I
always think corporal punishment and experimental psychology make for
such fascinating bedfellows. Don't you?
Very few words of explanation required for this one, I
would have thought. Yet again, like so many other things I have
posted in recent times it has absolutely nothing to do with the thing
I'm currently writing.
The new book centres around kidnap, amongst other
themes, and is VERY non-consensual - without of course being 'hard
core', at least in any physical way - whereas one might just detect
the tiniest hint of the possibility of being able to write in some
sort of voluntary aspect into the above image given a little
imagination, something more akin to the subject matter explored
within the pages of the Institutionalised series. But there is
just something about a post-adolescent girl in a sailor suit that
gets the inspirational juices flowing. Don't ya think?
Incidentally, I spent a quite bit of time trying to
persuade the knickers to take on that translucent quality which
polythene has – and simply making the image semi-transparent didn't
quite make the grade. The original image was of a pair of
rubber medical bloomers which were opaque white... I'd love to hear your comments.
I know! I really should have been spending the time
writing. But I had to boot up the photo-manip software to deal with
some work I'd received from Roger Benson during the night (the well
known 1950s-orintated spanking artist), and the rest is history as
they say. Truth is, as I've said before; I just don't have enough
self discipline sometimes!
So is this Polythene Pam?
ReplyDeleteA few comments.
1.)Impressive photomanip. Job well done.
2.) Yeah, you should be writing. I wanna read this book.
3.) Actually, a sailor suit on a post adolescent girl seems kinda dumb, but maybe it's a guy thing. I guess inspiration, like gold, is where you find it. Personally, I don't think a girl that age should be wearing a sailor suit unless she's in the Navy, but whatever floats your boat.
4. Experimental psychology, corporal punishment, and translucent polyethylene knickers. Pretty cool combo.
The Non Victorian Chick
Hi there, Miss Non Victorian Chick!
ReplyDeleteOMG! Seeing this has just reminded me I haven't yet replied to your email – sorry! It made for a great read and I really enjoyed it, but replying to emails is something I can do on the move from my phone using the 'dead time' travelling by bus or whatever or – as in this case – hanging around in hospital waiting rooms while accompanying my mum to her various appointments. Trouble was this time the NHS was actually prompt for once, she was in and out quickly and then it all got forgotten for a bit. I'll get back to you today from a coffee bar after my gym session – I've not been doing that, either, for the last couple of days as I have a bad cold... Ahhhh!
“So is this Polythene Pam?” Eh! Oh... A Beatles reference. Err No... But hang on. Wouldn't that make for a great nickname for some humorous staff member to think up? How galling for the girl; I imagine her bristling with indignation every time she hears it, red faced, fists clenched. And it would quickly spread among staff and inmates both (but only where an unusual, individualised intervention). Perhaps they would begin to insist she respond to it, even oblige her to use it herself if some visitor should ask about her for instance. Although on the surface a minor irritation, I suspect after a while it would really get to her.
Thanks for what you say about the photomanip, It's always gratifying to be appreciated!
Personally I don't think a sailor suit on a post adolescent girl is kinda dumb, not if the styling is suitably juvenile. It's something which, historically, was definitely associated with childhood. I think it makes an interesting break from the usual school uniform thing of short pleated skirts, pinafore dresses or gymslips / jumpers (for you USA types) which I think have been done to death, even by yours truly. But perhaps the whole 'rejuvenation' thing is a 'guy thing'. Or alternatively perhaps the sailor suit is not generally viewed out there in Internet Land in the way I view it (a pair of characters dressed in the classic Victorian or Edwardian sailor suit are encountered at the conclusion of one of the INSTITUTIONALISED books, but I have never had any sort of feedback about it). So, I'd love to learn of everyone else's opinions on this (I HATE sentences beginning with 'so'. Am I the only one who has noted this growing trend in interviews in the media? ). Indeed this is an area in which it is actually quite important I receive reader feedback on, because I'd hate to use it in the plot of one of my things if it is going to leave people cold...
...Continued... (I'd overshot the word limit)
ReplyDelete“Gold is where you find it” Philosophy no less! Now I'm going to let you in on an anecdote – and it's true as it happens! I can even tell you the place, though I wont mention the name of the shop. I was in a bookshop in Muswell Hill, North London, a few years ago and a woman came up (why me, I don't know – I couldn't possibly have looked like a staff member; most people think I've escaped from Iron Maiden's entourage.) Anyway, “Excuse me. Where is philosophy?” she said, quite pleasantly – and exactly in the way I relate here (perhaps she liked me... Nahhh!). “Where ever you find it” I replied. Well, I thought it was funny. She just looked nonplussed. Some people just have NO humour! Oh, “whatever floats your boat”... floats your boat... I just got it – oops!...Ha, ha, ha, ha!
“Experimental psychology, corporal punishment, and translucent polyethylene knickers. Pretty cool combo.” Thanks for that – that translucency took quite a bit of trouble to achieve, but I'm glad I did it, it's an effect I can use again – and quickly next time. But don't look too closely. The image I used for the knickers was initially of pretty low resolution (I enhanced it a bit in order to use it) and close up looks a little ragged around the edges. I could have smoothed out some of that roughness with an erasure tool - down at individual pixel level if necessary - but there is some shadowing that came with the image which adds to the realism, which I wanted to keep and which would have been lost along with the fringing. I could still have done it, but it would have meant adding yet another layer with all but the shadowing removed in order to put the shadow back in – and that too would have had to have been smoothed out. If it had been a commissioned piece I would have approached the task differently – but this was just for fun.
"(I HATE sentences beginning with 'so'. Am I the only one who has noted this growing trend in interviews in the media? )."
ReplyDeleteI think part of the reason for that is that people have a tendency to start talking without thinking about what they're going to say. Also, a celeb being interviewed can use the word "So" to help fill up time during the interview, and to give themselves time to think of something to say. Also, it has the benefit of holding people's attention on them while they think about what they're going to say. They probably assume that the audience is sitting there with bated breath waiting for their next word, and thinking that the celeb sounds more thoughtful than they really are.
I think too that there are a fair number of people who start a sentence without knowing what their main verb is going to be.
The Non Victorian Chick
Confinement to a childish uniform is a very humiliating sanction from my own experience. This made even more effective and taught me to behave in the end is when this is coupled to a regime of close supervision with repetition to reinforce the required behaviour, detailed inspection and of course further sanctions for even the most trivial failings. At some points when being disciplined every day I had to write a four side essay of what I had done that day, what I had learnt from my enforced activities, any failures I had made and how I might deserve to be punished. After days of doing this you learn to behave. In addition I was subject, deservedly given my failings to accept my punishment clothing, to frequent inspections in which I had to take off my uniform item by item and allow every item to be checked. Even the most trivial failing such as a button on my school cardigan or my pinafore dress, a seam on my knickers or vest not straight, my tie not done tightly or my socks not being correctly pulled up, earned me corporal punishment as well as many other sanctions including public display. Eventually I learned to respect my school uniform properly and wear it correctly and show that I was mature to be allowed to wear adult clothing of a suitably palin and conservative nature.
ReplyDeleteWell, you didn't manage to have her knichers translucent? So why did you keep the sentence on the left (Get those knickers on)
ReplyDeleteI'm sick and tired of those captchas. Couldn't you have another one made of additions (6 + ??? = 13) for example?
Hi Orage! Long time, no hear. Where've you been?
ReplyDeleteYou've lost me with this one, I'm afraid. I don't understand your comment at all. I DID manage to get the knickers looking as if possesing that translucent quality that polythene (PVC) has - or at least I'd to think so; the radiator behind shows through just enough I feel.
Then you say: "I'm sick and tired of those captchas. Couldn't you have another one made of additions (6 + ??? = 13) for example?"
What is a 'captcha'? And what is the mathematical thing all about? Obviously ??? = 5... But why? And why 13 anyway?
This is a captcha:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.captcha.net/
Did you put it on your site or not?
The fact is you can barely understand the distorted word, that's why I was suggesting a mathematical and easier captcha.
Thanks for the info / link, Orage.
ReplyDeleteNow I understand. It's that thing that stops automatic spamming by computer ('please prove you are a human').
No, I didn't put it on. It seems to be part of how blogger now works.
At the moment I wouldn't know how to circumvent it either; I had to go through the process myself earlier, when I first logged in to post a comment. I'm dyslexic and find these things a real pain!