Yesterday I first tried myself at macramé and I didn’t have time for an Indie Friday entry. But to make up for that, I have something really special coming up for next week’s Indie Friday!
Well today is the day I’m finally writing the first entry from The Red Top 5 column! In short, it’s an improvised, unpretentious chart on various topics, reflecting only my personal opinion(So if you don’t like it, just don’t comment. Haters aren’t welcome here.)

For the topic of my first Red Top 5 Chart I chose something which really annoys me. It’s one of those tiny, eeky, annoying little bugs existing in the life of every woman coming from an advanced, civilized society.It’s staring at you from the TV, from the newsstand, begging you to buy it(because then, and only then will you get a “unique” handbag as gift!).It’s the archenemy of every woman’s self-esteem. It’s…a magazine for women.

Have you ever noticed the pictures of gorgeous women in men’s magazines? Yes, well, it’s kinda natural, isn’t it… But the pictures of even more gorgeous women in women’s magazines? Or the “shopping” columns? (Please, get over yourselves, sisters! “Shopping” is NOT an existing word in Bulgarian language! It’s just plain stupid to use it instead of the Bulgarian word. No, it’s not trendy, it’s stupid.)

Several trees have been sacrificed for the making of about 40 glossy pages, whose content is roughly divided in : 50% ads, 20% gossip, 25% “shopping advice”, 5% “articles” on fashion, dieting, broken heart…oh yes, and let’s not forget the horoscope, and the various kinds of fortune telling: from coffee residue, tea leaves, tarot cards, chopsticks, runes(?!)…wow it seems like all these magazines have hired pro fortune tellers!

Well I think I made it pretty clear why I don’t read women’s magazines.

Without further ado, here is The Red Top 5 Of Silliest Magazines For Women:

#5 “Kosa i Krasota [In English: Hair And Beauty]“

This magazine is at the bottom of the chart because it occasionally publishes articles which are well written, and not about fashion, style, cosmetics etc. So it has deserved the prestigious #5 position.

#4 EVA

If you’re lucky, except from the regular gossip, beauty and shopping columns you may find something worth reading (not a big chance for that though).

#3 ELLE

Defining itself as a magazine which focuses mainly on fashion and style, ELLE is completely incompetent and superficial about all other topics it writes about. In the new Bulgarian issue: Should we wear a bra or not?
Read at your own risk! :р

#2 “The Woman Today”

On the unfortunate second place in our little contest today is a magazine which is a total classic in the genre of Bulgarian women’s magazines- “The Woman Today” [Bulgarian: "Jenata Dnes"]. “The oldest Bulgarian magazine”, as it proudly proclaims itself to be, is, indeed really old. Too old to be interesting to any one any more. You can’t expect anything else than the “regular” columns( health, beauty, shopping guide, gossip, etc).

#1 “Cosmopolitan“

The absolute winner of the first Red Top 5 Chart is the Bulgarian issue of the magazine, famous for being written for women who cannot think for themselves – Cosmopolitan.

Looking through the pages of its issues, one gets the feeling that this magazine is written for women who, apparently,
-can’t dress well (don’t worry, ladies, Cosmo shopping guide comes to the rescue!);
-can’t do a blow-job;
-don’t know what a blow-job is;
-don’t know how to satisfy their partner(s) in bed;
-don’t know how to find and keep a guy;
-don’t know what to do when they get a stomachache;
-still can’t get over their small breasts;
-like to look at pictures of pretty models(done with professional equipment,make-up and lightning and then edited and retouched in Photoshop) and feel sorry for themselves for not looking like them;
-are looking for a wallpaper of a half naked guy for their desktop;
-are looking for a place to spend over a 1000$ for a pair of tights and a belt(Cosmo helps best here!);
-are searching for yet another diet, that will weaken their body and make them hate it even more;
-have some time to kill while waiting in line at the beauty salon/the plastic surgeon’s office.

Fortunately, I don’t fit into any of the above mentioned categories:), but I am sincerely very sorry for all the lost female souls who spend their money to read this..crap.

But I don’t want this entry to have a pessimistic ending, so here’s what: for all of you ladies out there, here is a real, divinely talented woman (who doesn’t look at all like a Cosmopolitan cover girl and that doesn’t make her any less unique and amazing):

Meet PJ Harvey.

*The Red Witch

* This article deals entirely with women’s magazines, published and circulating in Bulgaria.

After the morning cup of tea(I am really more of a coffee person, but having a sore throat tea seems to be the better choice now…), the breakfast and several episodes of The Penguins Of Madagascar it is high time I wrote about the weekend we spent in Vidin.

We started out on Saturday morning. I won’t go on describing the bad state of the roads, the road signs hidden amongst huge bushes, and how we missed the right turn several times because we couldn’t see the sign… A lot has been said on the state of roads in Bulgaria, and a lot more will be said, until some people remember to get their job done…

We decided to visit the Magura cave, before we go to Vidin. We almost got lost on the way, because of a sign saying “Magura cave” but placed on the wrong turn. We got lucky we found someone to ask for directions.
Despite the cool weather and the rain there were at least two or three buses full of tourists and lots of people.

Having decided to visit the cave when we were already on the road, I had to walk inside the cave on high heels. It was wet, uneven and very slippery(doh, it’s a cave!). But I’d like to say that though I was with high heels, I never once fell down ;р (which maybe is due to the fact that I was hanging onto either my brother, or his friend, Fori, almost throughout the entire way, for which I am very grateful.)
I won’t talk much about the cave itself, because the pictures say enough. It is very beautiful inside.

After we got out of the cave, we got on something resembling a hybrid between a train, tractor and steam-roller which was supposed to take us back to the entrance of the cave.

Well, we survived the rain and the bad service and took off to Vidin, because we were really cold and hungry.

It was getting dark when we arrived so the first thing we had to do was to look for a place to stay for the night. Now I should mention the wonderful folks at Zora hotel, who gave us a great big apartment and top quality service at a really decent price. If you ever go to Vidin and don’t have a place to stay, I highly recommend this hotel.

Vidin is a very beautiful town. Frankly, I was very nicely surprised, because I didn’t expect to like it that much…

Here is my attempt at art photography (I think it turned out really nice) :

Here we are on the Danube river bank

You can’t leave Vidin without having visited the famous Baba Vida fortress. And that is exactly what we did on Sunday, before leaving for Sofia:

After having had lunch at a great boat-restaurant,we left for Sofia. Actually we wanted to visit Belogradchik on the way back, but we had some car troubles and decided to do it some other time.
All in all, despite the bad weather and the horrible cough(that I still have), I had an awesome time!

I can’t wait to travel again.

*The Red Witch

After a long, rainy, boring and tiresome day I can finally rest for a while and tell you about some really interesting stuff that has been going on with me these days…

First of all, I am really excited that for the very first time I am going to present a BULGARIAN BAND in this week’s Indie Friday! They are called JERIHON and they are very cool.

But, let’s see the news block first:

1. My newest jewelry creations now have pictures in FLICKR in the RedWitch Crafts Jewelry Spring/Summer 2009 photo album. Please stop by to look at them and comment;-)

2. This weekend I’m off to Belogradchik/Vidin/somewhere around this area with my brother and some friends. Bye bye, dirty big city;-) Of course, afterwards I will post lots of pictures as proof of how awesome it was:р I have already packed the few things that I plan to take with me and I really can’t wait to go…will have to wait for tomorrow morning though.

3. MADE IN SWEDEN:)
If you have read some of my previous entries,then you are quite aware of my love for Scandinavia and all things Scandinavian( especially literature, cinema and design!), so this last piece of news won’t come as a big surprise.
Several months ago, on Youtube I saw a wonderful Swedish short film, called ‘Skeletons In The Closet’, and presented by the famous FutureShorts. This short movie is a truly impressive piece, and I was very nicely surprised when I opened Youtube today, and saw that it was featured on the front page, along with other “frightful shorts” -

Go ahead and watch it! I assure you it’ll worth all 10 minutes you will spend watching it;-)

And now, moving on to Indie Friday!

On Tuesday night I attended a concert of a band named Jerihon in the new sleek Sofia Live Club, and now I can honestly say: “Bulgarian rock music is NOT dead!” In general I am extremely skeptical when it comes to new Bulgarian bands, and especially new Bulgarian rock bands,(well, they aren’t that new, but they are new to me),and since I am a music snob, in the beginning of the show, my expectations for it weren’t that high. But after the first 2 performances I was intrigued, and by the end of the show’s first half, I was dancing and jumping like crazy, along with almost everyone else in the club. We heard remarkably good covers of songs by KISS, Cream, Guns N Roses, The Rembrandts, Pink Floyd, but the more interesting thing was that for the first time the band presented their own song material, and not bad material at all! They managed to make a great show, and their new debut album is coming out in Bulgaria this fall! Finally, some fresh blood on the Bulgarian rock music scene!

Here is a little info about the band:

Name: JERIHON
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Genre: hard rock, alternative
Members: Martina Baldzieva(violine, vocals), Stoyan Bozov (guitar, vocals), Boris Samarinov(bass guitar, vocals) and Mihail Russev(drums, vocals)
Where can you find them on the WWW: they have an official page, and also a profile in Facebook.

The Story [in short]

In this entry, unlike in previous Indie Friday entries, the story will indeed, be in short
In short, all four members have participated in different projects before forming JERIHON, but together they have the ability to play in a very avant-guarde and passionate way the music which inspires them- 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s rock music.
Jerihon are hardly a year old but have already played in numerous clubs across the country and are well-known on the underground scene. But now we wait for them to com out of the shadows and present us a NEW, FRESH, AWESOME BULGARIAN ROCK ALBUM!

THE MUSIC

Sweet Child O’ Mine (Guns N Roses cover, @Sofia Live Club)

Whiskey In The Jar (Metallica cover, @Sofia Live Club)

These videos document Jerihon’s concert at Sofia Live Club on 09.07.2009. I sincerely apologize for their poor video quality, but this was really all I could find on the WWW. There is more audio and video on their official web page

Well, this is it.I’m going to bed to get some sleep before the big road trip tomorrow!
And to all of you out there-have a great weekend, no matter where you are!
And don’t forget to give JERIHON a listen

*The Red Witch

It has been quite a while, hasn’t it? I have been meaning to write here for some time now, but, frankly, I was a bit afraid. A long time has passed since my latest entry and I felt I had lost my ability to write well. Whether I did lose it or not,is for you to decide.
OK, enough with the sentimental bulls***t!This entry’s purpose is NOT to be sentimental, although I may not be able to help myself at times(but you’ll forgive me, won’t you?)

This entry’s main purpose is to answer the question ‘What’s new?’
So, to do that, I should continue telling the story from where I stopped, e.g.what happened after I quit my job.
Well…chronologically speaking…
Several days afterward I packed my bags and boarded the train to Pécs(Hungary), to spend Easter with the most amazing person in the whole world-my boyfriend, of course

Pécs is a wonderful town. Small, colorful and trim, it is like a little girl who is standing in front of a mirror, dressed in here mama’s clothes…

Everything is in full blossom, the streets are covered with flowers…This year there are extra-many beautiful tulips.

There is no need to admit that I had the most wonderful time, and, when I arrived at Sofia Train Station 10 days later, I felt like the loneliest girl in the world…It is always so hard to leave…

Well, for sure I didn’t have a lot of time to feel down in the dumps thanks to the many errands I had to run…to finalize my resignation, and study, study, study! And what did I do? I started making jewelry :p
When I have a jewelry piece idea in my head, already sketched and colored;when my tools are in front of me, and it’s like they are begging me to take them…I can’t help myself.

You can see my newest jewelry collection here!

Besides making jewelry I have also begun experimenting with decoupage.(découpage) . Visit the link if you want to find out more about this type of craft, but in short it is the art of decorating furniture and household objects with paper.
I had been meaning to try it for a long time, so I sat at PC, read some info about it, and started decoupaging…
My first decoupage project was completed 2 months ago, and adequately named “The Decoupage Project” (not a particularly original name, I know, but I liked the sound of it…) . I decorated the inner side of my huge closet door.I will show you the end result in a separate entry:-)
So, after I got back home from Hungary(where I bought some AWESOME beads, by the way!!!), I sat down and decorated two boxes.One of them is decoupaged with two types of light blue fabric,which aren’t sewn together( I used duct tape, because I suck at sawing and I really didn’t want to ruin the wonderful fabric :p), and the other box is decoupaged with paper. More info and pictures of my decoupage projects are coming up in a future blog entry!

I can’t help thinking that this whole period of time, since I got back from Hungary less than a month ago is marked by my ‘School VS Job’ dilemma.Don’t get me wrong, I DID try doing both at the same time and it’s just not working for me. Usually one of them is ‘a victim’ of the other,in my case it’s school. I’m not as fond of my major as I once was, in fact, I have started to doubt whether this is what I am really meant to do…Plus I need to earn some money…So I am more and more inclined to take some time off, find myself a proper job, start earning some money and think what major would make me truly interested, and happy, because I can’t just stay with my high school diploma. The sad thing is that jewelry making IS what really makes me happy, and what I want to develop into a serious profession, but that’s not possible, at least for the time being..
I guess in these cases one usually says “We’ll wait and see”…

I have terribly neglected this blog, and I solemnly promise to write in it more often from now on. I have a lot of ideas on new blog columns, they are written down in my awesome new yellow notebook(thank you for this wonderful gift,A. ) and are just waiting to be put into action. I am really excited about that!
The Indie Friday column will also be present every Friday, as usual. If you have stumbled upon a cool indie artist/band, drop me a line and I’d be happy to review them in Indie Friday:-)
The first entry from The Red Top 5 column will appear tomorrow! So stay tuned;-)

Enjoy your Saturday night(and remember to drink responsibly!),

*The Red Witch

—————-
Now playing: Saint Etienne – Kiss and Make Up
via FoxyTunes

Oh, what a spring surprise! I hurry to find the camera and take a picture of my discovery before the wind has blown it away.
Now I’m looking at the pictures I took yesterday, and I’m still wondering what this is.Is it a T-shirt or a pair of underpants?

What do you think?

P.S. My awesome spring discovery stayed in its original place all day yesterday, but a couple of hours ago finally continued its course five floors down toward the untidy green patch in front of my apartment building. I felt too lazy to go downstairs and see what kind of lingerie it actually was.

THE RED TOP 5: SILLIEST/GLOSSIEST WOMEN’S MAGAZINES

I have always despised magazines,whose basic target group is women from 15 to 55; which use tones of valuable wood for glossy paper,and on it- 99% photos and ads,and 1% silly articles, and thus I decided to talk a bit about this in my first Red Top 5 Column.
Coming really soon.

*The Red Witch

—————-
Now playing: PJ Harvey – Down By The Water
via FoxyTunes

Long time,no see!
The truth is that I really wanted to write regularly in this blog, but, as trivial as it sounds, I didn’t have the time.
During these last months I was mainly a student(the result: two failed exams…but I’m positive about retaking them in September!),and a working girl- I got a part-time job- this reduced my free time to an amount below the absolute minimum. I didn’t have any time to go out with friends, my social life was almost gone.I didn’t have time to make jewelry and write this blog (which, frankly, made me sadder than the lack of social life. I don’t mind spending my free time by myself.)
Oh, and speaking about the blog… I had a lot of ideas about starting different weekly columns in this blog,they came and they left, but I didn’t write them down. Now I feel really sorry for not having done that, because now I can’t remember a single one. But I remember there were one or two good ones which were worth writing down… Oh, well..it’s not so bad. At least now I feel like I’m starting over. It’s spring, the season when new life begins, and so many things are starting over.
I hope to breathe new life and ideas into this blog,in unison with the season.
To all of you out there who have visited this blog in the past two months hoping to see a new entry I can just say ‘I AM REALLY SORRY!’

The Red Witch Diaries has awakened from its winter sleep.

It’s the kind of magazine you might find in a doctor’s waiting room next to Cosmopolitan or Reader’s Digest. On the front is a pale face heavy with mascara. A flick through throws up striking images: urban flooding, a Nigerian abattoir, a girl eating noodles, a pooch in a limo.

It’s only when and if you get round to reading the text that the incongruity strikes you: “Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven.” What kind of problem page is this?

Bible Illuminated is the latest attempt to bring the Bible into the modern world. In the format of a 300-page glossy magazine, it contains the whole text of the New Testament in a popular translation, with no chapter or verse numbers.

The images are by turns beautiful, violent, oblique and provocative – much like the book itself.

The text “She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus” is illustrated with a veiled Muslim. One verse has a photo of a pair of knickers draped over high-heeled shoes, sending you back to the passage to find out what it’s really about.

The person behind this remarketing of holy writings is Dag Soederberg, a Swedish businessman. And contrary to expectations, he is not a Christian hoping to convert anyone. “I’m not on a mission from God,” he explains. “I’m not particularly religious. I’m not telling anyone they should believe.”

What he sees in the Bible is a profitable chance for people to look again at their world. “We are all affected by it,” he says. “Morals are based on it, rightly or wrongly, government, laws. I’m saying to people: this is your history, read it.

“It’s the most sold book in the world, but the least known. I want to take it off the shelves and put it on the coffee table.”

It’s the kind of thing that might provoke tuts and headshaking in the pews, one imagines. “Some people will feel it’s dumbing down,” says David Ashford of the Bible Society, an organisation that exists to “make the Bible heard”. “How can it be the Bible when it’s got Angelina Jolie in it?”

He, however, welcomes it with open arms. “You have to understand that what we think of as the traditional serious-looking leather-bound Bible is actually a relatively new format. In the Middle Ages, picture books – with people in contemporary dress – were the way most people read the Bible.

“At first the Bible was a collection of scrolls, then illustrated handwritten volumes. When printing was invented they were produced in Latin with pictures. Later they were published in plain closely printed text, in the common language, to get them into as many people’s hands as cheaply as possible.”

So, ironically, Soederberg’s attempt to popularise the Bible by getting away from its traditional format is exactly what the people who created that format were doing.

If you’re looking for an alternative way into the Bible, there’s no shortage of versions to choose from. Here are some of the more unusual:

1. The Jesus Loves Porn Stars Bible

This arresting title is the work of the XXXChurch, an organisation that on the one hand helps people addicted to porn, while on the other hand taking the gospel into the porn industry. They print this Bible to give out free at porn shows and industry conventions, distributing over 15,000 in 2007.

2. The Manga Bible

The British Christian Ajin-bayo Akinsiku, known as Siku, tells the whole story in the form of a graphic novel. Cain says to Abel, “Whassup, bro?” Noah loads animals onto the ark, saying, “That’s 11,344 animals? Arggh! I’ve lost count again. I’m going to have to start from scratch!” Christ strides out of the desert like a Marvel superhero.

It skimps on some of the less bloodthirsty episodes like the sermon on the mount, but Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is a fan, liking the way it conveys “the shock and freshness of the Bible”.

3. The Bible in Cockney

The rhyming slang version of the Bible was written by Mike Coles, an RE teacher in Stepney, and started life as stories he told to his classes. In it, Jesus feeds “five thousand geezers” with “five loaves of Uncle Fred and two Lillian Gish”. The Lord’s Prayer morphs from “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory” to “You’re the Boss, God, and will be for ever, innit?”

This one got the seal of approval of Rowan Williams’s predecessor George Carey, who grew up in London’s East End, so must have known what he was rabbit and porking about.

4. The Brick Testament

This less-than-reverent online version by Brendan Powell Smith tells stories from the Bible using Lego. It started life in 2001 with stories from Genesis and today contains 391 stories with 4,214 illustrations. Though it is sometimes satirical or tongue-in-cheek, it is often used by churches and Sunday schools, and it’s one of the versions that the Bible Society has welcomed as connecting people with the Bible in a new way.

5. Inspired By… The Bible Experience

And for the iPod generation, you can get the whole thing on your MP3 player, read and performed by a Hollywood cast, including Forest Whitaker as Moses, Cuba Gooding Jr as Jonah, and a possibly typecast Samuel L Jackson as God.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this new wave of Bibles is how sympathetic the church is to people messing about with its sacred scriptures, whether in wording or binding, no doubt reasoning that there can be some good in anything that gets people hearing its stories.

But how successful these versions are at doing that is another question. The makers of the Bible Illuminated claim it has increased sales of Bibles by 50% in Sweden – though we are not told over what timescale. A version that could achieve such figures in the UK would be one of the most surprising Bibles yet.

This is an article written by Stephen Tomkins for the BBC News Magazine which I find really interesting.
As a traditionalist,and an orthodox christian,I believe these “modern versions” of the Bible won’t have big success in spreading the word to more people.Personally,I prefer the “classic” version :p Why?’Cause it’s meant for the format to be serious-looking and respectful-just as much as the content inside.I don’t think a “porn version” or an “illuminated” version would reach more people because of the “alternative” way the Bible is presented.As for the iPod version-I don’t mind it.After all,we live in the age of technology.So I think some of the more tech-oriented christians will get into it.
What about other sacred books?What about the Koran,for instance?Would you agree to a “modern”,more “glossy” version of the Koran?
What do you think about the article,boys and girls?

*Article and pictures courtesy of BBC News Magazine