Category Archive for Nightcrawling
We sewed a man’s lips shut on German TV! Lip sewing body modification, Joko & Klaas in Vancouver.
A meditative moment at the beach? Not quite. I’m surrounded by TV crew cameras, and about to force a German man to stitch his mouth together with needle and thread.
I appeared on the popular TV show “Joko und Klaas” or “Circus HalliGalli,” which aired last week on Pro Sieben network. Our body modification episode got a lot of stunned tweets from viewers in Germany. What was so shocking about it?
Lip sewing on German TV! Lips sewn shut, body… by lacarmina
Watch the “Joko in Kanada” video clip, featuring La Carmina, First Mate Naomi, and body mod artist Russ Foxx… if you dare.
For the shoot, I wore a Miho Matsuda plaid dress from Closet Child, a Danier leather jacket, and Demonia shoes. My hair color and crimped/rolled style is the work of Stephanie Hoy, at Avant Garde hair in Yaletown.
You may recall that we Pirates previously worked with Joko und Klaas, on a bagelhead forehead inflation challenge filmed in Tokyo, Japan. The episode was such a hit that they wanted to do another show with us.
Our TV production company pitched a few crazy ideas, and the one involving lip-sewing in Vancouver stuck. Naomi and I took charge of arranging, casting and coordinating the episode (as well as hosting it).
The night Naomi arrived, tragedy struck. Her hotel was set on fire, and my car window was smashed with a giant rock by a crazy random person. Nobody was hurt, but we were left with quite the shock. On the bright side: the Vancouver Global TV news team decided to interview me about my harrowing experience.
At least my life-long goal of being a hysterical eyewitness on the news has been fulfilled. How funny that I looked like this on camera.
We kicked off the German TV shoot at gorgeous Acadia Beach. (The filming took two days in June, in various Vancouver BC locations.)
The concept of “Duell um die Welt”: Joko and Klaas challenge each other to insane tasks around the world. Relaxing by the ocean, Joko thinks he’s off the hook.
But an Asian horror doll creeps up on him… in the video, you can see how I gave Joko a mighty scare!
Before each take, the director gave us a general idea of the narrative, but we improvised all the lines. The sound boom microphone went back and forth between us as we spoke. We did it a few times, from a few different angles, and then moved on.
With this landscape as our backdrop, it’s easy to make the shots look good.
The 8-person crew (plus Naomi and me) piled into the rental van, and we stopped by Granville Island. I showed Joko the beauty of the marina.
Gotta work the body to get the shot! (Photos in this post by First Mate Naomi.)
We hammed it up — ohohoh! Muahaha! So far, life is a laugh for Joko. He has no idea what’s coming for him…
Getting direction at the Gastown steam clock. You can tell I’m enjoying my TV presenting work.
It was fun to show Joko the tourist-y parts of my hometown. When the clock struck the hour, the steam blew and we danced around in joy.
In front of the Gassy Jack statue, there were inevitably gas jokes.
No, that’s not a stalker. It’s how we film walk-and-talk scenes, this time at Pan Pacific.
In all, this ended up being a good travel overview of Vancouver. We finished downtown, at Robson Street. Joko did a somersault in the crosswalk.
Everyone worked quickly and was easygoing — a nice change from the frantic attitude of some TV productions.
However, when night falls, I am not such a nice girl. We reunited with Naomi by the dumpster in a dark alley. She told him, Klaas sent her to deliver a challenge.
Can anything beat a bagelhead? I think we did. We sent Joko to the studio of Russ Foxx… to get lips stitched shut!
If you’ll recall from my HuffPost interview, Russ is a body modification artist based in Vancouver. He made a theatrical entrance that scared the daylights out of Joko.
Lip sewing is an extreme body mod that should only be done by an experienced artist like Russ. Why stitch your lips together? Some do it as a fetish, or to reflect and self-test, or for performance. I’ve seen people with sewn eyelids and mouths firsthand in Prague and Tokyo party scenes.
Russ Foxx made six stitches in total, without anesthetic. He used the utmost precision and sanitation measures, and walked Joko through each step.
The sewing hurts, as much as six lip piercings would. Here’s the finished result. (Wonder why my friend is suddenly speechless…)
For the final scene, we threw an impromptu underground party. None of this would have been possible without Isaac, master of Sin City Fetish night, who pulled together the venue and crowd in record time. Naomi made the poster above for “Spooky Saturday.”
I’m so grateful to everyone who came to The Waldorf to party with us, and be on German TV. Thank you for always supporting me.
DJ Evilyn got people dancing.
I felt bad because the TV shoot ran late, and we couldn’t get to the party until around 1am. Still, there was a grinding crowd and lots of latex outfits!
For the closing scene, we all sang the Crash Test Dummies song, “Mmm mmm mmm mmm.” With his Miffy-mouth, Joko was barely able to hum along.
That’s a wrap! Russ removed Joko’s stitches — you can only keep them in for a few hours — and all was well in the universe again.
Have you heard about the lip sewing body mod before? If you have opinion or questions about it, I invite you to leave a comment and we can discuss.
I hope you enjoyed our latest TV work! Please take a minute to watch it on Dailymotion, and let me know what you think. Thanks to all the German newspapers who wrote about our episode, including Focus, Bild, and News.de
PS: if you’re interested in working with La Carmina & The Pirates, we offer TV coordination, production, casting and hosting services, in Tokyo and worldwide. We’ve worked with National Geographic, Food Network, Travel Channel, Discovery, NHK and more (all clips and details here.)
PPS: Off to Japan soon! We’ve confirmed a new TV job, shooting in Tokyo this December. Stay tuned to my site for casting announcements; we’d love for you to join the fun.
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America’s best haunted house? Seattle Georgetown Morgue, Mourning Market Gothic crafts.
My ghostly tour of Seattle, Washington continues… with a trip to a haunted morgue, and a Goth artist’s collective!
Let’s start with the Mourning Market. Every few months, the darkest artisans of the Pacific Northwest come together to display and sell their handmade works.
Since October 2009, Ginger and Alicia have been organizing Mourning Market. They write:
“We’ve been lucky to channel an incredible group of artists, and bring them all together. There was nothing of this genre in Seattle or anywhere in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. So we took matter into our own hands and created an event like no other: one that would showcase and honor artists with a dark edge. We have had the pleasure of working with some outstanding people. This October will be our four year anniversary and we are so excited about it!”
Their success was obvious: a long line draped around the venue, El Corazon, and the two large rooms were packed. There were also spaces to eat, drink and socialize with people in the subcultures scnee.
At some arts & crafts fairs, items are of amateur quality. Not so at the Mourning Market. I was impressed by the high level of design and craftsmanship, and the originality of offerings (one of the first booths we visited let us try on dark, glittery lipsticks).
Among the highlights: glammed-up Ouija board accessories, handmade from resin. Elegant leather masks. Unnerving photos and paintings.
A cobweb of spider jewelry, and drop dead dolls.
Steampunk accessories: love the octopus and clockwork parts.
Laser guns and fetuses in jars? Hell yes! (For details about the brands I’m wearing, including the Gothic Lolita dress and faux fur scarf, see this outfit post.)
Met so many kind people at the Market. Thanks to everyone who gave me tips for Goth haunts to visit in Seattle! I hope to come back soon for a longer stay.
And huge hugs to the vendors who chipped in and presented me with a generous goody bag! Basil Farrow says you’re very talented (and slightly disturbed, but we like that).
For info about the next Mourning Market and other dark events, check out their site and Facebook page.
I made more spooky new friends at Georgetown Morgue, an infamous haunted house that has been generating screams for over 10 years.
The Morgue (5000 E Marginal Way, Seattle) is a 10 minute drive south from downtown Seattle; look for the winged beast on the roof. Presented with Kube 93 radio station, the haunting takes place in a bona fide morgue from the 1920s.
This haunted house is consistently ranked one of the best in the USA, and deservedly so. Every year, the owners construct elaborate sets designed to frightened the most jaded Goth. The actors go through an intense audition…
… and wear movie-quality special effects makeup. Let me tell you, I screamed when the clown popped out with a roaring chainsaw.
We went through the Morgue before it opened, and the experience was next-level scary — both technically and creatively. I’ve been to a number of haunted houses in my day, but I’ve never seen one with falling floors, a lake of boiling bloody water, and head-to-toe smothering. Every sense is attacked, including smell (was that a whiff of charred flesh?)
My friends must have gotten bitten along the way, since they transformed into zombies. The blood is a special concoction by the makeup artist.
Trick or treat: we got to be actors in the haunted house. The doors opened to the public, and the scaring began. My friends did a bloody birth scene, while I was creepy doll popping out when you least expect it.
We loved getting to know the crew — many have worked here for years, and the greenroom felt like a big, happy Addams family. Nothing makes me happier than seeing offbeat outsiders banding together, and creating something imaginative (in this case, a haunted house).
I hope you’ll experience the brilliance of the Georgetown Morgue before it closes on November 2nd. The team also does costume rentals and special events year-round, which you can keep track of on Facebook.
What are your plans for this Halloween? Remember, I’ll be in Portland with my Pirate film team — do keep the PDX travel tips coming. As they say in the Morgue, “Scare you later!”
LA CARMINA
