Fake Cannibalism / Real Cannibalism

I haven't posted for a while, but I figured I'd come back with a bang. Right now I'm going through a bout of writers block, as well as photographer's block. The funny thing about life though, is every so often something lurks about and finds it's way to inspire you. Just like when I went to the Golden Gate Bridge and was reminded of the chilling documentary, The Bridge, in seeing this BuzzFeed post on gorilla marketing for Resident Evil 6, I was reminded of a VICE documentary about Issei Sagawa.

In case you don't know about the food sculptor Sharon Baker and her installation in the Smithfield meat market East London, or Issei Sagawa, here is a visual.

The "Human Flesh Meat Market" looks quite upsetting. I think the flesh is made of Prosciutto. Not sure what the fingers and other "offal" are comprised of.
I had a familiar feeling when seeing images of this installation. I am very sensitive to bodily integrity (not to be confused with BIID in which case I would want to cut my arm off), so seeing dismemberment creates feelings of dread and way too many introspective thoughts; like how much less of myself would I be without these limbs? It was similar to when I first saw the black and white images of Issei Sagawa's victim.

Issei Sagawa is a Japanese man, who in 1981, killed and ate part of a young Dutch woman in Paris. Sagawa was detained in a mental institution, declared insane, and shipped back to Japan after the French public expressed outrage of Sagawa's detainment at their expense. Then he appeared to slip through the cracks of the justice system.

 VICE made a short documentary called VICE Meets Issei Sagawa, in which we see Sagawa free as a bird living in Japan, though seemingly trapped in a personal hell. Sagawa explains how cannibalism began as a form of sexual desire as a young boy that escalated into adulthood. While Sagawa claims to attempt remorse to no avail, he simultaneously expresses extreme guilt for being alive, surmising he must be some kind of alien; an abomination.

After Sagawa came back from Paris, his only means of income involved capitalizing on his bizarre crime. Sagawa goes as far as to say "Japanese people nowadays are really stupid" speaking about how he has been asked to write books, make art, and pornography, all exploiting the horrific nature of the incident.  Even he understands the depravity of this. What is most disturbing are the videos film makers made of him, making a freak show of his mental issue, making his cannibalism a sick joke, rewarding his irregularity, and concurrently disregarding the gravity of life lost at his hands.

In Vice Meets... you get a glimpse at a pornographic video in which a Japanese adult film actress interacts with Sagawa (he does not eat or harm her), ending with a tearful interview as she reflects on learning of his crime and obsessions. You will be happy to know that even after such an experience this woman has continued to be a "good friend" to Sagawa. I cannot understand her courage, or her motives.

Below is part 1 of VICE Meets Issei Sagawa. This video is NSFW. It is extremely graphic on many levels.

Insert Animal, Insert Verb, I Swoon.

Hi-larious photographic viewdinggles of cats from the 1900s

Have you ever seen films and photos from the turn of the 20th century and scoffed at how simple-minded people must have been? Some stereoscopes of cats dressed in people clothes... hours of fun right? Pfft! What would you do, just look at a still photo and laugh to yourself or with friends, and just move onto the next image? What's that about? I bet after the ego stroking remarks you make, you almost feel like their innocence should be revered and respected, because feeling such hubris about your own young mind can only lead to some kind of big gotcha-moment in the near future where our brains melt from all the stimulation, and the ghosts of the past smirk at us beyond the grave, and then we feel so embarrassed...

Well, at the turn of the 21st century, with the progression of the world wide web, decades of Oscar-winning films, and the mores of comedy changing and advancing all the time, some of the most popular and enjoyable videos available are no more intricate or thought provoking than those of the previous century.

10 Pugs Who Look Like Things

Lately I've found myself on Buzzfeed.com at least five times a day. It's really too captivating.  The site is full of very quick, silly, insightful, bits of news and observations, owing much of their material to photos and videos of cute animals. While they have a section of their site dedicated to the squeezy-fuzzyuzums, those images sneak their way into most categories of news and information (much to my delight).

Time to time, as I watch a 5 minute long video of a duck chewing on grass, giggling like a 1 year old with keys dangling in front of them, I will remember my favorite movies: Magnolia, Rushmore, Blue Velvet. I do have a refined palate!  Don't I?

Why am I so enthralled with animals doing such banal things? Take for example the video below, Hamlet the Mini Pig - Goes Down the Stairs. On the very surface, this is a pig walking down the stairs. The dramatic theme is Hamlet's hunger (for that oatmeal) which drives him to defy all odds and go down the stairs. The nuts and bolts of this film, really, is a pig walking down the stairs.
It is one of the best things I have ever seen and it has over 1 million hits on YouTube.



If you liked that, then Baby Turtle eating a raspberry is for you. (Or the more risque, but equally endearing, Tortoise Having Sex With a Shoe, Squeaking).


What it comes down to is, amid all the fast-paced music videos and plot-twisting feature films, it is a timeless fact that humans want to relate to animals. We enjoy seeing animals do things that remind us of ourselves. We can't know what animals are thinking, so when they do something silly, we appreciate the moment as a fluke. That's why I can watch a pig attempt to walk down the stairs for a solid minute. Watching a tiny animal struggle to adapt to a household object humans have mastered is cute. It's cute because the animal has it's situational short-comings, which reminds us of our differences, but their determination is something we both share.
 It warms a place in everyone's heart to see animals living life and trying new things, not just hanging around like a lump. I could sit on my ass and watch that for hours.