THE POLAROID PROJECT

After the factory door to Polaroid was closed last year the factory workers wanted to keep the production lines in tack and they called it 'The impossible Project' to do so. The words that spurred them on where those of Edwin Land (Polaroid's Inventor) 

'Don't undertake a project unless it's manifestly important and nearly impossible.'

Thanks to Urban Outfitters this 'Impossible project' was made possible, as you can now buy and restock your polaroid's there. 

In Celebration of this Wallpaper Magazine have taken ten of these cameras before they hit the shelve, and chosen their ten favorite, 'pioneering creatives' and asked them to shoot one film of what ever they so desired. 

As said by Wallpaper 'The results are mixed, grainy, blurred, brilliant and haphazard in places, but each if the photographs has the essence of what makes Polaroid so beloved.' 

To find out more go to www.theimpossibleproject.com

COCO AVANT CHANEL

This was a elegant and beautiful film nothing less than you would expect for a film based on such a beautifully elegant designer. 

Audrey Tautou who plays the role of Coco Chanel plays it close to perfection, she glides through the role confidently. The other actor who also stood out was Alessandro Nivola who plays the role of 'Boy' Coco Chanels love. 

The Film shows the life of Coco Chanel before she became the fashion icon that she is today.She turns from a orphan to a humble sewer who works in the back of a tailor shop sticking up old hems, to become one of the worlds most successful designers.

She completely changed fashion as it was known, to something new and exciting. She was an incredible stubborn and directed women which allowed her to have such a successful career even if her private life ended to be incredible sad. 

The filming of this I thought was exceptional with a subtle concentration on the clothes. My favorite image of which i cant find to show you was when Audrey Tautou was lying on rich coloured Autumn leaves under a tree and the camera came down on her. The contrasting colours of herself and the leaves is incredible and the angle of the filming also engaged me. 

This film is not only engaging due to the fact of Coco Chanels incredible life but is also a love story. It ticks all the boxes for a fantastic film and is well worth going to see. 

WHATS EATING GILBERT GRAPE

This is a childhood film of mine which I had ent seen for years before I watched it today, on a rainy day in Devon, which reminded me of what a great film it is. 

It has a star -studded cast of Johnny Depp, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Juliette Lewis all in their much younger years!

This film was released on 6th March 1994. It is a beautifully shot film, set in Endora. It is centred around the Grape family with Johnny Depp playing Gilbert and Leonardo Dicaprio playing his autistic younger brother Arnie. The family also features their two sisters Ellen and Amy and their morbidly obese widowed mother Bonnie Grape.  Gilbert is Arnies Guardian Angel trying to care for his every move. Gilbert is finally given a glimpse of freedom when Becky arrives in town.....

It is an emotional and gripping story described by THE INDEPENDANT as ' A feel - good movie that you could cut your fingers on, if you didn't handle with care."

It is Directed by Lass Hallstrom who has also directed The Cider House Rules, Chocalat, My Life As a Dog. 

Personally I feel that this is one of Leonardo Dicaprio's best performances, despite his young age he plays 'Arnie' amazingly. 

If you have ent seen this film yet it is a must see, and it's only a couple of quid to get on DVD, a couple of quid well spent! 

ALFREDO HABERLI

Alfredo Haberli was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1964. He is now an internationally established designer based in Zurich. Below I have shown some of his work which stood out to me. Not all of his work intrigued me but these are some that did. He is said to unite tradition with innovation, joy and energy, and with these designs below I very much agree with this statement. 

This is a shoe designed for a company which wanted to diminish production costs. It is a shoe  that becomes 'a different kind of footwear'. I think this is an interesting idea and concept to the idea of cutting costs but in reality i don't think it would work.

Hang By Hand 1999
coat hangers with handle
PROTOTYPES

This coat hanger has a small added value of which I think is great as it makes it much easier to hang away your clothes. Simple but effective.

He also had an exhibition 'The Lines of my Thoughts' in 2005, Oslo Sweden, and it was this image which caught my eye. 

I like this image because it speaks the truth. This so often happens when you try a design out.

He has also done bits of architecture too which are worth a look. 

ESCAPE - Carolyn Jessop

While I was travelling round Mexico this is the book that I read. I always find it quite hard to get into a book but this one gave a gripping story which gave a true insight into 

the harrowing life of Carolyn Jessop.

Carolyn Jessop is born into this Cult which controls her life and gets more and more corrupt as time goes on. She is involved into an extreme polygamist cult called the FLDS. For me this book surprised me as you don't believe that in such recent times and still today, that people actually live like this. It makes you treasure your freedom. 

It shows underage marriage, rape, abuse, all because of a brain - washing cult. It makes you understand and feel for these people as although they might want to escape it is much harder than you may think. 

Carolyn was married off at the age of 18 to a 50 year old man who already had 6 wives and in 15 years she had 8 children with him. 

This book gives you a real life experience into a hideous cult which controls and brainwashes many peoples lives. It defiantly broadens your mind on such cults and gives you an in depth 1st hand experience of it.

 

ISLA COZUMEL - MEXICO

Isla Cozumel is an Island just off Player del Carmen and has a population of 73,200. The Maya's settled her from AD300. During the post- Classic period it flourished as a trade centre and also is a great ceremonial site. It was expected for every women of the Yucatan Peninsula to make a pilgrim here to pay tribute to Ixchel, the goddess of fertility and the moon at the temple which was erected for her honor. When the island was first discovered by the Spanish in 1518 it was thought to have 32 Maya building groups.

Smallpox which was introduced by the Spanish, wiped out half of the 8000 Maya and of the survivors, only about 200 escaped genocidal attacks by conquistadors in the late 1540s.

Within the 17th century the Island was virtually deserted, which created a sanctuary for several notorious pirates, including that of Jean Lafitte and Henry Morgan.

In 1848 indigenous people moved to Cozumel while fleeing the War of Castes. In the 20th Century the islands population grew due the craze of chewing gum. The locals harvested the gum on the island and as it was a port of call to the chicle export route allowing it to be exported. During world war II the US created an air base here keeping the economy going. Then in 1961 tourists began to arrive to sustain the economy.

Now we thought the best way to explore this interesting Island was to rent a car....so thats what we did!

After we got our sweet ride we headed over to the east side of the island where the beaches where far more beautiful than the west. The beaches on the East most of the tourists never discovered as many of the tourists in Cozumel are on large American Cruise ships. On this side of the island we went to some lovely little restaurant/bars (shown Below) in their stunning positions on the coast. The beaches on the east coast also have large currents so its rougher seas make it a bit more difficult to go for a relaxing swim, especially as a few of the Beach's are very Rockey!

Although our little beetle had a few problems on our trip around the island, we made it back to the main town San Miguel...well just about! It was a great way to explore the islands more remote parts.

One thing that Cozumel is famous for is its diving and snorkeling. It is said to be second to the barrier reef, unfortunately I did ent agree with this. I went on a snorkel trip and felt that the reef had been hugely damaged by the tourists and was hideously unimpressed when my snorkel guide picked up a struggling turtle and brought it to the surface. Personally I felt that it had poor snorkeling and have seen much better in other parts of the world. It defiantly did ent life up to its hype.

Cozumel is defiantly worth a visit although I did feel that tourism is ruining it, and it needs to be better taken care off.

TULUM - MEXICO

Tulum is a fantastic place to visit with its incredible beaches with turtles laying their eggs, its fresh water Cenotes to cool off in and its beautiful Maya Ruins situated on the beach.

The Tulum Ruins are situated just off a beautiful beach with turquoise waters. The believe of most archaeologists are that it was occupied during the late post-Classic period ( AD 1200- 1521) and that it was an important port town during its heyday. The Maya sailed up and down the coastline maintaining trading routes down into Belize. The town amazed Juan de Grijalva when he sailed past in 1518 due to the brightly painted buildings in red and blue. Several metres thick and 3 to 5m high the walls protected the city during a period of of considerable strife between Mayer city states.

The city was abandoned about 75 years after the Spanish Conquest . It was one of the last of the ancient cites to be abandoned, long before the arrival of the Spanish. However the Maya Pilgrims continued to visit over the years and war refugees took shelter here from time to time. '

Tulum' is Maya for 'Wall', although its residence called it Zama (Dawn). The name Tulum was given by explores during the early 20th century.

The most impressive part or the ruins for me was the El Castillo (the castle) which is in the heart of the complex and is Tulum's tallest building also used to a watch tower. The beauty of these ruins are that they over look the sea which gives them an individuality and not 'just another Maya ruins.'!

Tulum is a nice little town and although it has its fair amount of tourists it is a much more remote place to spend your time compared to the serial Americanised Player del Carmen just up the cost which basically consists of a mini America, with Starbucks, Burger King and Mc Donald's on every corner.

Another fun thing to do when you want to cool of from the heat is to visit one of Tulum's many Cenotes. When I was there I visited the Gran Cenote which is just 3km from the centre of Tulum. You can Snorkel in the cool water and see turtles, small fish and underwater formations in the caverns.

If you ever get to visit this lovely place stay in the Weary backpacker in town to meet some friends or a secluded cavana on the beach.

(Papa Playa-Cavana on one of the beach's of Tulum)

Weary Backpacker Hostel, Tulum

ISLA MUJERES (ISLAND OF WOMEN) - MEXICO

This is where I have Spent part of my last few weeks and became one of the favorite places which I visited on this trip. 

Above shows Playa Norte beach, just a 2 minute walk from the hostel....pretty close to what you may call paradise! It has warm shallow, clear water which you can walk out to sea for miles. 

Isla Mujeres is a ferry journey from cancun and is a relieve from the busy built up tourist infested Cancun. It has a population of 14,000, and the main way of transport is by golf buggies or scooters. 

The Streets are brightly coloured and vibrant due to the Pintando Isla Mujeres program which invited 400 artists from all around the workd to paint many of the town's buildings, which makes it a fun and interesting place to have a wander!

Another incredible thing about this island is that you can swim with whale sharks which was an incredible experience. You have a boat out about 40 minutes where we saw dolphins on the way out. You then arrive to an area where there are about 200 whale sharks around the boat, it is just amazing. You then jump in the water and swim right beside them so close that you could touch them. I was amazed by these incredible creatures. They where so huge but yet so harmless and did not even seem to notice you swimming beside them. Although a whale shark will not harm you the slightly disconcerting thing was that apparently bull sharks sim just below, and they are not so friendly!

Legand has it that the name Isla Mujeres goes back to the Spanish buccaneers, who kept there lovers in safe seclusion here while they plundered galleons and pillaged ports on the mainland.  An alternative theory is that in 1517, when Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba sailed from Cuba and arrived here to procure slaves, the expedition deiscovered a stone temple containing clay figurines of Maya goddesses, it is thought that Cordoba named the island after the icons. 

It is also thought by archaeologists that the island was a stop over for the Maya en route to worship their goddess of fertility, Ixchel, on Isla Cozumel. The island may also of been involved in the Maya Salt trade, which extended along the coastline. 

If you ever get the chance to go to this beautiful Island stay in Poc-Na hostel where you will meet many other traveller's, and be sure to have a relaxed lunch at Mananas. And of course be sure to swim with the whale sharks if it is the right season which is May - September.