I'm Mik. Model, mother, moron. Future meta-magician. Former logic clinician.
My better half and I own Brainfood Bookstore in Longmont, Colorado. It is the only exclusively indie- and local-lit bookstore in the nation. We meet a lot of crazy folks.
Testimonial from a former roommate:
"Living with you was like living with a quiet little opinionated deer person who floated around like a ghost and said smart/nutso things and ate seaweed. "
I love Colorado. I love mountains. I love hiking. I read and write. I raise my children to the best of my ability. I have lupus and have defeated early-stage cancer twice, so I pretty much fully support the use of medical marijuana.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
It went AMAZING, thank you for asking. I wasn’t going to leave you all hanging about that, I just wanted to wait until I had time/ energy to write a post about it, but wow… here goes.
One of our models (the one with the broken arm) looked EXACTLY like Gemma Ward (not even joking). That was hella tight. Attaching the mannequin arm to her for the mannequin shots didn’t work out, but she posed with the arm and it still looked TIGHT. Some of my favorite shots were not to our editor-in-chief’s tastes (for stylistic reasons; a wide-angled lens and low shots), but there wasn’t a single shot I didn’t like so no matter what goes in the magazine, I think I’ll be happy with it.
Everything looked like a combination of ‘just how I wanted it’ and ‘better than I ever could have imagined possible’. It was very high-fashion and I am honestly a little astounded with how professional it looked… it could have been in the pages of Vogue or W, rather than the local and under-funded Pretty.
On that note… I am so excited about where this magazine is headed :) Our editor-in-chief visited the shoot between the first and second set-ups, and she reports that we should be distributing in several major cities in the Midwest by this time next year :) Also I think both the models and their mothers were very impressed with our level of professionalism and entrepreneurship. Plus our make-up artist gets to see her work in print, and gets the images for her portfolio… But it’s indescribable how much the photographer and I appreciated the experience. I mean, I DIRECTED A FUCKING FASHION SHOOT. THIS WAS MY DREAM. DREAM: COMPLETE.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Pretty Magazine enriches my life.
[note: Some of the behind-the-scenes photos will follow on my fashion blog (I don’t want to clog up this blog). I will link to the BTS video and the online version of the magazine when they come out.]
Also, you know what’s difficult?
Picking out models from a stack of cards when you have a moderate level of facial blindness.
At Pretty magazine, we had a meeting for the photographers and coordinators of each shoot for the upcoming month, and we had to finalize our shoot dates, concepts, wardrobe, stylists, etc. A local modeling agency sent over a stack of cards for some of their models, which include three body shots, a head shot, their name, and their measurements. I was supposed to pick out my top 4 preferred models for a two-model shoot. The photographer couldn’t be there, so he told me to get models with ‘classical features.’ Which I’m pretty good at identifying, considering I do have a degree of facial blindness (which is really common in autism-spectrum disorders). The problem was, after I’d picked out all the girls with classical features (which I actually determine by ratios of different measurements in the face, rather than by sight), I couldn’t keep them all straight. I needed to pick out four girls with a very specific range of measurements, to ensure they’d fit the clothing for the shoot, and my GOD it was hard to keep them all straight. Finally did it, though, and based on the peek of their portfolios on their modeling cards, I think we’ll be happy with any two of the four for our models.
It’s just sort of an interesting thing to deal with. Sometimes people say I have an unusual-looking face, and I don’t really know what they mean, because unless I stop to measure ratios, all faces look exactly the same to me. I mean, yes, I am capable of noticing obvious distortions or deformities, identifying a person’s skin color, etc, but I’m not able to recall or even recognize the faces of friends I’ve known for a long time or even family members. I don’t mean to get into an explanation of facial blindess, but basically I remember people by other characteristics. I am not capable of picturing my daughter’s face, or even my own. I can’t recall my mother’s face. I don’t remember what my last boyfriend looked like, beyond that he usually had some facial hair and a lipring. Unassisted by other characteristics, I cannot recognize any of my friends’ faces.
I kind of like it. Especially when evaluating what models I would like to use. Given that two models have the same measurements in both their body size and facial ratios, I am forced to choose between them based on talent, without he ability to be blinded by their relative degrees of attractiveness.
Thank you! =] I didn’t think it was rude so much as… uninformed? If being pretty was the only requirement for being a model, I wouldn’t be proud of it. Not to mention that I wouldn’t be a model at all.
[He is referencing Excuse me but how the fuck are you a model?]
I’m assuming that you’re referring to the fact that I’m not that pretty? In case you haven’t noticed, most models aren’t very pretty. In fact most are rather unusual looking— by some standards, ugly (as I’m sure you’re trying to say that I am). You don’t have to be pretty to be a model. It’s preferable if you’re not. To be pretty, you must be conventional. To be a model, you must be memorable. The two are mutually exclusive.
Granted, I’m not on runways in New York or doing shoots in Milan or attending fashion week. I’m doing small gigs in my hometown but, along with my part time job teaching at my university, they keep my bills paid and my face recognizable. Eric Fisher recognized me today, for chrissakes, and he consistently beats out beauty schools in New York and Ontario for Best Cosmetology Academy in North America.
I don’t have the time or, frankly, the talent to devote to a career as a ‘real’ supermodel, but as a mother and student, I get to do an amount and level of work that’s perfect for my lifestyle, so yes, I consider myself a successful model.
And no, I’m not that pretty. But I’m extremely confident, I’m talented, I’m experienced, I’m punctual, I’m hard-working and motivated, and I go out of my way to make contacts and get jobs. Furthermore, I’m really excellent at pretending to be gorgeous. People tell me I’m beautiful or extraordinary-looking or brilliant all the time, and the fact is (as you have probably recognized) that I’m not. Most successful models aren’t. But every successful model is excellent at pretending that they are.
Nobody wants to hire someone who’s pretty; everyone wants to hire someone who can make other people believe that they’re beautiful, even when half their head is shaved and the other half’s in dreads. That’s what makes a good model.
hurr and makeup!
Me and Sophie doing a shoot at And The Wiener Is, a local hot dog shop.
I am so utterly exhausted.
Being badass requires major expenditure of energy.
There’s so much I want to do… I want to review our film footage, I want to work on concept design for some related ideas, update my portfolio with this shit, write a huge long post about everything I learned today… but right now I just wanna pass out.
I feel like I should say something really profound about what I learned about the punk movement while acting in this music video (and let’s face it; that’s all I am. I’m not a punk, I’m just an actress), but basically I can sum it up in a sentence.
I like being too busy beating the shit out of stuff to be bothered with beating the shit out of myself.
Also, there is something really cathartic about sending the heel of your boot through the windshield of a vintage Camero.
All in all, it wasn’t just the best modeling and acting experience I’d ever had. It was the best life experience I’ve ever had. It sounds so corny, but I learned a lot about myself, what I am capable of, and exactly how difficult windshields are to break.
You’ll probably be seeing a lot more of my punk side in the near future.
I just got the line-up for the runway show I’m doing at the end of the month, and it looks like I’ll be walking to the first thirty seconds or so of Remember by Disturbed.
And the music video being filmed Saturday is for a song called 2012 by Dreamcrusher— It’s ‘apocalyptic electronica noise.’ Check it out.
Basically, I could not be any more excited for my life right now.
Haha yeah.
No, the guy that took it he was fucking awesome. A retired photojournalist who used to work for a newspaper in Saint Louis, and he was coming through Wichita on a roadtrip and spur-of-the-moment wanted to know if I’d meet up for a TS. Met him at the Mead Corner Cafe, got in his Beamer, and he dove around like a fucking crazy person, speeding up and slowing down and zooming around and then slamming on the brakes, getting out of the car, grabbing this huge telephoto, and directing me around. He was absolutely awesome to work with because he didn’t have that devil-may-care shoot-from-the-hip thing most photojournalists have; he never acted like he was too cool to pay attention to what he was shooting. He wasn’t too good to lie down in the street to get the right angle, or to make squinty faces while peering into the camera, or to not flip off other drivers.
No, not all the photographs came out very good or ‘artistic’ or whatever, but I’m posting them anyway because it was an absolutely amazing experience.
(Plus I’d just gotten done with a more practical, professional, economical, conventional shoot in a studio. It was incredibly boring and painful, and this shoot reminded me that sometimes being shot is actually fun.)
This is me.
I’m a nude art model.
Usually people draw me. Today, a guy made a stencil of me. For stencil art. It’s really tight.
Even cooler is the fact that I met the guy like a year and a half ago and have some of his art hanging up in my daughter’s room. He didn’t know that, and I didn’t know he’d be drawing me today.
PS For those of you in the Wichita area, this is hanging up at Bob Schwann galary for Final Friday. So you all can stop in and be like, omg I saw that Tumblr girl’s titties lulz.
