I really like her illustrations.
ever seen these? what do you think of these? comment below! Do you think this is or is not great art? 
read about ingrid newkirk on wikipedia
I watched a documentary tonight called "i am an animal: the story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA" It was extremely moving. Many other heads of animal organizations like wayne pacelle, head of the humane society of the united states, commented---they all clearly feel very negatively towards peta, but ingrid newkirk was the only one who seemed to make sense. she makes people notice, whether they want to or not. she tells a story about how when she was eight years old, she was sitting in india (somehow) maybe with her parents eating some soup when she saw a guy abusing a bull on the street with a stick--beating it and sexually abusing it out of anger...she said she was eating her soup, and the bull screamed...all of a sudden dropped her soup and ran towards the guy, grabbed the stick out of his hand and made the guy kneel down--she said the guy knew he was lucky she didn't kill him. eight years old. that's a special kind of person. she said when she was young her dad was always away and her mom was an english mother, meaning very stiff upper lip--didn't dote and fawn on her and her sibling was an irish setter. she came to understand animals through growing up with him. she says its like she was raised by wolves. great movie. here is an interview with her from hbo.com
 |
 |
|
|  |
|
HBO: You've dedicated your life to helping animals. Where did that commitment come from?
I think that animals are the most vulnerable of all victims, because not being human they are so easy to dismiss. It is the ultimate prejudice, really. Even if you are being rude or hurting somebody of another race or religion, there's something that pulls most people up short, because they realize they're human beings. But if you don't even have that going for you, then it's very easy to be treated like dirt, like an inanimate object. So, the more I learned about animals, not just rescuing dogs, but about the hidden places where they suffer: inside laboratories and on the fur ranches, in factory farms, behind the tent at the circus-places people usually don't visit-then the more it became clear to me that I really wanted other people to know what I had found out, because so many people want to be kind to animals. So it's just a driving force in my life to be that annoying little messenger who says, "Guess what? Here's what's going on." HBO: What has been your guiding philosophy at PETA these last twenty-seven years?
I've learned over a period of years, especially as the media has become more demanding of titillation-it wants sex, it wants sound bites-to try to render our message into something less intellectual, if you will, really more packaged and ready to go. Whether you make fun of us, or you find us gimmicky and silly, the job that we have to do is to put this issue out before the public, and have people discuss it, argue about it, because, again, we can't have silence. HBO: Your campaigns often make people very uncomfortable? Is that your intention? Ingrid Newkirk: Well, it angers them because it's so much easier to think about something that's happening in a faraway place. The problem is that we have to penetrate this barrier that people have put up, where they say, Don't show me, I like my steak. I don't want to look at that. Or, I'm too sensitive to look at that. They're not too sensitive to carry on supporting that cruelty, it's just they're too sensitive to see the cruelty, because they know then that they would have to change what they're doing. So it's really about honesty. HBO: You famously said, "When it comes to feelings like hunger or thirst, pain, joy-a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." Ingrid Newkirk: Because that's a biological fact; we may not want to face it, but if you take a cigarette and you burn a mouse, that mouse is going to suffer as much as if I take that cigarette and burn my own arm. It's a little mammal. I'm a slightly larger mammal, but the nerves and the pain, everything is the same. And when you see animals jump for joy, uh, they're just full of life and delight. Or, if they lose somebody they love and they grieve, they pine. All the animals do that, it's not just elephants and dolphins. They're emotional creatures. And so, when it comes to feelings, a dog is a rat is a pig is a boy. It's an inconvenient fact and one that we keep trying to pretend isn't true so that we can carry on doing things that hurt them, but we won't feel guilty about it.
Ingrid Newkirk: Well, one of the things I'm most pleased about is we have started another part of our organization called PETA 2 for teens through twenty-one years olds. Those young people are learning now about what they can do to help animals. HBO: You also plan to give parts of your body away when you die, is that true? Ingrid Newkirk: Well, what good do I have for my body when I'm dead? I had a very bad experience on an aircraft once where we all thought we were going to die. So I started to think, Well, that would mean the end of my activism, which means so much to me. I want to get as much done as I can before I die. And I suddenly thought, Well hang on a minute, maybe I could donate bits of my body to be used in stunts after I've gone, so I would have a little bit more 'life,' if you'll pardon the expression, to my campaigning. I started to list all the bits of my body and found uses for many of them. I found a pathologist who's willing to do the deed. And I researched all the laws in the different states. And so, it's in my will. HBO: What do you hope audiences will take away from the movie? Ingrid Newkirk: I hope that it will open some eyes and people will see why it is important to care about animals and feel sympathetic to them, and know that The Golden Rule applies to animals as well as humans. And perhaps, by seeing some part of this film they'll decide that they're going to make, even little, changes in their habits. Perhaps not go to the animal circus. Perhaps have a vegetarian day once a week, or reject the fur lining in their gloves. They'll do something-and they'll tell other people about it, so that those people can do something, too. |
another lost book with an awesome story and illustrations that stays with you: Heckedy PEG!
the other night i reminisced with rand about kids books that were kind of a cut above other kids books. ones that weren't just cute but kind of--great art. illustrations and stories that you can never get out of your head. but we couldn't remember the titles. i got panicky tonight because i thought i would never find out what they were, so i looked through the whole house until i found the one we remembered being about this girl who enters the outside world for the first time through a tapestry. we remembered she gets tied down by these vines which grow over her hands and how creepy and magnetic the book was. then we started talking about this other amazing one where this woman weave a tapestry--with her own blood and tears. turns out they are both by the same person--marilee heyer. wow!! what a cool coincidence. the first one is called "the forbidden door" and the second is the weaving of a dream.
i am reviewing joe navarro's excellent book "what every body is saying" where he uses his 25 years experience as an fbi agent senior interviewer to explain our second language--body language!! check out a vid of him critiquing hillary clinton and sarah palin.
from perezhilton.com
perez writes:
Peeps don't like getting played!
We previously mentioned that many folks felt like David Blaine 'cheated'his way through his 3 day, 60-hour hanging stunt over New York's Central Park because he took multiple right side up breaks during the endeavor. At least one an hour. Sometimes more!
New Yorkers are a vocal bunch and they let Blaine know how craptasticlly they viewed this latest attention seeking gig.
The 'magician' was booed by onlookers at the big, ceremonial 'conclusion' event of his 'death defying' hanging stunt in New York City on Wednesday night.
Does this mean we won't hear from Blaine for a long time!
Don't come back unless you have something really, really good
two life changing books have passed into my hands recently.
gl rand!!!!
