eye of Thoth, is underneath the firebird's wing. That's actually the "tail" of the Eye curling out above the bottom-most feather.
The firebird is my latest and probably last tattoo. It took two sittings to complete, one in September '10 that lasted three hours for all the linework, and another in December '10 that lasted just under two hours for all the fills.

Suffice to say that, after around six and a half hours of total time spent under the gun, I'm in no hurry to go back for more.
I'm still not entirely accustomed to having the large firebird arcing across my body, and I often forget that I even have tattoos. I intentionally placed them somewhere I could hide them easily, so I guess the forgetfulness is a given.

Well, that's enough rambling from me. Ask any questions you might have in the comments below!

a Taste of Turkey

Pun fully intended. And it's a whole lot more appropriate that my friend shouting "Cranberries!" after I said I was in Turkey.
Anyway, I'm back, and I've posted about half of my photos to my Flickr account. Only half? Yah, half. That's still 111 photos, so there's quite a bit to look at.

If you haven't jumped to that gallery already, then I'll explain these three photos a little. But just a little.
The first one is from an abandoned Greek village, uninhabited since the first world war. Except for the sheep. And the goats in another series of photos. And the tourist trap restaurants and such. Otherwise, totally uninhabited. The second photo is just a piece of street art from Istanbul. I like it. That's all.

Finally, the photo on the left is of the library at Ephesus, one of the biggest (the biggest?) tourist attractions in all of Turkey. Ancient city, Biblical importance, yadda yadda. Pretty cool stuff.
For the rest, hit up my gallery. Go!

all photos (c) me

Making Connections - Molly Millions & Quorra

Being a university student with some background in Literature and focusing on Culture Studies, I'm accustomed to making connections between and among texts. For instance, the character of Molly Millions in Gibson's novel Neuromancer. In his vision of the cyberpunk future, she is the definition of a femme fatale, a former prostitute turned "Razorgirl," a cyber-samurai if you will.

Of course, the only representation of Molly is on the cover of the novel, where we only see her face. The descriptions in the various books she appears in, though, have allowed fans to conjure a likeness that is more-or-less accepted.  Anyway, Neuromancer is one of those novels that influenced a great many things. Heck, it included the internet before it even existed (Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" himself).

Enter the world of Tron, a community existing within a computer system. The parallels between the Tron franchise and classic cyberpunk are quite apparent. I'd like to look at the character of Quorra, though: she's the Molly Millions of the film. Her appearance is similar, her fighting skills are similar, and she, too, is taught amidst an Asian-inspired aesthetic. Huh.


art by deadinsane, Neuromancer cover art (c) Ace 1984, Tron: Legacy movie still (c) Walt Disney Pictures

Global Climate Change

This is gonna be a short one, I think, though I have the potential to ramble on for quite a while. It's about climate change. But it's not about whether it's real or not. I don't care about that right now. I mean, I'm writing this beside a window that gives me a clear view of the foot of fresh snow outside (which I love, by the way. Not complaining about it yet!).

So what, then, am I wanting to say? This: there are mummified trees in the Arctic Circle. Scratch that, mummified forests. The logical conclusion is that at one time there were forests up there, meaning no ice. We're talking big trees, here, so the climate was right for large-scale plant growth for a substantial period of time.

Really, that's all I wanted to say. Yah, the polar ice is melting, and the slight increases in temperature and global sea level are wreaking some havoc with ecosystems and weather fronts, but who's to say that's unnatural now? A little threatening to us land mammals, sure. But if there were Arctic forests before, why not again?

photo by IngoEs

Corporeal Epiphany

I've known for a long time that I have body issues. My self-esteem stems from my shape, and the shape that I think I am. I'm one of those guys that girls envy: I'm tall, lean, and I never, ever gain weight. Recently I heard a testimony by a girl who was struggling with anorexia, and one of the things that she said really hit home: she never saw her body in entirety, only in isolated pieces. I'm the same way.

I have fat days. Seriously. I actually go to bed some days thinking I'm overweight. My BMI is 19. If I lived in the States, only 7% of males my height and age would be lighter than me. And I have fat days.

Recently, though, I came to a second realization about my issues with body image: they're the reason I have pursued tattooing. My personal perceptions have changed dramatically over the past few days with the completion of my large fire bird tattoo, and I'm starting to feel alright in my own skin again.

Maybe it's the constant desire to show the ink off, or the fact that I love the image permanently etched into my body, but things have changed for the better. I'm just hoping that my feelings will remain this way.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still endeavour to change a lot about myself. I'll probably never actually be at a weight I'm comfortable with, or be the size I want to be. It's funny sometimes how I have the same trouble as a lot of the girls I know, but in reverse.

Anyways, my plan is to be done with tattooing now. With about six and a half total hours of work on me I'm feeling satisfied. Maybe I'll end up hitting the gym more this year. Maybe. I'm a lazy fool, so we'll see what I look like come December.


all photos by vcateyesv

my Year in Review

First off, this idea (and title?) was stolen from a friend of mine. I like to swipe things like that. Here's what I got up to the last 12 months.

Is there an equivalent to Wednesdays in university degrees? As of January, I was officially at the hump-day of my degree program: 5 terms down, 5 to go. I'm not sure whether I was relieved or even more stressed because of it.

February brought Olympic good times as I spent part of my reading break up in Whistler with some friends. Mittens were worn, events were watched, beers were consumes, and I was hassled over and over about where I managed to pick up my Team Canada hoodie.

Did anything happen in March? Anything at all? The only thing I can think of is that I ate copious amounts of phở, but I do that every month. Well, did that until the phở place became blacklisted. I'm not bitter. Not bitter at all.

This picture isn't exactly accurate, but in April the hard drive in my laptop decided to die (finally?) after four years of service. However, it chose to die in the middle of exams and term papers, and in Kel where my XP boot disks were not. Long story short, I'm now an Ubuntu convert with extreme loyalty to Western Digital.

Even though my school year had only just ended, in May I began looking at the opportunities that I would have this year. And what should catch my eye but an exchange program to NUS. I've been obsessing over it since.

The Canadian group Thunderheist broke up in June, and I had the privilege of attending their last show in Vancouver. Honestly, it was one of the best performances I have seen, and I am so sad that they won't be touring or even making music anymore. Oh, and I turned 21. Minor detail.

Although I go to school in the Okanagan, I had never been there in the summer, when it is at the peak of awesome. In July I flew out to Kel and went camping with a bunch of friends and was finally able to experience an Okanagan summer. Rad.

August brought many of my RA friends back together, after four extremely long months apart (besides the ones I saw in July, heh). More rad people, more rad camping, and rad memories to boot. Mad rad.

I got my first tattoo shortly after I turned 19, and a week later I decided that I hated it. After many years mulling designs, I settled on a Russian firebird to cover the terrible tattoo up. I started the tattoo in September, accomplishing 3.5 hours of work in a single sitting.

October, of course, brought Halloween. I had a posse. Initially, I was a dragon. Then I was a dinosaur. By the end of the weekend, I was the Ogopogo. There were no costume changes. I'm just that awesome. We're just that awesome.

The most terrible month in the history of terrible months was November 2010. I had a very brief post about it, sharing the musicians who helped me through it all. I'm still not quite over what happened that month, but hopefully this new year will bring some healing.

I was finished with exams quite early in the month, so December became the month of movies. In theatres I saw Burlesque, Tron:Legacy, and Black Swan. Many others were screened from the comfort of my living room, or as movie marathons at friends' places. I really needed the down time after this year.




Garfield (c) Jim Davis, Whistler photo by me, phở photo by m0nyet, Thunderheist photo by wagepeace, Okanagan photo by trainboysd40, laser tag photo by a friend, tattoo design by laludia, costume photo by a friend, Chris Corner portrait by lora8, Black Swan poster (c) Fox Searchlight Pictures

Tattoo three, Round two

So today I had my second session at Urge in Vic, my tattoo destination of choice. I've been to two other places in the city, the first of which was terrible, while the second one was good but not good enough to bring me back. Why'd I go back to Urge? Emily. She's my artist.

She has a style all her own. She specializes in "all things rad," which is perfect for me. I like rad things. Better that these rad things are on me, raising my rad-factor tenfold! Also, I promise that I don't have a tiger and unicorn at tea tattooed on me.

I do have a mythological beast, though. My most recent (and hopefully final) addition is a Russian firebird, known throughout the English-speaking world as a phoenix. Yes, I have a story for it but no, I will not be sharing it here. It goes a little deeper than the usual "rising from the ashes" phoenix motifs into the Russian lore. I'm rad like that.

Urge logo by Urge, painting by Emily Shoichet, firebird artwork by an unknown artist