Category Archive for Fims + Videos
LA CARMINA TRAVEL TV HOSTING REEL. ORIGINS OF THE NAME: ARMY OF LOVERS LA CAMILLA, LA CARLOTTA, ITALIAN OCCULT FASHION ICON MARCHESA LUISA CASATI.
I often receive the question: where does the name La Carmina come from? Voila the tale of my name’s blood and glitter-splattered origins. (As for La Carmina’s real name? Age? Boyfriend? That’s a mystery…)
The name “La Carmina” was bestowed upon me in 2007 by Basil Farrow’s father. It’s a spin on La Camilla, the lead singer of Italo Disco Swedish glam camp band, Army of Lovers. When you watch the disco-Rococo Crucified music video, you’ll see why the name fits.
But there are other “La Ca___” in history, and they tend to be decadent diva types. You probably know of La Carlotta, the prima donna in Phantom of the Opera. She storms around the opera house in tiered dresses and too-tight corsets, shattering eardrums and slapping her minions with a giant feathered fan.
And then there’s La Casati (Marchesa Casati Stampa di Soncino), whose morbid eccentricity and spend-thrift ways scandalized Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The Italian heiress lived in a Gothic Art Deco manor where peacocks and monkeys roamed freely. She threw opulent soirees that would put Queen’s Freddy Mercury to shame. Once, La Casati wore a dress of white feathers, streaked with fresh blood – yes! Another time, she draped live snakes around her neck and led two cheetahs on a leash, while being waited upon by male slaves wearing nothing but gold leaf – double yes!
Erte, Jean Cocteau, Picasso and Man Ray called the dark lady their muse. But she frittered away her inheritance and ended up living as a crazy bag lady in London. Rumor has it that La Casati would rummage through garbage bins to find feathers for her hair, and scraps of fabric for her moth-eaten coats.
I leave you with two quotes from Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (HIGHLY recommended): “Lives full of drama, masked balls, orgiastic revels…” / “In the city, with the noises of the streets, the hum of the theaters, and the bright lights of the balls, they were leading lives where the heart had space to expand, the senses to blossom.“
Huge hug for 13-year-old Caitlyn Banfield, who sent me these adorable drawings. My Scottish Fold cat is dressed as a ghost and says “Wahh, mama is so kawaii!” I’m happy to feature your artwork / fanart on my site; just send me an email. I try to reply to as many comments as I can, so don’t be scared to leave one.
Finally, I compiled a reel of my travel TV hosting work, which you can see above and on YouTube. It includes CNN, Travel Channel Bizarre Foods, NHK, Today Show. I have more TV / hosting gigs in the works — very excited! If you’d like me to work with me in any capacity, shoot me an email.
Do you have a nickname? If so, how did the name affix itself to you?
Japanese Word of the Day: Ryoko = Travel
Song of the Day: I can’t stop listening to this New Beat / Industrial / EBM music stream. SO good, especially halfway through when the song goes “Lix! Erandeauch! Lungband!” You can hear more at Endurance club night, every second Saturday at London’s Club Alibi (more info here.)
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LA CARMINA TV REEL: CNN INTERVIEW SEGMENT WITH DESIGNER KENZO-A, ANDREW ZIMMERN QUOTES, BIZARRE FOODS TOKYO ON TRAVEL CHANNEL DISCOVERY.
I’ve been a busy bee! “The wheels are in motion,” as Seinfeld would say. Why don’t we catch up on press and talk about the controversy over novelty “circle contact lenses”? Let’s do it!
I can’t say enough nice words about Andrew Zimmern, host of the Bizarre Foods TV show on Travel Channel / Discovery. You may recall that I was his guide to weird theme restaurants in the Tokyo episode. I was amazed to see that in his Chow and Again blog for Mpls St. Paul Magazine, Andrew Zimmern gives me a shout-out: “My friend Carmina (her friends get to drop the La when addressing her royal hipsterness) pimps us out on her blog and if you don’t subscribe to this woman’s Facebook, blog, and Twitter feeds you are really missing out, kids.”
And then he takes the niceness even further in his Travel Channel blog! Andrew discusses the Tokyo episode and says it’s too bad the show changed its focus from strange subcultures — “exotic alternative lifestyles like La Carmina and her posse” — back to bizarre foods. As a result, the episode had to be re-tooled a lot of our footage was cut.
Andrew Zimmern laments: “I wish you could have seen the original program in all its glory. For example, the theme restaurant act was not originally about the restaurants, it was about the people that I dined with. Cross dressing, fetish party going, club crazy, hipster chic and phenomenally great company, La Carmina and her friends adore Tokyo because it’s the world’s trend setting capital, a city where you can be whatever you want.”
Speaking of eccentric fashion and theme restaurants… I did an interview with Hong Kong food website Asian Palate. I talk about how I became a foodie, and the oddest Tokyo theme restaurants such as “bonsai-shaped cake delivered by ninjas.” You can read the full interview here and after the jump. (And there’s more about my Theme Restaurants book on this page.)
I uploaded a recent TV segment on YouTube: “La Carmina interviews Rituals Gothic designer Kenzo-A about the evolution of Harajuku fashion for CNN. They shop along Takeshita Doori and visit Takuya Angel’s store to try on clothes. This segment appeared on the Tokyo episode of CNNGo TV and aired on CNN International.”
If you like the episode and want to see more, please subscribe to my YouTube channel — many more on the way. You can see photos and the entire CNN TV show in this post.
Now for some controversy… or not. Are novelty “circle” contact lenses from Japan — which give the appearance of big cute eyes — dangerous to consumers? The FDA has not approved them because of concerns that the lenses could harm the eyes.
Some of you on Twitter said it’s nothing but media hype. Others shared stories of eye damage from colored lenses. And the rest of you suggest common caution: as with normal contacts, don’t wear them for long and care for them properly.
What’s your opinion on “circle” wide eyed contact lenses like Geo? Have you tried them? I personally have never worn novelty lenses because my eyesight is horrid and I must be very careful with my eyes…
Japanese Word of the Day: Kanzen = Perfection
Song of the Day: GO!GO!7188 – Kinkyori Renai (The band that performs the song in our CNN segment.)
LA CARMINA
