Leaf Carving Artists In China Branching Out Into Pop Culture (VIDEO)

Talk about having a steady hand and a load of patience. Most folks have trouble making a scrap book full of pressed leaves without the pressure of hand crafting a masterpiece. I am going to steal of phrase from ‘the kids’ these days , Amazeballs!  Mike Enders

(Huffington Post)

A new art form emerging out of China. Creating these leaf carvings is no easy process, taking the delicate precision from a skilled artisan. With a knife, the leaf is slowly scraped of its outer layers, eventually revealing a near transparent surface. Special care is given to keep the veins intact to preserve the stability of the leaf.

Artists prefer using the leaves of the Chinar tree, native to India, Pakistan, and China. Resembling maple leaves, the distribution of veins in the Chinar leaves are the best suited for sculpting–and they are considered ‘lucky’ in Chinese tradition.

The process of producing a single leaf carving is said to take months of careful work. When the artwork is finished, the leaves are then preserved and framed–ensuring that they will last for decades. The music is Osmosis by Liquid Tension Experiment.

Stupid Humans: Leopard injures 11 people in India before Dying

In this photo taken Tuesday, July 19, 2011, a leopard prepares to attack a forest guard, left, at Prakash Nagar village near Salugara, on the outskirts of Siliguri, India. The leopard strayed into the village area and mauled several villagers, including three guards, before being caught by forest officials, according to news reports. The leopard, which suffered injuries caused by knives and batons, died later in the evening at a veterinary center.

India Health Minister Calls Homosexuality Disease

I propose a punishment for his verbal diarrhea: Put the minister in a cage full of lions and tigers after rubbing him down with raw meat, all the while gay-homesexuals surround the cage bumping and grinding the Born This Way by Ms Gaga, Lady Gaga if you’re nasty. AB

(via AP Press)

NEW DELHI— India’s health minister derided homosexuality as an unnatural “disease” from the West at an HIV/AIDS conference, drawing outrage Tuesday from a U.N. official and activists who said the comments set back campaigns for gay rights and against HIV.

In a hastily called news conference Tuesday evening, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said he was misquoted, though video of Monday’s speech has aired repeatedly on Indian television.

“Some people have played with the words. I have been quoted out of context,” he said. “My reference was to HIV as a disease. As health minister, I know (male homosexual sex) is not a disease.”

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Furni Black “Rockassins” Comfort Over Style

Help! I really am interested in these. It may be a case of giving in to comfort over fashion (although these are quite cute in a probably wouldn’t leave the house in them way, but I wear them all the time at home). Shush, it’s old age.

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via Selectism

Furni Black “Rockassins”
On May 9, 2011 Furni will release the second round of their “Rockassin.”

Here’s what the French Canadian blokes have to say, “It’s time to “rock the moc”. We’ve teamed up with a family owned business with almost 40 years of experience making snowshoes, moccasins and other Indian handcrafts here in Canada to offer you these beauties. These crepe soled ankle high moccasins are made from supple “black”leather. Each pair will be skillfully crafted by hand to order in small batches less than 250kms from our Montreal workshop.”

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• Rockassins (coolhunting.com)

Bel & Bel Vespa Seats= WANT

Totally Rad!

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Bel & Bel Vespa Seats

Via http://www.selectism.com

We’ll assume that these Vespa Seats from Bel & Bel are made from dead Vespas rather than old frames that could be restored (I just feel better thinking that). These limited edition seats use old frames to form something new from the classic Piaggio forms. The ergonomic Vespa chairs feature a hydraulic height adjuster. I would take one for the office.

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• Vespa 150cc and 200cc to follow Vespa LX 125 (newbikesinindia.wordpress.com)

Oprahs 25 Gay Years

Image via Wikipedia

Oprah and Gayle sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G ……… I say, who the hell cares. Is that something you even want to think about. live and let live

25 Years of LGBT Issues on Oprah

By Advocate.com Editors

Oprah takes a look back at 25 years of covering LGBT issues on her talk show with special guests Greg Louganis and India’s Prince Gohil on Tuesday’s episode.

Olympic gold medalist Louganis will appear on the show to discuss coming out at the 1994 Gay Games and revealing on The Oprah Winfrey Show the following year that he is HIV-positive.

Prince Gohil appeared on the talk show in 2007 after his family disowned him for coming out. The show promises updates on the prince’s relationship with his mother, the queen.

Check your local listings for airtimes.

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• Oprah Commemorates 25 Years of LGBT Stories (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Oprah’s Show on Tuesday Looks Back at 25 Years of Raising Awareness About LGBT Issues (towleroad.com)

HAIRY BUSINESS; HAIR TRADE

I wonder how much I could get for a sink pull of pubes? Could they be transplanted onto a twinks chin?

The Hair Trade

18 JAN 2011 09:03 AM

Julia Sherman profiled a wig maker. The basics:

The market for human hair is generally limited to places with impoverished populations willing to sell a two-foot ponytail — the product of two years of growth — for twenty dollars. Dark hair comes primarily from South America, India, and Mongolia. Helene says that the ample selection of hair colors and textures in South America — the result of more than twenty-five generations of intermarriage between Europeans and indigenous people — make it the ideal source region.

Related Articles

• The Hair Trade (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
• Peruvian Women Have the Best Hair for Orthodox Jewish Wigmaking (neatorama.com)