Newport and Schmap!

Here's a photo of Laila K from SB6. Not the best of the night, but definitely my favourite.

Have had a crazy few days. The Sonic Boom Six show was a lot of fun and I'm loving TJ's. Actually really liked Newport, which I know people from Newport will find hard to believe. Looking for excuses to go back. Here's another picture:

In other news, one of my history tourism photos has been selected to be included in the Flickr Schmap Cardiff Guide! Click here to see it.

Documentary Evidence of Terrifying Minions

Have spent all of my time off work with honest-to-goodness SWINE FLU to catch up on the magazine and I'm proud to say that Issue 2 is looking great!

In this issue we've got coverage of Comic Con, Fish and Chips Worth Travelling For, and the unholy alliance between MTV and the Army! The music section has reviews of Sonic Boom 6 (as of Thursday!), Pig With the Face of a Boy, and Clear Air Turbulence, an interview with Razorblade Romance, and the long-awaited Songs About Smack playlist. There's also a back-to-school literature section with Amphetamine Logic Part II and the best in local poetry! Needless to say, we've also got lots more hot girls with big brains and enormous black boots. And this issue is absolutely free! So check back here for a link to your free issue, check the website, check the Facebook fan page, the Facebook group, the Twitter page, and check your email because this issue is going to be coming at you from every which way and you're not going to want to miss it!

In celebration of the near completion of the second issue in this, the biggest and most ambitious incarnation of The Antagonist to date, I'd like to invite you, your friends, and your minions to contribute. There's really nothing to be afraid of -- if we like your stuff, we'll print it, and if we don't, well, I'll dispose of it as I see fit.

Now I understand some of you didn't believe me when I said that I ripped rejected articles into tiny pieces to make papier mache boats and, I admit, that is a bit far-fetched (papier mache boats would eventually melt and sink), but I do have a special Minion who disposes of them for me.

You want proof?



Now, I know that's a scary prospect, but you really shouldn't let it put you off. Go ahead! Send any features, articles, reviews, interviews, photographs, comics, love letters, hate mail, pants, etc. to primaryantagonist@gmail.com.

Real Women (and Men) vs. Intolerance and TV

Here's some recent silliness. Experimented with the timer on my camera and some Christmas lights the other night and wound up with some pretty fun shots. This one's my favourite.

It looks like I'm going to be appearing in Square Magazine this month as a poet -- I know, right? -- and I've been invited to be a feature at the magazine's launch/reading next month. Exciting stuff! Have been feeling appropriately creative lately, although not in a particularly useful way. Planning to hit the canvas sale at the Pen & Paper on pay day & busting out the acrylics this weekend. I'm having trouble communicating thought in a coherent way, so it looks like I'll be giving the non-fiction a rest and resorting to beat poetry and finger painting.

Hey, it's always worked before.

In other news, have gathered quotes for calendar, and although we could get a few printed reasonably cheaply, it would probably lose us money unless each and every one of them sold for more than £5, which I'm not willing to count on. So unless plans change within the next week, Babes With Brains will be published as a series on the website.

Keep you posted.

So I just saw on BBC News they interviewed some guy from InStyle about this German women's fashion magazine that's banned super-skinny supermodels, and he said something as to the effect of, "When women read fashion magazines they don't want to see real women, they want to see beautiful women." Excuse me? Did he say that real women aren't beautiful? And why does he care? It's not like he's seen one in recent memory. The reaction from the female anchor was priceless. I think she was going to rip him a new one before the male anchor laughed nervously and moved the conversation along, the interviewee laughing bashfully like he'd gotten away with something.

Interestingly enough, surveys have shown that average men prefer healthy women sizes 8 - 16(+) over their rail-thin counterparts. I'm not bashing skinny women here, I'm just pointing out that when women strive to be super thin, it's not for men. It's never for men; men don't like it, and any man worth his salt would prefer a healthy woman to a skeleton.

Really.

This whole "fattist" thing the western world seems to have launched upon itself makes me upset. At first it really pissed me off, and now it just makes me despair at the state of things. I hate the implication that what you look like is anybody's business but your own. I also find the "no fat chicks" mantra pretty rich coming from the kind of men brash enough to repeat it. Where are the "no redneck assholes" bumper stickers?

I just don't know where people get off interfering with other people's lives. It's not only "fat" people (and who says what's "fat" anyway? It's down to perception. ) -- it's the disabled, the desperate, the downtrodden, the mildly unattractive and the somewhat untalented. You only have to flip through the TV guide for a veritable parade of glorified freakshows. Fat Teens in Love makes me particularly angry. Of course there's also I Hate My Bald Head, Hairy Women, 3 Fat Brides, 1 Thin Dress, Octomom, More to Love, Freaky Eaters, and makeover programmes like The Swan, and it extends to watching people humiliate themselves on shows like American Idol, X-Factor, and now, Grease: The School Musical. This morbid fascination is a disease. These shows are patronising, insulting, transparent, and disposable; they do not provide entertainment and they are not human interest -- there's nothing human about them.

This weird hatred isn't limited to TV. I was walking to work today through the St David's shopping centre in Cardiff. I was walking behind this guy in a leather jacket and skinny jeans with a scarf in his gorgeous long black hair. Do I have your attention? Anyway, this random big guy (wearing rainbow from head to toe, no less) sees the guy in leather and starts barking insults at him until he ducked into a store to get away from him. What? What made that guy think he had the right to comment on this guy's appearance? Why do people think it's any of their goddamned business? How fucked up would you have to be to aggressively attack another person without provocation on the basis of something so superficial? There is clearly something wrong.

I'm not blaming the Media, Hollywood, or the Fashion Industry -- Media reflects the world, Hollywood polishes it, and the fashion industry gives it something to blow its money on -- but it's something much bigger and darker than that: it's self-hatred, jealousy, insecurity, intolerance, and all of the worst things from the darkest corners of human failure.

Thing is, it's not natural and it's not inevitable. I don't feel the need to humiliate people, and I'm sure you don't, either. If I saw somebody committing a heinous fashion crime, yeah, I'd notice, but I wouldn't dream of criticising them because a) it's cruel, b) it's subjective, and c) I don't care. Who does?

So what I'm trying to do with The Antagonist and the Babes with Brains is to provide an alternative entertainment source, to reassure you that not everybody on Earth is baying at quasi-celebrities, to embrace your inner freak, and to share our soap box with you when you feel like screaming at people.

Oh, and we also want to redefine the popular perception of beauty by taking pictures of people we think are really, really, terribly hot, regardless of size, age, gender, etc, etc, because it is not a style or a predetermined set of proportions that makes you a hottie.

It's your brain.

Flickr Update!

Jen's Fairytale 2, originally uploaded by tigerlily watson.

More recent modelling shots now on Flickr and Facebook! Hoping to make it to Swansea within the next two weeks to photograph a few more lovely models & have another couple in the works for next month. Have so many wonderful photos that I am currently concocting ingenious plan to showcase my gorgeous, brainy models for the advancement of global aesthetics. More later!

Superabundance of Babes with Brains

Had another fantastic photoshoot yesterday with Jen S. We went to Bute Park again because they turned out so nicely last time, and the lighting was lovely and there were leaves everywhere. I really enjoyed myself. Jen was wearing her purple corset for Damsel in this Dress and we wanted to take some photos to show it off, although these will also be used in the magazine.

Hoping to schedule a day in Swansea soon for an epic 3-girl photoshoot at Jen J's new place. Apparently there's a white chaise lounge, and I cannot WAIT!

Have also interviewed Razorblade Romance this week and very much looking forward to seeing Sonic Boom 6 in a couple of weeks. Going to let The Punk write the review for that one, but I'll take photos & post them ASAP. As for Green Day at the end of the month, well, that's not really for the magazine... that's just for me. ;)

Speaking of which, saw the music video for East Jesus Nowhere earlier. It's nothing like the others -- all live stuff spliced together -- but I like the song a bit more every time I hear it. I just like knowing it was inspired by something in Wisconsin. I never thought that happened! Anyway, after that there were a few other particularly weak music videos by especially forgettable landfill indie bands, including Weightless by All Time Low. Not only did the video come across as overly (and unjustifiably) critical but the music, although not actually offensive, was underwhelming at best. As for the band name, well, the jokes write themselves.

The Punk thinks we ought to record some of his songs. I'm obviously drumming and I asked if I can be the kind that plays half naked before/during/after getting pissed and starting fights. He's okay with that. I'm looking forward to it.

I hope we do actually record some of his stuff because it's just getting better. Everything he's written lately has been incredible and I wish I knew how he did it. I haven't been able to write anything I've liked since I finished my novel. I wrote five pages about feminism yesterday but I haven't been able to look at it to edit it yet. We'll see how it goes...

Cake for Help?

Incredibly, Issue 2 still isn't done.

This is down to one key factor: a bunch of articles have gone missing.

Don't panic about the articles -- I very much doubt anybody's poached them or anything, but they seem to have been swallowed by my email box and/or download folder. I will find them, I just haven't yet. Still looking.

This issue is still going to be a free online download to encourage you to pass it along to your friends digitally. This is for a number of reasons: it's really late and that's just silly, I love you all really, and I can't pay the printers for the hard copies until somebody starts funding us.

But I'm not advertising.

This sudden crazy busy business is making me think it would be a good idea to recruit some fellow Villains to help me put the magazine together so it can be a more regular thing without me foregoing sleep altogether. It obviously doesn't pay, and apart from the mission statement that I wrote when I was sugar high one night, it's driven by my view of the world and is subject to my Rules of Publishing.

These Rules of Publishing include but are not limited to:

1. Don't treat people like idiots.
2. Don't advertise unless you believe in what you're pandering and the content can make up for it. (We just don't)
3. Publish stuff that you'd like to read.

The content is arbitrary and heavily dependent on submissions. That's not a weakness, that's just the way I roll. I guess I'm looking for help with copy editing, content, reviews, funding, and promotion. I still intend to do everything else.

So if you or anyone you know wants to write for The Antagonist or help in any other way, you will be rewarded for your assistance with:

1. My undying gratitude
2. The magazine you know and love published more regularly
3. Something undeniably cool to put on your CV (and a wicked reference from Yours Truly)
4. Awesome assignments (i.e. interview this band, photocopy this person's ass, make fun of this movie, etc, etc)
5. All the cake you can eat.

So if you want to help out or write for the magazine, please email me; I won't bite you unless you're lucky.

Magazine Gaining Momentum with Models and Mayhem

Had another photoshoot yesterday, this one with Lisa Ray. This was by far the most epic of the photoshoots so far, with three locations and costume/makeup changes, but we had a great time and got some fantastic shots. Here's another one:


Have the next several covers sorted now, with Elizabeth for this issue, Jen S for the nest, Lisa for November/December, and after that, Jen J, Emily V., Sharlene E., and all the way from Boston, Miss Mischief.

Miss Mischief found us through punkrockers.com and has sent us loads of fantastic pictures we can use in the magazine. Excellent. With interests that include writing and Chuck Palahniuk, it looks like she'll fit in with the magazine nicely. Here's a preview:


Have spent the day so far looking up prices for getting calendars printed. We'd love to get a set done for 2010, and I hope we can get the funds together to do it! There are so many things we want to do, but I guess they all take time. There's the calendar, and t-shirts, and hopefully eventually, a full colour magazine. Watch this space!

In other news, we're going to see Sonic Boom 6 at TJs in Newport next month. Their very kind press people got back to us and we're good to go! Then the week after that, it's Green Day in Birmingham. Can't wait!