Sraen's Mindscape

I live!

2008-01-25T22:07:00.000Z

I have survived through my mocks!

Truly, a deity of some description is smiling down on me and guiding me through this with a minimum of hassle.

Of course, this deity must also be one twisted bastard because never before in my life have I been so consistently knackered as I have been the last fortnight. Every god damned day, I died a little. And the last two Thursdays I'm pretty sure I DID die, thanks to my Art and Photography exams (both of which are five hours long, and require me to stand up for pretty much that entire time thanks to the size of the work).

As a result, I have nothing interesting to say. Except that I've started to write again. So woo or something.

I'm going to sleep. Sraen out.

Mocks

2008-01-09T23:39:00.001Z

Well, I do seem to have neglected this old bird quite a bit. I hadn't planned on just leaving for a week, with no announcement, after my 100th post, but something has come up. I have my mock exams next week. Which means, yes, I am taking another long break to make sure I don't fuck them up. After they're done I'll try my best to get back into the swing of things; we have another four or five months until the actual GCSEs, where I shall take another break.

I'll see you in two weeks.

Sraen Out.

New Year

2007-12-30T12:09:00.001Z

So now is about the time that people start banging on about year-end lists and how they're incredibly important. I, for one, have no such list to contribute. You see, thanks to a mixture of insomnia, coursework stress and having a wireless laptop, the days and weeks have just imploded in on each other like drunken bears over the last turkey wing.

The year has had lows and fewer highs, but in general it's been okay.

That's pretty much all I have to say. Be safe people. To 2008!

Sraen Out.

Tetri!

2007-12-28T12:52:00.000Z

After loading up my new iPod with all my music, I something very strange has occurred. I am now the holder of Satan's iPod. It's red, and it has 6.66GB of music on it. Really, it does. Look, proof!

This is quite disconcerting, but open to a moment of hilarity; Perhaps the album to push my iPod out of satanism should be The Number Of The Beast by Iron Maiden?

*****

In other news, I have renewed my decade-old addiction to Tetris. It's unsettling to realise that I have played longer and more often than any other person I know, and that my high score is up at sextuple figures. I blame the lack of fundamental Tetris-Resisting training in our primary schools; we must protect the next generation from this addiction! We have anti-drug campaigns; why not a campaign to highlight the dangers of Tetris addiction?

But alas, as long as the fatcats up in Video Gamer land keep on selling it (and giving it away for free) there will forever be legions of addicted fans, such as myself, all waiting for the moment the motherland decides to rise up and take the world using an undiluted version of their mind-control technology (the aforementioned Tetris).

*****

Finally, I thought I'd share with you some of the wit and wisdom of Yahtzee Croshaw, registered supergenius.

Sraen Out.

Moooovies

2007-12-26T16:27:00.000Z

I am nearing my 100th post; hopefully if I manage to actually care enough to post in the next few days, I'll break triple digits before 2008 rolls round. Which isn't actually that impressive, but it is an achievement of sorts.

Thankfully, I've scored enough money from my relatives to be able to get a load of cool gear in the upcoming price-slashathons (read: sales). For instance, I am setting myself up to have a better knowledge of films in preparation for my future participation in Film Studies at A Level; so far, I have collected the Mad Max trilogy and Robert Rodriguez's Mexico trilogy. Very soon I shall add the Bourne trilogy, 300, The Stanley Kubrick Collection and The Quentin Tarantino Collection to that list. Hopefully I'll be able to find the time to watch all of them; perhaps I should start organizing myself properly, allocating time to specific tasks and following them through.

Or not.

In any case, 2008 is looking a bit brighter than 2007 for me on a personal level. Let's hope it plays out properly, eh?

Sraen Out.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T09:59:00.000Z

I hope you all have a good Christmas today. I'm going to spend it eating far too much turkey and being offline for an absurdly long time.

Sraen Out.

The Clock Is Ticking...

2007-12-19T16:46:00.000Z

I was born sixteen years ago today. At about sixish. It was snowing.

Yes, readers, I am now 16. Unfortunately, I did not suddenly become a hulking mass of testosterone dragging an axe and a wench. I guess that happens at the 18th.

All joking aside, I'm actually feeling pretty good today. This time next year I should have shed the baggage of High School and be free learning my own thing away from the idiots who say that I do too much work (THREE PAGES. ONLY THREE. HOW IS THAT TOO MUCH WORK FOR AN EXAM?).

But I have to slog through my GCSEs first. If all goes well, my lowest grade will be a handful of Bs. So that's good.

I really have nothing else to say. It is my birthday though, so I have an excuse.

See you people. Sraen Out.

Dork Knight

2007-12-16T15:04:00.000Z

So last week I had my Post-16 Interview. What that means is that they herd up a load of us and shove us into the Sixth Form building to fill out a form before getting us to talk to a teacher for a few minutes and kick us back into lessons. After queuing for twenty minutes.

But I digress. What it means is that I now know what I need in order to apply for the A Levels I want to do next year; and, thankfully, I am almost certain to obtain them. For the four choices I have, all I need are 5 C grades or above. That will be easy as hell to get; I only have one subject where I may get below that, and I'm targeted As and Bs everywhere else. So woo.

Here are my subject choices:

Art
Photography
Film Studies
English Literature & Language

And now my subject choices and the prospects they have in store for me:

Art - Unemployed, bearded and covered with paint. Dreadlocks optional.
Photography - Unemployed, bearded and saying "Oooh, pretty" at random objects.
Film Studies - Unemployed, bearded and talking about Alfred Hitchcock far, FAR too much.
English Lit & Lang - Unemployed, bearded and insane.

I'd best get started on that beard then.

******

After hitting his 150th post, James has moved over to a Wordpress blog. I like the look of his new blog, and the other pages are helpful too. Good luck to him; he's a good blogger who's managed to outpost me quite significantly despite me having a month's headstart. Just goes to show what you can do when you can write well AND quickly, eh?

Sraen Out.

Digg for Photographers?

2007-12-15T00:24:00.000Z

A quick perusal through the archives of Photocritic has lead me to an extremely interesting new startup site. PhotographyVoter (I know, a really unoriginal name. All the non-word websites have been taken) is apparently built on a pretty robust clone of Digg's system, so technically it should be fine - but that's not the issue. The fact is, nobody is using it. It's so new that it's not exciting yet, and that's why I'm posting about it. I would LOVE to get this site up and running, because there's so much out there that is lost in the tide which could be easily brought up with this service.

So anyway, that's all I've got now. It's almost 1AM and I have a guitar lesson in a few hours. I leave you with shinies:

Click for high-res goodness.

Sraen Out

Yeah, I'm back

2007-12-13T12:13:00.000Z

Yes yes, I know. I've been forgetting to blog again.

To be perfectly fair, it's not really my fault. I did warn my non-existant readership that I would put my GCSE work first, and have done. I've actually started to obsess over my prep work for my Photography mock next term. So there.

But truly, I'm sorry to anybody who reads this thing. I have been struck down by the weight of work and illness, and as such have been doing bugger all.

But I digress. Time for some news!

I finally got a tablet. My brand new Intuos3 A5 Wide arrived last week and I totally love it; it's a great piece of gear, and well worth the money. I also got a copy of CS3, with a massive education discount, which means I'm going to have all the awesome programs I could ever need. All I need to do now is sit tight and wait for them to email my CD Key over to me, so that I can actually install the software.

I've got my own little creative area now; some of you who remember months back may recall that we turned a small outbuilding into an art house, but that has since been relegated to storage thanks to the winter and our excess of useless junk. So now I have a large area in the middle of the house (it has a very strange floor plan, our house) for my digital stuff, my books, and my traditional stuff. Awesome. Pictures to follow.

I've been thinking about making my own website for a while now, but have never got round to it. For one, I don't have the money for hosting. Which is always going to be a drag; I'd love to own sraen.com, and I doubt any other address would properly do. I do have my .mac webspace, but it's got one funky looking address and is pretty small (I'm looking for about a gigabyte or two of space at least). I can build good web galleries in Aperture, I can create the site in Dreamweaver, and I can install either a Blogger blog (straight from here) or a different one (I've been looking at MovableType.org - it seems nice). I'd definitely have Lightbox2 (an EXCELLENT little script that looks great). All in all, I want to learn how to build websites; I think it would be something cool to do. It would be especially useful as a portfolio site, since I have more direct control over it than deviantART (which I haven't updated in forever).

But until I manage to find cheapass hosting, a job, and an audience, it's going to be only a pipe dream.

Sraen out.

[Update: WOO I GOT MY CD KEY!!!]

Desert RAWK

2007-11-14T20:42:00.000Z

For the lack of updates these past few weeks. I'm getting caught up in coursework deadlines, and when that combines with losing all sense of time (the days are literally just blending into one huge blur) you start to run out of time for stuff you actually wanna do (such as this blog and Fallout 2). So a relatively short post for today.

*****

I've been going on a huge Queens Of The Stone Age trip for the past few days. I decided (after reading this article) to get my paws on Era Vulgaris, and I discovered the amazing power of QOTSA.

One great thing about the arts is that they're very mixable. Lots of art was inspired by music, lots of music was inspired by literature, lots of literature was inspired by art. And I found, while listening to Era Vulgaris (the song) on YouTube, that the music was powerful enough to get me completely juiced for some artistry. And something preeety freaky came out as a result:

If this were in colour, it'd look like the desert threw up on it after being on acid. It was strange, coming up with ideas from the music; trying to translate the texture and rhythm of it into line. I'll need to try and do it again some time - anybody want to give me ideas?

*****

Wow. Valve have one sense of humour.

Sraen Out.

Exquisite Prose despite an Excitable Nose

2007-10-26T14:50:00.000+01:00

When I sit with my laptop to type these posts, I usually have no content in mind. Other times, I do have an idea in mind. These two different types of post can be split into two categories: Good, and Completely Batshit Crazy Bad. So today, I thought I'd make a confession.

I'm a page-huffer.

Yes, I love the smell of pages. Books, magazines, comics, it doesn't matter. I like the tactile feel, the wonderful look and the luxurious smell.

Okay, so it's kinda weird. But I'm like that a lot. My sense of smell is oddly high up in the hierarchy of my senses; one of the things I most notice about my copy of Batman: Year One is that, despite being second hand, still smells of the wonderful and exquisite ink used to create it. In fact, at this very moment, I am wafting the smell by flipping the pages.

Anyway, moving on. I've been considering, alongside my partner in crime George, to start collecting the books in the Cthulhu mythos. As a fan of literature and a hopefully soon-to-start-budding writer, I feel the need; nay, the urge to amass a collection of books by the greatest of the great. I have already, tentatively, begun with George R.R. Martin and his A Song of Ice and Fire series of high fantasy cinderblocks (I have often said that due to the immense size of them - even as paperbacks - if enough of them were amassed you could construct a structurally sound house).

With this, I am going to begin my wrangling of classic and influential literature and proceed to carve my own niche out of the hard granite of people's bookshelves. Failing this, I can always attempt to wow people with my large collection of books while I photograph/play guitar/paint them (delete as appropriate).

It's odd how my style of writing can change so dramatically so quickly. Simply looking back a few posts, you can see the radical shift from semi-formal prose-esque writing to conversational, informal, HEATHEN writing. It's honestly quite disconcerting; however, perhaps it is necessary. When writing, especially in fiction, dialogue is not usually formal in tone; people nowadays don't speak the way I am writing right now.

Of course, I am omitting the people who plague the world with their bastardised version of language; this 'text' speak of theirs is honestly quite revolting. I would rather leap out of a spacecraft, reach terminal velocity and then land eyeball first on a mountain of sharp glass shards and salt before willingly subjecting myself to some of the horrors that are out there - or, indeed, using it myself.

Even in forum posts they choose to decry all facets of the normal English language and type as though they are a dead monkey with two and a half fingers. Not to mention the seedy underbelly of people who choose to comment on something for the sole reason of typing 'first' and then leaving, never to be seen again. The internet, although extremely wondrous, is fuel for the thousands of people who hide behind their anonymity and choose to show complete contempt for the human race. Such people should be rounded up and labeled "cannon fodder" before being used in military exercises.

Rant over. Therefore, Sraen Out.

Groooooaaan

2007-10-24T18:54:00.001+01:00

Today was spent being horrifically lazy; primarily on the sofa watching a mix of Top Gear/Who's Line is it Anyway?/Star Trek (repeat ad infinitum). I should have been working. I wanted to work. But it was just a....'bleargh' day.

I was also cold.

Anyway, I've nigh finished my portrait. Just a few touchups and then I'm done. Photos later this evening or tomorrow.

That is all.

Sraen Out.

Painterly habits

2007-10-23T19:03:00.000+01:00

Just a quick photo-post update on my self portrait; I'm almost done!

Onto the photos:

My 'workspace'. Note a copy of Batman: Year One for reference

The first lick of paint going down...

Blocking in the colours...

And almost finished!

I'm getting rather proud of this piece. Hopefully it'll shut up the idiots who made fun of the one that I screwed up in class...

Sraen Out.

Miller_Fan142

2007-10-22T10:03:00.000+01:00

While the subject of comic bookery may be an alien concept to most people, I relish in it. One of my prized possessions is a copy of Batman: Year One in excellent condition; indeed, when I flip through it, I can smell the residue of Frank Miller's genius.

So, in that vein, I have chosen to emulate the style of his comics for the self-portrait I have to do in art. Observe:

From Self Portrait...

The basic pencils. I think it does a pretty good job of recreating myself in 'comic' form; and, to be perfectly honest, I think it's pretty damn snazzy.

Now I just hope that I don't screw it up completely with the paints like I did my OTHER self portrait. As of writing, it looks like I painted a burn victim. Yeah. Nasty.

In other news, Samsung have released a 40" full HD television. Now, that's pretty common nowadays. But the big selling point is that it's only 1cm thick.

1cm.

It makes my Bravia look positively OBESE. Hell, it makes ANY TV on the market look huge.

And I want one.

But until it becomes profitable to put off coursework until the last possible minute, I'll have to pine alone. Sans-Samsung.

Sraen Out.

Go for the head.

2007-10-17T18:44:00.000+01:00

I did mean to continue posting last week; I just got very piled up with pre-Half Term work. For instance, on Friday I was literally herded into one of the computer labs for the entire day to work on my (admittedly late) IT coursework. And then yesterday, I went to London to see Othello (which is a magnificent play [yes, I used bold AND italicised text. It's just that good.]). So yes, I've been quite busy; and felt quite guilty about not updating and contributing to ye old blogosphere (said in a Sean Connery accent).

But thankfully, it is half term for - get this - the whole of next week. You heard me. Five days off, added with the weekends which are on either side of the week, equals seventeen.

Wait. That's wrong.

After consultation with Cthulu (he's one of my poker buddies), it actually equals to ten free days. Ten days off. Ten days to myself. Ten days where, if I wished, I could quietly overthrow an Asian island-nation. Ten days I could spend stalking my next victim before jumping out, cleaver in hand, to demonstrate the dangers of running while waving a cleaver around (they then get a free hug). Ten days to get to work on my musical composition, which (at the moment) is merely a foetus of an idea etched in graphite onto stolen manuscript. And yes, I have just realised what a horrific analogy that was. I apologise profusely.

I will attempt to, instead of subtly (and not so subtly) manipulating everybody around me into a bloody conclusion in the style of Iago just because I'm bored, make posts in a semi-regular manner. I may continue with my previous thread of thought, foraging through the YouTube undergrowth to find emotive music with emotive videos.

Or I could continue reading about World War Z. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a truly magnificent work by the creator of The Ultimate Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks - covering the human factor of what would happen if we ignore the impending threat of a Zombie Apocalypse (or as my peer Hallum insists on calling it, an Apocalypse Level Event). It's a fascinating read for anybody who has ever enjoyed George A. Romero's works, or anybody who likes stories about people in impossible situations.

It's told in the form of a retrospective documentary, a series of interviews conducted with various people from all walks of life. The introduction makes clear that this was gathered for a United Nations report (the United Nations Postwar Commission Report), but was deleted for being 'too intimate'. Thus, he had access to people from every level. Pilots who landed in the midst of Zack territory (areas where the zombies had taken over totally) and was guided to safety by a voice in their head; insane, emotionless planners who created a plan that effectively threw millions to the horde for the good of a few; the head of DeStRes (Department of Strategic Resources) who completely restructured the US Military; an artist and historian who holed up in Windsor Castle with the Queen during the occupation, and learnt how to use a Scottish Claymore. Each story is different and each story is connected; each story feels real, feels like a real interview. Brooks takes the role of the interviewer, his bold-font questions occasionally splitting up the stories of the people. But that's what this story is really about; breathing, living, human people.

It never shies away from the reality of wars; human beings lie, cheat and steal when faced with situations where they could die. We don't live up to our own ideals most of the time, because we are inherently flawed with selfishness. I shall post this excerpt in closing:

*****************************

"We're going to be okay." That was our message. That was the message of every other film-maker during the war. Did you ever hear of The Hero City?

Of course.

Great film, right? Marty made it over the course of the Siege. Just him, shooting on whatever medium he could get his hands on. What a masterpiece: the courage, the determination, the strength, dignity, kindness and honor. It really makes you believe in the human race. It's better than anything I've ever done. You should see it.

I have.

Which version?

I'm sorry?

Which version did you see?

I wasn't aware...

That there were two? You need to do some homework, young man, Marty made both a wartime and postwar version of The Hero City. The version you saw, it was ninety minutes?

I think.

Did it show the dark side of the heroes in The Hero City? Did it show the violence and the betrayal, the cruelty, the depravity, the bottomless evil in some of those "heroes'" hearts? No, of course not. Why would it? That was our reality and it's what drove so many people to get snuggled in bed, blow out their candles, and take their last breath. Marty chose, instead, to show the other side, the one that gets people out of bed the next morning, makes them scratch and scrape and fight for their lives because someone is telling them that they're going to be okay. There's a word for that kind of lie. Hope.

*****************************

And with that, Sraen Out.

Music With Meaning

2007-10-09T17:53:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd do some YouTube-oriented posts this week - mostly sharing some awesome music with some amazing videos.

First and foremost: Hunted By A Freak, by Mogwai. One of their most beautiful songs with an amazingly haunting video:

The song itself is one of Mogwai's wonders. They manage to take some simple scraps of music and transform it into a haunting melody; it's this skill, the skill of composition, that I sorely need and which Mogwai have in abundance.

The video is another hugely beautiful facet of the song; it gives the song a whole new context - what was originally 'just' another minor-keyed sad song done in Mogwai's style, the video tells a true story about how horrible people can be. I'm sure that out there, somewhere, a person actually does that to animals. I can't help but watch the video with a sense of dread, knowing what's going to happen. It's a horrific insight into something we all wish didn't happen but which we all know does.

**********

Okay, so that's the first one. I'll try and keep the videos coming in at a regular pace, cause it pads my post count. Yay!

Also, James has written a rather good post about things he hates, Room 101 style. I'll make my own in the next few days, but thank James for the meme.

Finally, Jo has a really good blog. Who rants. Rants and rants and rants in the most hilarious way. Check her out!

Now I need to go and try to learn Windowpane by Opeth. I hope my fingers don't mutiny on me; I've only a week to learn it.

Sraen Out, with a gee-tar on mah back.

HMV is run by monkeys who throw turds

2007-10-01T19:41:00.001+01:00

Aah. Things have wound down enough for me to catch a few moments of reprieve for some blogging; mostly because I have an "Academic Review Day" tomorrow, which essentially means I have the day off apart from a one-on-one with my form tutor for fifteen minutes. So yay or something.

Anyway, the big music news of the week. Radiohead have chosen to truly stick it to the man by releasing their latest album on their official website for whatever amount people want to pay. This is going to be a real blow for the music industry, that flagging behemoth of corruption and exploitation which wants nothing more than money. They're doing it without a record label, throwing more salt into the deep gash they've struck; and best of all, if you do want a hard copy, you can plonk down £40 for more swag than £100 would get you if a label controlled it.

I personally think this is fantastic news. The major labels are a bunch of greedy fuckwits who care more about the carbon-copy rap/hip-hop/pop "artist" than anybody who gives a half damn about music for real. Even Roadrunner Records are guilty of this, giving a LOT more ad money to the bands who are popular with the kiddies. It's a much needed kick up the backside for an industry who are so attached to their old business model that they reject any and all attempts to change it. Dammit, music isn't meant to be an INDUSTRY like steel or computers. It's meant to be a creative endeavour, to be something that people do because they LOVE it and make money if they're GOOD. If you're setting out to be rich from making music, then you're doing it for the wrong reasons.

I shall make sure to get this album and spread the word as much as I can, to support REAL musicians everywhere and not the whims of the industry. Trent Reznor is also amiable in his support of music for music's sake; walking into an Australian HMV, he was shocked to discover how fucking expensive his new album was compared to everything else (which was also expensive). I've run into this problem too; as a self-confessed Opeth addict, I've made it my mission to own every single album. And I've been stopped in my tracks thanks to the local Music Zone shutting up shop. All that's left on the high street now is a HMV, which (you guessed it) overprices everything. I could buy two Opeth albums for twenty quid at Music Zone; now I have to spend almost twenty on ONE album, if I wanted it. The worst thing is that HMV only stock two of their albums - the very popular ones. Oh, and one of those is the MOST expensive one; a special edition with an added DVD, for almost £40. Wonderful.

If I wanted the CD, which I do, I'd need to pay over the web and have it delivered. And I don't like doing that. I grew quite fond of my trips out to town with my old CD Walkman, buying a new CD or two for (relatively) little money, and eagerly ripping off the fernickety wrapper before popping it in for some on-the-go genius. It's a shame that I won't be able to do that in the forseeable future.

In closing: Fuck You, HMV.

Sraen Out, with bitching new headphones.

Sorry people.

2007-09-25T19:17:00.000+01:00

I've got some pretty big amounts of work to do in the next few weeks. This means that I can no longer guarantee updates on a regular basis, at least of any significance.

It pains me to do this, as I quite like writing this blog; however, I did warn that my GCSEs shall come first. I will attempt to make up for this with some longer, albeit far more spaced out, posts.

So for now, I bid you adieu.

Sraen out.

Non-postage

2007-09-22T19:28:00.001+01:00

Sorry for not posting yesterday people; some stuff came up that forced it to slip my mind. I did update Sraen's Writings, though, so if you want to see what happens when I'm given an open Word file and a load of Tarantino movies, check it out.

I'll post proper on Monday, but I'm too swamped this weekend to do anything.

Writ; tis a talent.

2007-09-19T18:43:00.000+01:00

I have an announcement; I have begun an alternate blog!

Sraen's Writings will be a place for me to post various stories that I come up with; it will not be updated with regularity (for one thing, writing takes a while; and for another, I never can find the time) but it will be updated SOMETIMES, and hopefully help me practice how to write.

That's all for today though, because my bloody knee is aching as though Ragnarok itself is occuring upon it. Yeah. That bad.

Sraen Out.

Flu, flu, flu

2007-09-17T13:06:00.000+01:00

No post today, recovering from flu. I'll be here on Wednesday though!

Northern Flop

2007-09-14T20:37:00.000+01:00

Northern Rock shares plunge 32%

I can just imagine the board meeting that led to this happening. I shall demonstrate, thusly:

CEO: Hey guys, you know what would be great? Let's have a completely unique and fragile business model that could fall apart at the drop of a hat!

Underling 1: Are you sure that's a good idea sir? What if something happens?

CEO: NOTHING will ever happen!

Underling 1: But sir, we work in a very high-risk business. There's always the chance that something will happen; remember the crash in the 80s? That was pretty bad, an-

CEO: Begone with you!

[CEO presses Evil Red Button (tm)]

Underling 1: MY SKIN IS INSIDE OUT AND DISINTEGRATING!!!!

[Underling 1 vaporises]

CEO: Now on to the second order of business; what we should do with all that CASH. I say we spend as much as possible so that we have many many assets but almost no on-hand money.

Underlings: [in unison] YES SIR. OF COURSE SIR. WHATEVER YOU SAY SIR.

CEO: Eeexcellent.

Sorry if this post seems a lil' bit rough, but I've got a nasty flu and only in the last hour has my head been clear enough for me to even think about posting. See you guys on Monday!

Sum what?

2007-09-12T20:38:00.001+01:00

Only a short post today folks, hopefully I'll start sleeping properly so I can write properly too.

..................

Musically, I've become more and more tolerant of 'normal' music. Usually I give weird music my only attention, desperately trying to be the cliche counterculture kid.

But recently, I've been broadening my horizons and revisiting old stuff. Lots of music needs long exposure to acquire a taste for it, and I've inadvertently backed myself into a musical black whole from which time nor space can escape from. So as I've taken to watching to Scuzz and Kerrang on my TV, I've had to weather the 'popular' music as well as my niche tunes. And I've, well, got used to it. I even kinda like some of it.

Of course, I still love my own tastes. It's part of my strangeness; the musical eccentricity that allows me to listen to a song about a cysquatch and then Hendrix in the same sitting. It's quite sad then, that while I can stand 'normal' music more I see the crap that people consider popular.

Sraen out, sitting inside typing instead of in the rain crying about the girl that dumped me while my guyscara runs.

To Kill a Pigeon

2007-09-10T16:22:00.000+01:00

Whooo!

Well, I managed to get through To Kill a Mockingbird (at least the amount I was told to do - turns out that my teacher is not evil enough to make us read the whole thing). I wholeheartedly recommend the book to anyone, as it's great on its own, and for obsessive people like me I also recommend that you analyse the book and it's themes. It's extremely well put together and has some wonderfully fleshed-out characters - I didn't even notice at first because it's so wonderfully subtle, but Miss Caroline (the 1st Grade schoolteacher) has her own motivations and a fleshed-out personality, despite having a total of about four pages of space spent on her (so far, up to chapter six). It's something that has been making me put off writing myself, because at the moment I can't think of the story in a nuanced way - in fact, I can't think of the story as a story at all. I think of it more as the emotion it conveys, which is different from what I usually do (whack some stuff onto paper and hope it evolves).

Emotion is an important part of everything and I've been ignoring it - in music, in writing, in art. So I'm gonna try and incorporate it. Despite the stigma attached to anything with 'emotion' tacked onto the side of it, it forms an important part of everything we do. But thanks to the annoying whining of two generations of nu-metallers, emos and goths before them who keep on saying it as a buzzword in order to fit in to their counterculture clique, 'emotion' has gained the aforementioned stigma. It's a shame, because there is a VERY big difference between something that tries to be emotional and fails miserably (My Chemical Romance lyrics) and something that really IS emotional (various films, books and music). Hopefully it'll change one day.

Sraen out.

Forewarning!

2007-09-06T20:37:00.001+01:00

Good GOD.

I distinctly remember that school used to be tough. But NEVER was it as hard as the last two days have been. I've already got three(!!!) coursework assignments to do, two of which are English. In light of this, I once more apologize in advance for going offline for any period of time.

I will try my absolute best to keep on updating, but (unfortunately) this lil' blog is not my highest priority. If I do slow in posting, I will try and make up for it with quality. Sorry peoples.

Sraen out. I gotta book to read and annotate.

Ooh Err

2007-09-04T17:34:00.000+01:00

It has occurred to me that I begin school today (I am writing this yesterday, in a strange non-paradox of time). This is quite a bad thing; last year I almost completely burnt out, and this year will be worse with GCSE exams and whatnot. So, please be patient if updates slow for whatever reason - I will begin to collect random thoughts and then write about them, so that I will hopefully not have any lack of inspiration.

Today's random thought (hopefully building on the 'Mindscape' part of the title) is based on an incident that occurred today. An invasion, an assault; the start of an offensive against my street. An offensive by whom, you may ask?

Well, by gigantic brown pigs, of course.

No, I am not crazy and yes, I am telling the truth. A pig found it's way to one of my neighbour's homes and was trapped in their garden, the gate providing - adequate - defence against it's enormous (and possibly hungry) bulk. In fact, it was so huge that it took to chewing on the planks of the gate, and could have (quite easily) taken off a variety of limbs. Not to mention the smell. Oh God, the smell.

But this is all superfluous. The pig's entrapment was a last-ditch attempt to prevent exposure; he was, in actuality, a scout sent to discover the strengths and weaknesses of this area in preparation for the first strike upon a human colony - B-Day. The pigs will rise up, don armour and turn the tide upon the bacon industry.

The Vegan Armies will no doubt rise up with the pigs, and the world shall be plunged into the deepest of wars. It shall end once the pigs take mastery of flight; there is nothing to stop a pig once it is airborne, nothing at all - especially if it is airborne in a Harrier II jet.

Sraen out, with a side of rashers.

P.S. I am publishing this at 6:30 in the morning. I didn't even know it was possible for people to wake up at that time. Also, why does the mad scramble for school the night before (because it is against the law to do anything earlier) so... mad?

Argh!

2007-09-02T20:53:00.000+01:00

I found myself in a precarious position last night, as I sat on the fold-out sofa watching Aliens with a (finally) calibrated TV. That position is was one of having nothing to post today, despite having the weekend to mull it over AND Friday (where I missed the first post of my new regime, oh my. I promise that as soon as I can get my geekling allies over for a geekfest I will gladly germinate a post full of grist [Alliteration Attack!]).

So, while looking at sheet music and watching Scuzz on mute (just for the sake of it) I came across some inspiration.

That inspiration came in the form of Ville Valo, frontman of the band HIM. If you do not know of HIM, be thankful. If you wish to find out more about HIM because you want to join in the collective burst of diarrhea that is their fanbase, leave my blog right now. Go on. Don't keep on reading. You don't deserve it. Go! Leave! Or I'll do something rash, like climb through your computer screen and bludgeon you with a CD rack full of GOOD music.

In case you live in Bizarro land or have a rosy view of the world, I dislike HIM. The music is bland and boring, and the melodies monotonous and clichéd. More importantly, however, I dislike HIM fans. The screaming, seething masses of prepubescent girls and (most depressingly) pubescent boys who are obsessed with Bam Magera and skating and think that by loving Ville Valo (who is a communist drinking buddy of Magera's or something) they can make themselves more like the redneck, stupid meatbag that is Bam Magera himself.

Now, let us speak of the HIM video that sparked this outburst of hate and contempt. I am going by the timings on the YouTube version of the video, and am mocking parts for which mockery comes easily (as I am bloody tired).

H.I.M. - Kiss of Dawn (also known as "raping your ears with a carrot covered in steel wool")

A 'mysterious tome' with HIM's 'logo' on it appears, meant to signify some sort of depth to this shallow, marketed song and because Ville always wanted a bitchin' cool book to write about that girl that kicked him in the nads and ran away when he raped her rabbit and showed her the organs. Or something. It opens to show spooky moving pictures (not that it's been done before in every other modern metal 'ballad' or anything. No siree.) and then, for reasons unknown, cuts to Ville Valo sitting ON A THRONE reading a book in a castle with fancy candles everywhere.

...

Okay. Time out. This is getting bloody weird. Ville Valo. A chainsmoking, hard drinking lunatic. Reading an actual book on a bloody huge throne. Does this strike you as odd? To me, it does. Because in real life, he's too bloody hammered to even hold a book open the right way.

Bloody hell, I'm bored with this thread of thought. As I write this, the new Aiden video has come on Scuzz. I'm not even going to go there. Seriously. Just. Say. No. To Gay Vampires. And huge bodybuilders having strange relationships with little ballerinas. And flower-huffing. AND SCARY TRANSVESTITES.

I am continuing my thread of shamelessly ripping off the styles of people I admire by copying Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw from Fully Ramblomatic.com. He enjoys derision and satire and has taken to making extremely funny videos about games.

Sraen out, angrily.

Braaaaaaavia.

2007-08-30T19:24:00.001+01:00

Guess who just unboxed a bitchin' new TV?

ME.

Oooh yeah. It looks great, and the sound is great and everything is great. I haven't tried using the HD DVD player yet, but I will.

Tomorrow I'll do a better post about it, perhaps with some big words too. I'm just too A) tired and B) distracted to write a proper post about. Hey, since Stargirl will be here I'll try to get a dual post-type-thing going on.

Sraen out, with square eyes.

Of Chips and Chips

2007-08-27T19:16:00.000+01:00

I have been pondering what I shall be doing with our newfound electronic raconteur. As an entertainment opus, it seethes with energies the magnitude of which only the imagination can fully realize - and until then, consoles of varying types.

However, I worry. First, at the sheer cost of a device such as this; DVDs are expensive, as are consoles and console games. Over time, of course, we will gain these devices - these treasures of technological entertainment - and then life shall have a distinct rosy tint. Until then, however, all we shall have will be the DVD player and the (at the moment) two DVDs that I have. I don't know about the viewing habits of people who read this, but I find it difficult to watch the same four hours over and over again, despite the magnificence of the films.

Of course, my dilemma is small. The player upscales regular DVDs, and I have plenty of them. I'm not like those freaks of creation who choose Laserdisk over DVD in the first place - who, exactly, wants to use a double-sided disk which is a whole twelve inches wide?

Another thing I ponder to myself (alone, in the dark, with meditative candles strategically placed in a pentagram around me) is the subject of RPGs. No, not old Russian weaponry, but role playing games. I have been a big fan of RPGs on various consoles and computers, but I have yet to truly dip my quill into pen and paper games of imagination and dice. Podcasting has led me down this road, as the Great Four who record GeeksOn often speak of their love for certain game systems (and their loathing for others). It's an excellent podcast, with humourous and informative installments from the past few years.

In my searches of the Internet dungeons, I have come across two incredibly exciting creations. Firstly, a Fallout RPG. If I get a game going with that, it shall forever consume me and the light of day will become an alien concept. Secondly, a modification for the "Fuzion" that allows participation in the Aliens world. Once more, if I get a game going with that it shall consume me. Aliens is one of my favourite entertainment experiences of all time, and (despite looking obscenely complicated) the game would be a great addition to my obsession.

That is all for today's post. Sraen out, with a nuke - to be sure.

Absurdity is an Abstract Anecdote

2007-08-26T23:26:00.000+01:00

Dreams of being a somebody? You could attempt to improve upon your personality, buff out the flaws, sculpt interesting nuances and facets that provide good conversation topics at dinner parties attended by dignitaries of nations that the name of which mere human tongues cannot pronounce. Failing this, you could ask your (idiotically ignorant) father to buy you the new iBeat Blaxx MP3 Player so you can offend racial minorities everywhere and truly break the metaphorical ice - with a metaphorical glacier of a response.

In a different MP3 player related tidbit, the designers over at Apple have chosen to trade in their almost unbroken streak of beauty and elegance over the last decade with a monstrosity. However they try to market this, there will emerge a wave of competitors who do the design better than Apple themselves. This is surely a tragedy of biblical proportions; what will happen to Steve Jobs when he runs out of money for black jumpers? Will he, perish the thought, wear something else?

In a conversation I had not quite long enough ago to have left my memory, I happened upon a discovery: people must constantly outdo one another. It is an odd practice, seeing as all they do is attempt to win worthless victories over petty events. However, in the spirit of participation, I shall add my two base units of monetary coinage:

I once physically massacred my opponents (or as I like to refer to them, prey) to a number of 40 whilst playing that most delightful driving simulator Burnout 3. I cannot wait to get my hands on an actual vehicle so that I can wreak havoc in not-quite-copyright-infringing locales where the level of policing is nil. In fact, as with all gamers, I take the events in games as truth, gospel and law. I must catch up on my needless genocide, for since Jack Thompson says I do - I must, no?

Some Italians have managed to create a new world record for 5GHz WiFi distance. With the recent arrest of a man for stealing domestic WiFi and the "First Web War" that occurred to Estonia, the world requires an Interpol of the Interweb; an international force to combat the theft of WiFi and adolescent script kiddies everywhere! We shall begin by implanting into the brains of all newborns a small explosive-cum-tracking device, the use of which shall be decided only by any one of the corrupt officials running our totalitarian police-state. Let us begin to police the impossible!

And finally, Sony are going to turn PS3s into HD-enabled DVRs - in Europe only. This is only going to be a good thing, vengance for all Europeans against the almost fully HD enabled Americans. It is one more step towards a total war against Europe and America, with only Africa and Australasia surviving the ensuing conflict. Hail the United Territories of the African Union!

Sraen out, with a bang.

The Summer of Geek

2007-08-26T21:09:00.000+01:00

A peer of mine in the global family of man has successfully unlocked the iPhone and has published a how-to absolutely free - but another company has an even easier unlocking method, and is going to charge for it.

But why exactly do we want or need to unlock this device? Astounding at all tasks it may be, we could easily wait for a few more months and get a fully functional and - more importantly - legal device. As miraculous to mobile communications as it is, it's not exactly going to increase your intelligence or the value of your house - it does, however, increase your 'street' cred and overall coolness level.

Of course, I'm underestimating the sheer pull of the iPhone and the way geeks such as I obsess over things. For instance, I have been hyping myself up over the rapidly nearing date of our upgrade to HD - we shall be picking up our new Sony Bravia LCD TV on Thursday. The HD DVD player we ordered has already arrived, and I have devoted myself to organizing my front room in preparation for the grand delivery of electronic magnificence. I was, in fact, quite surprised at the promptness of delivery - my past dealings with Amazon gave me the impression that I had neglected to perform some type of arcane ritual to receive my product, or skipped over the clause in the terms and conditions that detailed the epic quest that I must set out on in order to defeat my new arch nemesis - their distribution offices.

The full messianic power of the TV is, however, only proportional to the power of the input. In this case however, I believe I have chosen wisely - Serenity and Batman Begins, both in the Highest of High Definitions (this point is moot - first of all, the DVD player only sends a signal in 1080i, not 1080p; secondly, the television is only 720p in the first place). Stargirl shall be here for the first proper inauguration of this truly olympian device - nay, DUO of devices. I will, however, sneak myself a preview of the machination's beauty; both with a regular television signal and one of my new gems of diskette-loaded entertainment.

Regular readers (Hah! An overstatement of Hurculean proportions) may notice I have taken to writing in a new style for this post. Writing is an art form, but I have not attempted to honing my craft - I have not admired writing styles, or analyzed and brutally dissected the methods of great writers. With my final year of mandatory schooling encroaching rapidly - my GCSE exams nestled at the end like a snake's rattle - I realise I must now become studious in several aspects of life, and organised in others. As such, I have planned my new method of noting down information and generally keeping my studies in order, which I will be instigating upon my return to the dreaded and drab buildings of my school.

Some people may recognise the style I am emulating, which I will eventually incorporate into a style all my own (for now, however, it is going to be consistently inconsistent and a mutilated and horrible monster of styles based on wherever my whims take me). The enviable Jerry Holkins - known to Penny Arcade fans as his comic alter-ego Tycho - is the main inspiration for style of this day's post, and for my general outlook of writing in a sardonic and witty way. Some people have criticized his style, but I relish in it.

In any case, it is time for this post to end. I will attempt organise this blog also, and I promise that there shall be physical altercations if I fail in my goal. Shall it be twenty lashings for every week without a post or thirty?

Sraen out, with a flourish.

Fox needs a punch on the nose

2007-08-21T07:45:00.000+01:00

Oh MAN. That's just all kinds of messed up. His name is Hussein, he must be evil, hur hur hur! Damn, this is borderline racism. A smear campaign in the highest sense of the phrase.

I have an American tinge to my accent, and have taken derision for it. But I am caucasian, and have no knowledge of what it must be like for someone like Obama having their character questioned due to their name. Oh, and he's Muslim. Big deal. What, does the fact that a black man AND a Muslim may become President so awful for you? Can't handle two ethnic minorities running your country, giving power to the people? Huh? HUH!?

Anyway, I apologize for the short length of my posts recently; I am working on something more substantial, but most of my time has been taken up with trying to get my sleep cycle under control for the dreaded school year to start again.

Sraen Out.

Post-Rock

2007-08-18T00:15:00.000+01:00

Well, I've been making some music for the past few days. I decided to put my .Mac webspace to use, so that's where I've located it. I made the site with iWeb.

Check it out:

A Hard Winter

Spring Thaw

The main page is here.

Leave comments if you like them.

Sraen Out

War. War never changes.

2007-08-14T14:02:00.001+01:00

Well then, I've been neglecting the blog again. It's not all that surprising actually, seeing as I've taken to sleeping for most of the day and then reading To Kill A Mockingbird or playing Fallout for the remainder of the day.

Yes readers, I have acquired Fallout and Fallout 2.

And I must say, they are magnificent. Great animation, great story, great gameplay. An epic world with huge possibilities - in only Fallout 2, you can be a grave robber, a slaver, a mafia assassin, a sheriff, or you could just do your frickin' job and save people.

But I digress. Fallout and it's sequel have consumed every waking hour for the past few...I dunno, days I guess? Which is why I am typing this RIGHT after I wake up before the cycle begins again. So forgive me if my posting continues to be erratic for the next week or so, but I assure you my gaming time will significantly decrease once I finish the game.

Sraen Out.

P.S. RIP Mike Wieringo 1963-2007

Writers block!

2007-08-06T12:09:00.000+01:00

Hmpph.

In the past few days, I've started six different blog posts and abandoned all of them.

They could all have made a good point about something or other, but I stopped writing each and every single time.

Yes readers. I am suffering from Writers Block.

It is truly a fearful situation. I, who enjoy writing, can not do so. I am like an arrow that has been snapped, a cannon with no shell. But whatever. I'm still here, it'll come back to me. Maybe I should read something amusing, or watch something inspiring. Maybe I should, dare I say it, wander outside. Perhaps I should dust off my ol' camera, and be artistic, for I have neglected it for weeks.

But I do not know. I want to do something, but it is as if I've been conked over the head with a foam hammer repeatedly. I do not have the inclination to do anything! It is a horror!

Sraen Out.

Funny Ass Motivators

2007-08-03T21:51:00.000+01:00

Well I thought today could be an image post. You probably know of Motivators, those pretty images with a stylish black border and an inspiring caption, usually mounted around workplaces to prevent mass suicide.

Well, in my tourings of the Internets, I have come across user-made Motivators for many different meanings and here are some of the best I've seen so far:

Now, I made NONE of these. The copyrights belong to their respective creators, most of which have disappeared thanks to the rapid cycle between starting a thread and having it automatically deleted on 4chan's Random image board. I'll make another post about 4chan itself later, if I can bring myself out of the insane stupor it causes.

Sraen out.

Craizee!

2007-07-31T12:03:00.000+01:00

Ah nuts, I've been ignoring the blog again. I am truly sorry! I shall make up for it with extra insanity in today's post, Chef Brian style.

.........................................................................................

So Korn have made another album. Once more reminding us of how, despite them being grown men with massive fortunes, everybody is conspiring against them and they have to make records to deal with the hate and pain in their hearts.

Oh please. Grow the hell up. You can at least drop the inane buzzword shooting about how you've "matured". Hell, here's the actual interview excerpt:

"It's a totally mature Korn. The songs have evolved I think with our age."

Good GOD. You can almost SEE the record exec handing them their lines, telling them what to feed the stupid teens who buy their music - but wait, they're not teens anymore. They're ADULTS. Not the depressed, angry "Generation X" kids of the 90's. Now they're the resentful, cynical "Generation X" adults of the 00's.

Of course, that's not going to stop Korn's album from selling like crack in a crack den on payday/robbery day. But thank God that people who actually give a crap about music are listening to something else, while todays teenagers are too cowardly to listen to anything REMOTELY metal. I quote Bullz-Eye.com's article "Bands That Should Break Up" (provided by Ultimate Guitar.com) :

"In the ‘90s, Korn helped millions of 13-year-old boys get through ninth grade by crafting brilliant rock tunes about alienation, sex, violence and children’s nursery rhymes. But now all those angry little kids are all grown up and listening to Modest Mouse, while their little brothers are busy self-loathing to emo."

Quite right. Besides, Nu-Metal is VERY dead. Extremely dead. So dead, it makes dead people feel 18 in comparison. I'm talking parties in graveyards, here.

Anyway. They're just going to continue on making music that sounds the same as everything else they've ever done, ever, until people wizen up. Thankfully, people already are with the likes of Mastodon bringing heavy metal back.

I really don't understand why Korn didn't die when Nu-Metal did. System of a Down didn't die because they're not Nu-Metal. Slipknot didn't die for God knows what reason. Deftones didn't die because they're awesome. Incubus didn't die because...well, I don't know why Incubus didn't die.

The bottom line is, when a scene dies then the founding band dies (unless they had already disbanded). But WHY didn't Korn follow suit? They should be very dead by now! They should be rotting in their grave. Pushing up daisies. Six feet under. But more importantly, NOT MAKING MUSIC.

BAH! We'll have to wait and see if they ever break up or act like the Stones and keep on escaping from their graveyards to go on tour.

Okay, onto other news. Fall Out Boy are working on another vomit-inducing album which will end up rotting the minds of young fools who think dressing up like confused, gothic transvestites is the pinnacle of cool. Which it isn't.

In the interview, he says: "If anybody knows anything about punk rock more than Billie Joe from Green Day, I don't know who it is."

Jesus. H. Christ. That is ridiculous. Billie Joe knows nothing. Thankfully, reading another interview saved my mind from complete implosion thanks to the wonderment of Dave Grohl's sense of humour, by naming one song in the middle of their new album "Cheer Up Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)". Now there's a guy who actually knows what he's talking about.

.........................................................................................

Holy Hell that's a long rant. Hopefully it'll keep you guys happy until tomorrow, where I hit some other stuff for a nice long rant. Again. Or perhaps Stargirl and I shall be making a joint post about the wonderments of Transformers (we saw it on the weekend).

Sraen out.

Review: Shiny Toy Guns @ Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

2007-07-22T20:07:00.000+01:00

Hello =]

Haven't blogged in a while, mainly due to exams and various other menial commitments. I was also waiting for something worthwhile to write about. As I speak I am currently extremly sore from just doing my Duke of Edinburgh silver final, which is basically 30 miles of hiking over 3 days, carrying tents etc. As i'm feeling so fragile I thought it might be a good time to write about a gig I went to on the 18th.

SHINY TOY GUNS.

They will take over the world. I've already mentioned them in my previous blog and they are one of my favourite newish type bands that i've been championing. I was delighted when my friend and her sister asked if I wanted to come with them to portsmouth to see them even if we did leave late and then got stuck in a stupid traffic jam because there was an accident on the motorway...grr.

BUT I DIGRESS.

We got there about 8.20 [for the aforementioned reasons) and doors opened at 8 so it was already pretty packed. Fran and Sarah headed off to the bar and me and Jenna made our way to the front. Avec glowsticks. (which taste BAD by the way, don't try it)

The first support were Plastic Toys, a 4-piece from Southampton, which disappointed me a bit because although they were ok, I was expecting Does It Offend You Yeah? and Neon Plastix to be the support acts, so STG must have changed them. Plastic Toys were your average rock, slightly electro, emo-y type band. They were ok, but the crowd didn't really get going much except when they offered free t shirts to the most enthusiastic fans. (A bunch of 19 year old boys to our left immediately started dancing. Laaaame.)

Plastic Toys played a few songs, 'Let Me Feel The Love' (ugh), 'The Tragedy' (not bad) and 'Dirty' (too slow). All in all, they weren't bad, but they were just nothing like STG, nothing like the other proper electro bands that were supposed to be supporting. And plus the lead singer, 'Si Jackson' was a Gerard Way wannabe.

Second supports were 'Midas', won't say much about them because they were pretty shite to be honest. Plastic Toys were better. However, the lead singer was quite nice and chatty, so the banter was good. Their music was just so so wrong for a STG gig. They played 'Red Shoes', 'Don't Dance' and Captain Kirk (to which the lead singer, Kris Lloyd devoted to 'all of you that are old enough remember the original Star Trek').

And now for the good stuff...

The Shinys took quite a while to soundcheck, and the soundcheck guy had a little fun with the mikes, '1 2 uuuhhhhuhh, check' which amused us. He had a little batter of the drums too. After about half an hour the lights finally dimmed and steam started appearing curling over the stage, and obscuring us, the crowd. They arrived to raptuous applause and said simply 'hey, we're Shiny Toy Guns and this is Rocketship'.

Rocketship. WHAT a song to start with. Started off slow, and when the electro breakdown came everyone just went absolutely mental. Anyone who's been to the Wedgewood rooms would know it's a tiny, tiny venue, so everyone was pretty close. I just remember looking around and seeing the whole room jumping up and down and dancing. It was a huge rush.

Next was Le Disko, one of their most popular tracks. Everyone was dancing to this and singing along to the chorus, great song. Fran and I knew all the words, sad little fans that we are.

Jackie Will Save Me - Amazing. A hugely powerful chorus which just totally blew us away. The whole crowd was singing along. Carah strutted her stuff like a true professional.

Rainy Monday - Nice, soft song. Gave us a bit of a break from jumping. Acoustic start, sung well.

Don't Cry Out - One of my personal favourites. Great lyrics. 'Don't cry out, Cease fire.' By this point I was sopping wet with water (they threw it over us), sweat, and other people's sweat. It might be worth mentioning that several girls in front of us were dancing in their bras. Ew.

Chemistry Of A Car Crash - Another of my favourites from the We Are Pilots album. A slowy. Amazing song, vocally. The chorus always gets me. Lyrically sound. Great guitar solo. This was probably the song I was most looking forward to them playing, and they didn't disappoint.

Waiting - For a very vocally challenging song, the lead singer mastered it beautifully. Not the kind of song you can dance to. We just kind of stood there and revered in it. Lovely.

They finished with Starts With One, one of their singles. Guitar riffs at the beginning, then the drums kick in and everyone starts jumping and punching the air. Some people got bollocked for crowd surfing, but you can't blame them. Good song to finish on.

All in all, a fantastic set. I wasn't sure they could pull off their song live as well as the album, but they did, and then some. Everyone had a great time. They are true professionals and I believe they are going to have great success. The crowd was a mixture of teens to 25 year olds, chavs to scene kids to goths. Their fanbase is diverse.

I would go on to describe the crazy shenanigans that went on when we left but i've rambled on enough already! Seriously, see Shiny Toy Guns, it's well worth the money. Go to a gig at Portsmouth wedge. Big bands. Intimate venue. Bar. Booze. Great =]

stargirl out.

FREEDOM!

2007-07-21T13:29:00.000+01:00

I have now finished Year 10.

At the start of the year I had a blast. Thought it would go on forever. And then, a few months ago, it went all to hell.

But now it's getting better again. I know who my true friends are, and I know who to avoid at all costs.

I have a better idea of what I want to do with myself, and of my long-term goals in life. I know where I want to go, who I want to meet.

But most importantly, I know that I only have one more year to go before I'm out of the shithole that is High School. Before I'm free of the social martyrdom of being a true individual, before I'm out of the ridiculously stereotypical "macho" actions of those around me, before I'm free to do what I want because I want to.

I've only a year to go before I choose my future, a future free of all the shit I've had to put up with for the last six years and free of all the little shits that made it that way. A future where I can just leave if I don't like someone, where I don't have to take it.

A future where it's all better.

And only one more year before it happens.

Sraen out.

Audio Fidelity of Sonic Proportions!

2007-07-19T18:40:00.001+01:00

My musics have been uploaded!

My qoob page is here.

And now for a runthrough of the pieces. I must warn you, they do not sound as good as they should through tinny computer speakers. To hear it properly, listen to them with headphones which have good bass response or with a speaker system with a subwoofer.

Intro:
The first piece I wrote while I was there. It's all (obviously) based on that one riff, but the real gem is in the great drum line. Very sci-fi, and made exclusively with the JV 1080. I wasn't aiming for game music at this point, but after listening to it again the next day Richard and I had the idea.

Space Waltz:
Done specifically to try and use some of the stuff I've been taught in GCSE music, but to butcher it beyond repair. I used a regular waltz rhythm, and then added in the weird changes. I based this on formal balls and suchlike that appear in games such as Final Fantasy.

Bad Guy Theme:
Pretty much self explanatory. I decided to make this the music that would play when the final form of the bad guy is revealed. The slow part at the beginning is the monologue right beforehand, and then the crazy ass distorted part is the transformation and proceeding monologue about how he's gonna destroy the heroes or some such horror.

Exposition:
When I was writing this, I thought of old games that were around before voice acting was practical - and text boxes were rife. So, they would need some music playing to give a dramatic effect (such as silent films). This is also meant to be loopable (although the file itself isn't).

Strife of the Marceans:
Ahh. The massive orchestral piece I worked on for days and which I am still not happy with. When I was writing this, I thought more about the story of the "game". The hero needs a motivation, and what better than to be the last survivor of a race which was wiped out by the bad guy? So, I thought about what music would fit. And this is what I came up with. I also have an extended version which clocks in at 13 minutes, but that was FAR above qoob's limit for upload.

Wandering:
Again, Final Fantasy influences me. I was struck specifically by Final Fantasy VIII, where at one section there is a weird fishing town thing which the protagonists use to rest after they escape a massive explosion in a flying military school. (It's Final Fantasy, give it a break). Anyway, the music was very different from the rest of the game and it stuck out. This song is also meant to be looped.

Claws:
Ah. My experiment with the Andromeda. Not a song but a weird ambient track, with derelict ships and alien monsters in mind. Aliens is one of my favourite films, and it influenced me quite a bit. Very long and frightening. DEFINITELY NOT TO BE LOOPED.

Tribe:
My least favourite of the lot. It was made in thirty minutes using one voice and is also meant to be looped. I thought that the protagonists may crash land at one point, and they my find a primitive civilisation from which they will have to live with for a while until they can repair their ship.

Okay, so that's a runthrough and explanation for the songs. Hope you like!

Sraen Out.

Freedom?

2007-07-17T17:42:00.000+01:00

I had quite a fun day today. At this time of year, the last week of school, they have activity days. Basically, we get to arse about for three days.

Now, that would usually result in total chaos. ABSOLUTE anarchy to the highest possible degree.

Except for the fact that the majority of the student population are away on various trips.

Which means that the school is almost empty.

Which means I can wander about as I please without having to watch my back constantly.

Which is awesome.

I opted to do none of the trips or anything that requires an obligation on my part. I like it that way. A break from schoolin', and a break from rigid structures. It must be like what living in a shopping centre must be like - seeing it all from a completely different view and going around with total freedom to do as you please.

It was nice, being in an empty school. It's good to see it clean, and without disorderlies gallivanting around, smoking or causing general mayhem.

The best part is that now that the majority of the.... "questionable" students are gone, the good guys - the geeks and the nerds - have brought in geeky and nerdy goodies. Such as a PS3 and Wii. Both of which I played today.

One more good thing is the silence. It's so quiet, and rather tranquil. I may do some writing. But who knows, it's only for three days.

Anyway, I've got another two days of that. But now for some good news - I have uploaded the muzaks to en.qoob.tv and they are soon to be there for t3h listening! I'll make another post with linkys.

For now, Sraen out

SUITS OF DOOM

2007-07-16T21:08:00.000+01:00

I had to wear a suit today.

I hate suits.

But other than that, today was good. We were basically consolidating our work experience with some pointless busywork and then a mock interview to see how well we would do in a real one. I did well!

Sorry I haven't got my tunes up as soon as i said - I've been distracted by Final Fantasy XII. But don't worry, as I type I am editing them for web uploading. I may even be finished tonight, but I shall be making no promises as the season 1 finale of Heroes is on in about ten minutes. I'll try and do a proper post in the next few days, maybe even one at school (as I am doing nothing for the next three days). But who knows. I have to fit it in between my Final Fantasying and ..... my....

Oh dear. That fell apart rather spectacularly. I promise that the next time I try and find an excuse for my sheer laziness, I'll have two ready just in case.

Sraen out (Heroes!).

"Soo what do we do now then?"

2007-07-14T08:02:00.000+01:00

Well, I finished my Work Experience placement yesterday.

I was a bit sad to leave. I had a great time while I was there, and it was a lot less like work and a lot more like what I want my life to be.

But, there is good news. Right before I left, I was given an offer - when I am sixteen (six months time) I could come down and work around the place in exchange for time on the equipment and teaching and suchlike. As you might imagine, I was very eager to do that - in my two weeks there, I didn't get the chance to interact with any bands.

So, my adventures at Airtight may not have had their final chapter. This is good. Very good.

Anyway, I have my album. I've named it, too - "Zombie Space Monkeys And The Intervention Of Jimy Battling In The Space Dust Pits Of Andromeda".

Yes I like long names.

Anyway, I'll work on putting some songs on qoob.com this weekend for you people to have a listen to. And that's all.

Sraen out.

OH NOES!

2007-07-12T21:50:00.000+01:00

Bugger. Tomorrow is my last day of Work Experience.

I have nine 'songs' done. To be fair, they aren't proper songs. They are to set the mood in a game. Only one or two can be considered songs and the rest are either loopable, unorthodox song structures or 13 minute orchestral epics. Well, sorta.

Anyway, I'm recording it all tomorrow. I'll have my master disk and hopefully another disk (so I can copyright the first one - don't ask). Then I'll upload it to qoob.com, see if that works, and then hopefully you'll be able to hear some.

Sorry about missing a post yesterday. I just forgot. It wasn't that interesting a day anyway, I did some cropping and pasting and burning. Nothing serious. I did have a very nice chat with Richard about the actual act of recording and about idiotic people.

Today I was sculpting out my songs again. I also recorded a quick one using a pan pipe synth, another looped song. But it's the most bare of all of them, being a real quicky just to fill the last hour.

Anyway, It's getting late. I'll try and make a more proper post tomorrow.

Sraen out.

SOOO LOOOONG

2007-07-10T17:40:00.001+01:00

Today was my last day of writing music. Tomorrow I'm doing some editing, then some production and then that's the end of my Work Experience.

And since it was my last day, I was going through what I've done so far and fixing any problems. And then I came across my orchestral piece.

And promptly became intensely dissatisfied.

So, I worked on it for the whole day. The whole five hours on this one song.

And, from a starting point at 4 minutes, I ended up with a 13 minute epic.

Oh dear. I should be restrained from the keyboards when I do something like that. It sounds great, but it wore me out so much that I actually fell asleep while playing it back. I tell yah, it would be much easier if I actually knew what the hell I was doing and knew how to play the keyboard. It doesn't matter, it sounds great, but it's just another thing on my life's "TO DO" list.

Oh no, not another one. Yes, I have a To Do list for my life. Although it's nothing like those silly lists which has "swim with dolphins" and other suck pansy stuff on it. As nice as swimming with dolphins may be, it's not one of my life priorities.

As far as the list goes, it's mostly some skills. Learn to play guitar. Learn to play keyboard. Learn music theory. Learn to drive. Get a classic Mustang/Charger/Corvette/GTO/Impala (I've a thing for American muscle cars). Have my own exhibition.

We'll see how that goes.

Sraen out.

Alesis Andromeda A6

2007-07-09T20:31:00.000+01:00

So today I was given an Alesis Andromeda A6 to play with.

Let me tell you, those things are scary advanced. I am no keyboardist, and regular keyboards are enough for me.

But I still used this. I have no idea why. Am I insane, or such a super geek that my skill boundaries are pushed beyond the limits of this mortal plane? I don't know.

What I do know is that it's scary good. SCARY GOOD.

All I did was scroll though some presets and I was BLOWN AWAY. Not just a little. ACTUALLY BLOWN AWAY BY THE SOUNDS.

Ahem.

So yes, today was good. I once again questioned the point of going to a "Business and Enterprise College", seeing as all it does it try and prepare us to run our own businesses even though I have no intention of doing so.

What's worse is that the tasks expect you to be an entrepreneur. I am not an entrepreneur. I am not a businessman. I am a creative person, who feels stifled in a suit and tie. It completely eludes me, this 'upstart' attitude. I am not an upstart, I am a creative person. I do not think in numbers and statistics, i think in images and sounds.

Eh. Whatever, I only have one more year of this trite to go and then I'm free for (potentially) the rest of my life.

One more year and I'm out of the social shithole that is High School. Hell yeah.

Sraen out.

Yippee-Ki-Yay, jerk

2007-07-07T16:36:00.001+01:00

So, I saw Die Hard 4.0 today.

God damn. It was a good ass movie.

As I said, I had some reservations about the rating. And, as I expected, the violence was not as gratuitous as the previous installments. There were no squibs used, extreme violence was offscreen and it had the regulation shots of people getting up after something bad happens.

However, they did not dilute the experience. Only three off-screen "get ups" were shown, two of which were necessary (they show two of the main bad guys) with only one redundant one (the pilot near the end).

Also, he said his full catchphrase. Granted, it was the only instance in the film (or they would have gained an 18 (R in the states) rating and I would have been unable to see it if he had, and it also made it all the sweeter. Thankfully, they did not cut out all of John's swearing and insults in the film - just made them less explicit. However, I found this just fine - too many f-bombs and a film crosses a line into lazy writing.

Although I do think that the plot was, in the long run, a little predictable. In the end, they are just thieves (although they are far more fanatical than the thieves in the first or third films) and I disliked the Parkour-using henchman. James Bond did it already, don't jump on the bandwagon.

The characters were good as well - a little deeper than the usual action-movie cardboard cutouts. In particular I related somewhat with Jason Long's character. Also, McClane's appearance deteriorates admirably throughout, ending up not in a vest (unlike the previous films) but still in pretty beat up shape.

One thing I do wish to nitpick is the product placement. Nokia, Ford, BMW, Xbox, Alienware, more Ford. Thankfully, they didn't dwell on the products but showed them only as tools. However, I may only have noticed because of my inherent geekiness. They didn't seem to make any obtuse references (except for Gears of War, which was unnecessary after the first segment) and the Nokia smartphone thing.

As usual in films, they use a fake OS with fictional and cool ways of using them (lots and lots of typing and pretty graphics). Although for once there was a main character (McClane, obviously) who was completely clueless instead of a gang of people speaking gibberish technobabble.

However, I was close to laughing my ass off at the beginning. Jason Long is known for being the Mac guy in Apple's current ad campaign - and his character's main computer screen is an Apple Cinema Display.

...yes, I am a geek. Get over it.

The setpiece with the F35 was (despite some glorification over it's abilities and the fact it's not even in service yet [check wikipedia]) magnificent. Explosions, property damage, and then some insanely expensive military equipment blowing up (sorta reminds me of the first film with the FBI agents getting blown to Limbo while in a helicopter). One thing I know people will nitpick is the fact that using just guns it blew apart a large metal truck; I remind you that military planes carry cannons with explosive shells, so it is plausible.

Another hardware thing I thought was slightly odd was that, for the first time, McClane doesn't use his trademark Beretta and instead swaps it for something that looks like a Sig. Although this didn't piss me off too much, I would have liked to see him use one of his trademarks, a big ol' metal gun from decades ago instead of a modern weapon which blends in with the rest of the arms in the film.

Speaking of weapons, the main bad guy used a Jericho 941 (once known as the "Baby Eagle"), the same weapon that Spike uses in Cowboby Bebop.

So, that was my review of Die Hard 4.0. It's a great action film, and everything you expect from a film in the Die Hard franchise; also, since it's slightly toned down you can introduce youngsters who've not seen it to a full cinema experience and then hit them with the original.

Sraen out.

(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

FINALLY

2007-07-06T21:23:00.000+01:00

HELL YES.

I finished that song today. It was a massive relief, finally finishing it. Of course, I had to stop listening to it so I didn't nitpick it to death.

I was also introduced to qoob.com, which may allow me to upload songs for listening and downloading. So, I may yet be inflicting my muzaks upon you!

Anyway, back to a post of some degree. I've come to realise that I've not been going into enough proper depth with my posts, and that I should do some proper writing rather than regurgitating news stories. So, here goes. Less news, more content.

****

So, Samsonite revealed a designer suitcase which is modeled on a human ribcage. It's something which is sure to appeal to all those with morbid minds out there, as well as any fans of the Alien series.

That made me wonder about what other types of human bodypart could be transformed into luggage.

There's the heart, for instance. Of course, we all have the stylized cartoon heart which has been made into luggage. But what if someone created a suitcase which was a working model of the heart? With two working valves which have to 'pump' out their contents instead of opening with a zip.

Or better yet, a working model of the entire organ system with each organ corresponding to a different type of object. For instance, large things should be kept in the stomach and water kept in the gall bladder. Valuable things in the heart (iPhone holder, anyone?) and medication in the spleen (it needs a use!) and a protective ribcage. The lungs are portable aircon or, for those who have medical issues, oxygen tanks.

I'm going to see Die Hard 4.0 tomorrow. I hope TO GOD that they don't dilute John McClane into a pansy fool. He started hardcore, and he should end hardcore. He had better call someone a motherfucker in this film, or I will be sorely disappointed. But still. He kills a helicopter with a car while the Mac guy watches on.

Also, I am going to try and get a MIDI setup. After making some music extremely easily using a MIDI keyboard this past week, I want to get set up so I can still create music without getting stonewalled with my guitar playing limits. Although I will still learn guitar. It's a great instrument.

Although, despite that, I have to remember that my first proper experience with all this stuff was with studio-grade equipment. Very expensive equipment. Roland JV 2080s don't come cheap. So I wonder, if I do get myself setup with stuff within my price range will I just be disappointed with the results?

Oh well. Only time will tell.

Sraen out.

Lack of eye pain!

2007-07-05T19:40:00.000+01:00

Oooh. So I worked on that one piece all day today. It's infuriating, having these beautiful melodies all working in my head and then having it come out wrong which takes ages to repair.

But it is absolutely worth it. It is going to be a great piece and I will try to find a way for you people to listen.

Okay, time for non-Work Experience related post content.

* * * * *

Logitech’s HD Webcams Raise The Bar

Oh wonderful. I could talk about all the good things this will end up giving, but all I can think of is one thing.

Numa Numa in HD.

...

Yes, I'm scared too.

Zelda Voted ‘Greatest Game Ever’

Oh please. It's a great game, but not number one.

And they didn't include Super Mario Bros in the top 10. And that's disgraceful.

Steampunk Lights Illuminate Your Home or Invade the Planet

God damn that looks good. I really like the whole steampunk style, and it references a bygone age where things were actually powered by steam. I'd love to have a setup where I'm using a steampunk lamp next to a steampunk laptop while I pile together a steampunk key board and monitor while I await a steampunk Mac Pro.

In case you hadn't guessed, today's star link is The Steampunk Workshop. If you are interested at all, I suggest you check out his links page for some interesting reading.

UK Gears Up For Xbox 360 Elite

Well it's about bloody time they released a properly HD enabled Xbox. I know it got released a while ago in the States, but HD stuff is rarer and thus more significant over here. Also it's in black.

Okay, that's about it.

Oh, the title. Right. Well, you try sitting in a small dark room recording MIDI music while looking at a computer screen for five hours. Today was better.

Sraen out.

Just a heads up...

2007-07-05T09:15:00.000+01:00

O2 'to get iPhone contract in UK'

Yaaaay! I am an 02 customer, and I really want to get an iPhone. That's why I was a bit disappointed to hear that Vodafone had won the contract.

Or so I thought.

Anyway, I've got to get ready. Back at work in a few hours and whatnot.

Sraen out.

Humph.

2007-07-04T17:42:00.000+01:00

Well, I had another good day.

Except that I hate myself for having good ideas. I have one great idea for a song, but it's so hard to get out and put together because it's very orchestral. It's all hard!

Anyway, I also got some homework. It's a part of my Work Experience, to try and find a problem with the company and solve it.

But then Rich came by and proved his coolness.

Instead of setting me a boring task about customer-to-profit ratios or some such useless twaddle, he asked me to get a list of contacts in the computer game music industry.

God, I love this guy.

Anyway, the album is going well. I've started to think about a storyline and created a short, loopable song for dramatic sequences (think text games).

See you tomorrow.

Sraen out.

Sorry 'bout that.

2007-07-03T19:14:00.000+01:00

Okay, I'm sorry. I really am. I wanted to make a post yesterday. I did. Honest.

Buuuut.... it just got on top of me a bit.

Anyway, I'm doing it now.

* * * * *

Day 1

I arrived there at 11:30 and met Stewart, who runs Megafan Records and the business side of Airtight. We had a chat about life, the universe and everything (that's a lie, We talked about prog rock, his unfortunate name [Stewart Muff] and the iPhone).

Then Richard arrived, and we got set. He gave me the obligatory tour and health/safety brief, then led me to the main mixing room. He proceeded to show me how to operate their Roland Super JV 64 voice synthesizer module JV-1080 [I swear to god the guy who made the soundtrack to Tiberium Sun has one, cause one of the voices sounds JUST LIKE the alarm sound] - a rack-mounted device which Rich described to me as "the brain of one of those massive synthesizers without the massive part" - and gave me a quick tutorial of Cubase and of the various MIDI ins and outs.

Then he left me, with these "instructions": "'Ave a mess about".

So, I did. For hours. Although I was kind of uncomfortable acclimatising to such a new environment, which meant I only managed to do one song which (at the time) I thought was crap. I went home and began dreading the next day.

But then I woke up this morning.

And everything was fine again. I felt good (despite a dentist's appointment) and immediately threw myself into it.

He listened to the song I did (he didn't have the time yesterday) and suddenly gave me an idea. At first, all I thought was that the idea was a shitty first attempt. But then I listened to it unburdened by my various neuroses and found that it was good. Quite good in fact. Very 8-bit. Very gamey.

So that's what I'm gonna do. Over the course of the next two weeks, since there's nothing else to do (bands only come in after I leave) I'm going to spend my time using the various synths, the MIDI keyboard and Cubase to record a whole lot of sci-fi game muzak.

I've got two finished songs and one which is almost done. On day two.

I think that's pretty good. That's gonna be what, 21 songs.

Wow. That's kinda daunting.

I'll try and keep you posted.

Sraen out.

P.S.

WOO 50th POST YAY!

I'm shaking in my boots...

2007-07-02T09:36:00.000+01:00

As I type this, I am sitting at our dinner table having breakfast (why do they call it a dinner table anyway? It's for all meals of the day!) while "getting ready" for my first day at Airtight Studios.

I'm actually getting pretty nervous about this whole thing, and instead of hitting me earlier when I could have done something about it it hits me now when there's nothing I can do but make my neuroses more and more intense.

Okay, so I exaggerated a little. But still. I'm pretty bloody nervous. I will write up a diary-like post while I'm there (with 24 style time stamps) to chronicle this event for all you wonderful readers [read: that one guy at the back who's too nervous to leave] and hopefully into a usable speech-type-thing for when I go back to school (LAST WEEK OF IT FOR THE YEAR, BOOYAH!).

Also, I just realised that I am about to make my 50th post. It's kinda cool that the 50th is gonna be in real time. Ish. Kinda. If I'm not breaking my back carrying a Marshall Stack.

Also, Miscellany Symposium is also up to 50 posts. GO READ, GO READ, HE IS VERY GOOD!

Sraen out.

Randomness

2007-06-29T16:59:00.000+01:00

I'm not going to lie, but I fucking hate Jelly Babies. What the fuck is with them? All cosy in their little packets awaiting their inevitable fate. Sort it FUCKING OUT MAN. Break out, because there is a life for Jelly Babies out there, and i'm sure there must be some form of employment agency that will satisfy them with a fundamentally important job to propel themselves on their quest to be "self actualised".

Plus who wants to be eaten? I mean come on.

Also I like to scuba dive in the shower, I find it very therapeutic and invigorating for the soul and; it brings me great satisfaction.

This post was the joint efforts of Stargirl and her neighbour.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

68 minutes

2007-06-28T20:16:00.000+01:00

The Nation's Fragile Minutes

I love articles like that. But let us think. What if something terrible did happen? Thing is, it didn't. And nobody could have cared less. Chantelle and Preston squeezed out a little more media coverage over their pathetic "marriage", MacDonalds is bringing "healthy" food to the chav masses and some dude got attacked by a bird. Wonderful.

But still. We were LEADERLESS. For an HOUR. An hour's a long time. Just look at what world events have happened in one hour:

JFK was shot and died upon arrival at the hospital - 30 minutes

The Guiding Hand Social Club managed to assassinate the CEO of Ubiqua Seraph and steal everything the company owned in EVE Online - 1 hour

Okay, so that's not quite believable. But it still shows that something REALLY terrible could have happened.

And people cared more about MacDonalds.

Sraen out.

Aaaaaaaaaah

2007-06-25T18:56:00.000+01:00

Finally, I find the time to sit down and make a post. FINALLY. I am sorry to the people who check/come across this blog for the month of inactivity, but stuff's been getting on top of me. Thankfully, however, this is the last (proper) week of school for this year.

Stargirl finished school FOR GOOD last week, but will only be able to post after this Wednesday when she gets back from Italy. Also, I will be posting (hopefully) daily next week and the week after, because it is during my Work Experience and I thought "what better way to chronicle it than to bloggorz it?". So watch out for my antics as a Studio Assistant for two weeks!

Anyway, that's not 'till next week. Time for the actual post.

****

I have fallen in love with Mastodon. They truly are an incredible band, who produced (bar none) the best metal album of last year. I recommend to anybody who likes music, and EVERYONE who likes metal, to go and get Blood Mountain RIGHT NOW. It is REAAALLY good. You may think I'm speaking in massive hyperbole (which, admittedly, I am prone to doing) but the many positive reviews back this up.

Also, Deathmøle now have their own download page. So anybody who's been curious about these fictional cartoon rockers should check it out for a good dose of Garageband-recorded post-rocky metal. However, I suggest you also check out Jeph Jacques QC Livejournal for his other music, which is also really good.

In other news, Fallout 3 was finally, properly, truly madly deeply confirmed. With a HD demonstration of the sexy new engine.

If you are a geek of any salt, you know what that means. It means we are all going to lose month upon months of our lives once it comes out.

If you are only a little geeky (or are too young to remember the 11 year old Fallout), think of Oblivion.

Then look what happens when someone is given the choice between taking one or the other.

I'm not even kidding. There's a whole cult of Fallout. It consumes people.

And I will be in tears if they don't port it to the Mac.

****

So, that's all for now. I went to the Summer Concert last night at my school, and took HUNDREDS of pictures. It was an excellent night. I'll be posting them up here and on my deviantART in the next few days.

Sraen out.

Shameless Firefly Plug

2007-06-01T00:11:00.000+01:00

Well, I thought I'd put some filler here. Might as well enrich your lives.

Firefly was a short lived show made by Joss Whedon, who created Buffy and Angel. Although it only lasted one season before being (unfairly) axed, the fanbase was devoted enough to get Universal to put up the cash for a film continuing the story - the epic Serenity.

I love this TV show. I am slowly attempting to convert as many people as I can into becoming fans, because it deserves it. It shows how much good stuff gets stopped before it can flourish in the name of ratings. I suggest everybody stick it to FOX and buy the boxed set. Let them know how badly they dropped the ball on this one.

STICK IT TO THE MAN, MAN!

The News Today

2007-05-28T22:04:00.000+01:00

Okay, so I said I would step into some more serious posts earlier and here I am. I'm gonna get some news stories which interest me from the various blogs I visit, and giving my opinion of them (as well as a link so you can judge for yourself).

Why?

Because I can. And I don't have the time to just pick a subject and write an essay on it.

Anyway. Lets go!

Brummie girls 'not pretty enough'

"Beauty contest officials chose a model from Stoke-on-Trent to represent Birmingham because they could not find anyone pretty enough from the city."

Wow. Just...wow.

I'm actually pretty speechless. All that comes to my mind is: "Dude, that's cheating."

Partial nudity delays 'Halo 2' for Vista

"Microsoft is delaying the release of Halo 2 for Windows Vista after partial nudity on the game was discovered, the software giant said Friday."

OH COME ON!

Good lord, that's just ridiculous. It's one thing to get in a fuss about something like the Hot Coffee mod (although I think that got blown WAY out of proportion by a bunch of idiots), but these are HIDDEN files embedded in the game which was only found because of an error.

...

COME ON PEOPLE!

One error!

It's not like the Master Chief strips off and starts copulating with Grave Mind or anything. It's not even IN the actual game. It will affect nobody except the pathetically few super nerds who want to see some low-rez image files from Halo.

Ugh. It's just a little disheartening how badly people react to small things like this. Although I do realise the attitude to sex and nudity is much different in America, they still explode over the smallest thing to do with it. Even if it isn't viewable in the game.

It may be to do with people staying in the mindset that games are for children, and as such anything to do with something adult-oriented can never enter it. Which is ridiculous. Games have FAR surpassed the level of being a children's toy. Hell, I couldn't play half the games out there as a child. I didn't have the motor skills. I could barely play Mickey's Wild Adventure and Rayman. But now, after playing for years, I can play pretty much any game (although I do need to try out Guitar Hero) at a generally higher level than others. That is not a kid's skill. It's time the publicly outspoken came to realise that.

Phonograph Concept Treats Your CDs Like Vinyl

Wow. A designer has designed a CD player which looks and acts like an old phonograph. The product page is at Yanko Design, but gets a little stereotypically designer babbley. Oh well, it's still a cool product. I'd get one were it not for the enevitably huge pricetag. For what's effectively a lazer pointer on a funnel.

Zune Sales Top The 1-Million Mark Early

Well, I have little to comment on with this. I just like the styling of the Zune, a refreshing change from the glossy styling of the iPod (which I also love, due to me being and Apple whore). But still, styling or no, I doubt the Zune is going to survive in a market which the iPod has completely dominated for so long. Especially not now, as they're going strong. The Zune perhaps had a chance if the iPod was beginning to stagnate, but at the moment it looks like a cheap (but lovely styled) copy.

Blood groups 'can be converted'

"Scientists have developed a way of converting one blood group into another."

This is a pretty old one, but still very interesting. It's a great concept, being able to transfer blood of one type to blood of another in order to benefit the recipient, but I can't help but wonder whether there are going to be any negative effects of it. Like vampires, for instance.

***

Okay, I think that's a pretty good roundup of the cool stuff going on right now. I'll try and do a post like this at least once a week for you few lucky people who willingly expose yourself to my brand of insanity.

Sraen Out.

Tunes

2007-05-21T19:19:00.000+01:00

Well, I've been pissing about in Garageband. I really, really like the program - an easy interface to use, effective tools, and excellent audio quality. Although I have recorded some stuff, I'm not gonna put it on the web yet - they're all just sections of songs, ideas for longer pieces. But I'm still proud of them! Perhaps if people post comments I might upload them....*hint hint*

Of course, I don't have the faintest idea how to upload them to a server. I don't have my own server space, just a .mac account - which works fine for small amounts of downloads, but for something bigger I need something more substantial. Which is a problem, because I'm not very techy. So I'm gonna have a look around to find a place that would allow me to upload my minutes of distorted melodic whatnot, and then share with you people. Which will be fun. Hopefully.

I'm also thinking about making a YouTube video. Problem is, I don't really like the sound of my voice - I don't MIND it, but I don't like it enough to publish on one of the biggest websites in the world. I did make a practice video which I did upload (an experiment in synching Garageband and iSight recordings), but some dick came along and ripped the shit out of it - so I took it down. Where there is one arse, many shall follow and I really couldn't care enough to leave it up and let them do so. Besides, it was literally a throwaway video so I'm not really all that cut up about it.

Perhaps I overreacted. Nevermind now.

Sraen out.

Bleagh

2007-05-20T18:45:00.000+01:00

So I've been thinking about the British traditions of resting on a Sunday.

And I've come to the conclusion that it's boring.

Today, I had nothing to do. I thought I'd do some coursework or somesuch, perhaps do some recording for my next song idea, but no. Since, in my mind, I had the entire day ahead of me, I did nothing. I prioritised nothing at all, and instead flitted between everything - doing, in the process, nothing at all. Except play Morrowind.

I do far better under time constraints. Of course, I get so god damned stressed when I do so that it's barely worth it. But still. I do something.

It might just be that I'm not feeling motivated today. But at least I'm not as bad as my buddy Nathan (the one with the guitars from a few posts ago), who is currently exhibiting symptoms which - to me - are synonymous with some type of biblical plague.

Anyway, I want to make this blog a little more serious than it is now. So I'm gonna start trawling news sites trying to find something interesting to parlay to you (few) people. I'm looking forward to it.

Sraen out.

A minute's silence, please.

2007-05-17T23:00:00.000+01:00

I would like to direct you all (few of you as there may be) to this.

****

I am an Opeth fanatic. And, while I am sad at this news, I am not angry at all. I agree with him totally that if he isn't putting in the enthusiasm - the soul, if you will, of the music - then he shouldn't be in the band. Bands which aren't enthusiastic aren't bands. They're just a bunch of musicians playing a tune. But it's the reckless enthusiasm which makes a band a band. The outpouring of emotion, of your very soul, that is what makes true music.

I do not know anything about his replacement. And I don't care. His past achievements mean nothing. If he chooses to rest on those laurels, then he shouldn't be in this band. I, however, want to see what he does and wether he actually outpours his soul or cheaply copies Peter. I would love it to see another personality involved in Opeth.

I hope all the best for Peter, and I hope he manages to find something new which he is enthusiastic about. I'll try to keep a lookout, and maybe pick up a disk if I like what I hear - if that is the path he takes.

Only time will tell.

Sraen out.

Emma!

2007-05-06T22:17:00.000+01:00

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/54777588/

ARGH! Slight blurriness!!!

Oh well. Still a good picture.

Three Day Weekend Pt.1

2007-05-06T19:39:00.000+01:00

This weekend lasts for three days. So, I have three days to catch up on my late coursework, or work on some music.

Hehe. As if.

I tottered off to Bishop Palace Gardens, with my camera, and snapped some shots of what I could. Thanks, Emma, for giving me something which works in my Opeth naming challenge on my deviantART page! I'll post it later when dA goes back online. For now, have some other pictures. Thanks, everybody, for not murdering me while I took these. Because they look awesome.

From Three Day Wee...

OH FUCK YEAH

2007-05-04T18:05:00.000+01:00

The U.K. opens up it's X-Files

This is some of the best news I've heard. The French doing the same a while back didn't really do it for me, but this REALLY REALLY DOES. I'm a strong believer in full disclosure - we, as a people, can't progress while we continue on like sheep. We need to take the secrets away, and allow people to know what's really going on.

I'm SO gonna read all of these. Now I hope the U.S. may do so. There's definitely SOMETHING going on over there.

Sraen out.

Black Sebbeth

2007-05-03T17:00:00.000+01:00

I am hereby known as Black Sebbeth. The way this name came about is thusly:

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (18:32:49)

SEBBETH

Seb says: (18:32:50)

HOLLY

Seb says: (18:32:55)

Mwaha!

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (18:32:57)

Black Sebbeth, haha

Seb says: (18:33:05)

Hahaha!

Seb says: (18:33:10)

THAT IS SO GONNA BE MY NAME.

Seb says: (18:33:18)

And it's going on the blog.

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (18:33:25)

^_^ YAY

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (18:33:47)

Change your nameth from Seb To Black Sebbeth

Black Sebbeth says: (18:34:07)

mwaha

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (18:34:10)

yay!

Now I just need to figure out how to write as good a riff as Paranoid and I'll be set for life...

Black Sebbeth out.

France, A Level Students and Beaucoup de Rum.

2007-04-30T18:41:00.000+01:00

Hello All,

Apologies to Seb firstly, for me not posting as frequently as I would like. My GCSE's start next week, so it's been somewhat of a cram-fest trying to imprint french verbs into my brain so I won't actually fail my French Oral *erk*. But anyhoo, back to the title. 2 weeks ago now, (god was it that long ago...) I went to France with two of my Year 11 friends, Sophie and Tanya, and a bunch of lower and upper sixth formers, on an 'educational' trip entitled 'In The Footsteps Of Wilfred Owen'. I'd expect most of you to know who Wilfred Owen is, but for the illerate among you I shall breifly divulge.

Basically, he's one of the famous war poets of the 1915-1918 period, i.e the main bulk of the 1st World War, including the barbaric Battle Of The Somme (which he himself fought in). It was surprisingly interesting actually, although I do admit to falling asleep on the coach a couple of times when I was meant to be learning about the battle formations of 1917 or something...but yeah. During the day we'd go over the poems and visit various burial grounds (bit depressing), including Owen's on the last day, where we placed a wreath. The evenings however, were a different kettle of chips altogether...(she says, as the embarassing photos come out...)

Our first hotel was a bit of a disappointment, as it was in the middle of nowhere. The food was abysmal, but sadly there was no Supermarche to satisfy our give-me-junk-food-and-booze-fast lust. However some of the A level students had the sense to bring some alcohol with them so we had ourselves a little cocktail party right there on the hotel patio. As the teachers were sharing a floor with us, we decided the best way not to arouse suspicion would be if we all climbed out the window of one of the sixth-formers that had a room on the ground floor. That got pretty interesting I can tell you. Can't really remember much about the first night except for drinking some FOUL peppermint liqueur, before collapsing onto my bed and consequently breaking it (i'm obese). Here are some of the deeply embarassing photos from that night:

This is what happens when you eat too many pies, my friends.

No idea why I was posing like this - I can only envisage it was my friends provoking me into posing like superman in my vulnerable, drunk state.

And this is why you should never let your friends drink alcohol. They turn into EVIL ZOMBIES.

Dancing in the bathroom for some reason, don't really know why I felt the need to wear sunglasses at night, but hey.

This is some of the stuff we did during the day:

DAYAAAM we could give Billy Elliot a run for his money! (Me and Tanya in Saint Quentin Square).

Me and Tanya in a rape field (rape, hahaha yeah, grow up) somewhere in the country. About 5 minutes after this I lost my camera in this field and we spent about half an hour looking for it. We also emerged strangely covered in yellow powder.

Me, Sophie (left) and Tanya (right), trying on some berets in Printemps, Saint Quentin. I'd later buy this pink beret for my brother, Jono. [xD]

The last night, I thought I might as well go all the way and get completely wrecked. Baaad idea. I found out later i'd wandered into random sixth formers' rooms while my friends sent other sixth formers on a search party round the hotel looking for me. I remember the lift opening and being physically pulled inside, bemused. In my pajamas of course. Ahh, so dignified.

Well now i've bored you all to death with my drunk (mostly) photos, I shall wrap it up here and just say it was a fantastic trip, the weather was gorgeous, the guides were great, and god bless France for having the legal drinking age of 16.

~ Stargirl.

Bleargh!

2007-04-26T15:31:00.000+01:00

While I am not as bad as yesterday, I still have a splitting headache. My brain hurts.

I am listening to the Dear Rayne online radio show back episodes. It's hilarious.

But laughing hurts.

And typing hurts. Because I am looking at a screen. And the screen hurts.

Owwwwwwwwww.

Stomach Razors

2007-04-25T09:38:00.000+01:00

I am sick. This is not a good thing. It is painful. I go now.

Sraen dying.

[E-Talking]

2007-04-23T21:48:00.000+01:00

My friend IndigoRocker has set up his own blog, called [E-Talking], I suggest you check it out! It'll definitely broaden your musical horizons.

....

Screw that, I just had a listen. WHAT IS THAT STUFF?!?!?!

Sraen Out.

“See these bandages? THIS AIN’T FUN!”

2007-04-22T13:05:00.000+01:00

So I saw Seasick Steve last night. I now consider him a god. He is a truly charismatic man, who is very kind to his fans and an excellent showman. But before I properly get to that, I’m going to bore you with everything else I did. Hey, it’s my blog, I can do what I like.

Also, I did not take my camera. That was a stupid thing to do. Eh. I'll try and get a small camera for such occasions. For now, you just get my ramblings.

So we arrived at the Komedia about eight thirty ish after having an excellent (and expensive) dinner. After getting in, I made a beeline for the merch stand. I got myself a limited edition print (number 60 of 60) of the ad poster, and a T shirt. All in all, £25. That is very very good. When FourEyes went to the Lostprophets, they charged 40 quid a hoody. That is very very bad. Anyway, back to the gig.

First came up the support act, The Gemma Ray Ritual. They were good. I mean, serious, end of tour good. Yeah. The band consisted of Lead Singer (I think she is the Gemma)/ guitarist. It was a little surreal, seeing a woman in a blue sundress playing hardcore rock on a bashed up black Tele. But awesome. Then there was the guitarist. Boy, did he have presence. I mean, there was the hot girl up front, but this guy was completely out of control! He was fucking sliding everywhere on his boots, falling to his knees during really intense passages, spinning around. Basically, making up for all the movement the singer couldn’t do because of the mic position. He also had the most awesome beat up sunburst Tele. Then there was the Drummer. Boy, was he HAPPY! He was smiling the whole time, obviously having a blast, and it showed with the crowd (Well, those who were listening. Support bands never get the attention they deserve. THESE GUYS WERE AWESOME, YOU DUMBASSES!). Then there was the bassist. He had an alpine white Thunderbird. Need I say more?

Anyway, these guys were really awesome. And LOUD! After just two songs, my hearing started to go fuzzy round the edges. God, they were good. I recommend them to anybody who likes indie rock that really rocks out when it wants to. Winkwinknudgenudge Stargirl.

http://www.myspace.com/gemmarayritual

Alrighty. After a spectacularly dramatic ending to their set (guitar thrown at amp for feedback anybody?), there was a short interlude as they demolished their gear. Now, this will be nothing new to anybody who’s ever been to a gig before. But I haven’t. So I thought it was cool.

Then Seasick started, out of nowhere. Literally. The music began, and he wasn’t in his chair. So everybody got confused. Then I realised why there was a wireless transmitter on one chair – he was coming through the crowd. True enough, he entered, walking through the crowd on the left hand side and up to his chair.

This man is a god.

I say that a lot. But this time it’s actually true. He is such an excellent musician. The tunes are awesome, and he interacts with the crowd wonderfully. He has CHARISMA. Take this for example:

Drunk dude: “Unintelligible Scottish swearing”

Guy near front: “Oh, that means – um – ‘Play us another song, oh wise man’.”

Drunk dude: “More unintelligible Scottish swearing”

Seasick: “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood tonight son, ‘cause I ain’t gonna be throwing no bottle at you right now”

Everybody laughs

…That guy is awesome when it comes to hecklers.

During the first song after his intro, he plays half a bar and then stops. He looks down, looks at the guitar, then looks at us.

“Aw, now I just gone broke a string!”

This was absolutely hilarious. The whole crowd (500 odd people) laughed. It was truly awesome. So we got see his guitar tech (who is also the first DJ to play him in England) take it away and change the string within two minutes. That is what guitar techs are for, I say.

Anyhoo, he continued on with an EXCELLENT set using the Three String Trance Wonder (“This guitar is the biggest piece of shit in the whole universe, I swear”) an his two other…things. Then he asks all the girls in the audience to “come on down to the front” cause he “don’t wanna see anymore of the ugly old guys (I see one everyday in the mirror)”. Sure enough, there was an influx of girls to the front. Including one who didn’t move at all. No emotion. Just sorta stood there, pouting. That shit just ain’t right.

Unfortunately, there was a little part near the end of the set when a bunch of Frontline Soldiers came down, dressed in full Seasick uniform (denim overalls). If you’re reading this (which I seriously, seriously doubt) then you guys SUCK ASS. You may love Seasick (too much), but that doesn’t give you the right to shove all the way up front. That ain’t right. Also, one of them looked EXACTLY like one of the Hitler Youth. EXACTLY. I’m not even kidding. He had the whole Ayran thing going on, as well as slicked back hair to make him look even MORE like a Nazi supersoldier. That was some freaky ass shit right there.

After his encore (playing Dog House Boogie) he came out to sign stuff.

Now this is where it gets interesting.

Now I got myself a SIGNED limited edition print. Yes people, I now own some awesome merch. I yam more awesome than you!

Anyway, I am now very tired (I am typing this at 2AM, with the gig ending about two hours ago.), so I am going to wrap this up. But not before saying that I shook his hand twice.

…Yes I am that much of a fanboy. Leave me alone.

I was instantly reminded of this comic from Questionable Content. Thankfully, there was only one fashion whore (but a whole loada Frontline Soldiers). Check it out.
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=16

In (semi) related news, FourEyes got a stroke from the lead singer of The Gemma Ray Ritual. There. I said it. Now he'll stop hassling me about it. But he won't stop talking about it. Bastard.

Sraen Out.

P.S. Don't kill me Stargirl, please!

Seasick Steve

2007-04-21T11:41:00.000+01:00

Oh, I am going to see a hobo play guitar tonight. I'm going with FourEyes to see Seasick Steve in Brighton. I hope it is as good as his performance at Jool's Annual Hootenanny last/this year:

Seasick Steve - Doghouse Boogie

Mathew Chilelli

2007-04-20T19:26:00.000+01:00

FourEyes pointed me over to this guy. He is incredible. He has a type of subtle charm and charisma, and he is funny in an off-beat, sweet kind of way.

Sraen out.

...I hate Microsoft.

2007-04-20T16:32:00.000+01:00

MSN is currently throwing a tantrum. I despise this. It is very irritating.

Sraen out.

Bored

2007-04-19T18:02:00.001+01:00

I'm damn bored right now. Stargirl's in Belgium (why Belgium? It's boring!) so no weird chats until Monday when she gets back, and I have a photography exam tomorrow. For four periods (200 minutes).

God, I'm so bored I might actually resort to WORKING!

Sraen Out

Bad things.

2007-04-18T17:59:00.000+01:00

I wish to express my deepest condolences to the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting. Such a thing is horrific and a mar on our society, our morals, and our very humanity. Such a thing affects us all as human beings.

Jack Thompson is trying to use it to further his insane and inane cause. This man is an idiot. He is taking advantage of a tragedy when he should be trying to help.

Sraen out.

An...interesting conversation

2007-04-15T16:29:00.000+01:00

Stargirl and I were chatting today. About some quite...interesting subjects. Also, I may be getting some of my photos in a gallery in London. At the beginning of the holiday, my grandparents saw my pictures when they came over. They told my Uncle Mark and he told them about a gallery owner he knows. Basically, this guy owns a photo gallery which exhibits a lot of student work. So I've just burnt a disk of some of my best and I'm gonna send them down! Anyway, back to an example conversation between me and Stargirl.

Seb says: (16:18:32)
*brain 'splodes*

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:18:39)
ooh, seb brain goo

Seb says: (16:18:53)
Yeah. It's a delicacy in Eurasia.

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:19:00)
neat

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:19:18)
someone offered laura's mum 3 camels for Laura in tunisia. Laura was insulted

Seb says: (16:19:34)
Laura the insane artist? She's worth at least five.

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:19:36)
she said she was worth at least 5 camels and a goat

Seb says: (16:19:44)
Hehe.

Seb says: (16:19:52)
See, we think frighteningly alike.

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:20:00)
Indeed

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:20:13)
great minds ;) lol

Seb says: (16:20:45)
Not so much great minds as minds about to snap and go on a killing spree, annihilating every living creature in their path, all because somebody made them drop their donut.

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:21:30)
ok now MY brain is exploding

Seb says: (16:21:42)
Holly brain. Tasty.

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:21:53)
stop eating it

Seb says: (16:22:10)
Why? It's so full of useless yet funny gibberish.

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:22:14)
I need those precious brain cells to pass my exams

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:22:15)
OI!

Seb says: (16:23:07)
I could just replace your brain with Stephen Hawking's if you'd really like. Although
I can't be held responsible if he suddenly enters into a song and carefully choreographed dance routine upon finding out he can walk and talk.

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:23:53)
or the robotic voice and tendancy to talk about the laws of science

Seb says: (16:25:03)
Hehe.

Seb says: (16:25:26)
"Hello, I'd like some fruit sal - BLACK HOLES RULE ASS!"

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:25:35)
exactly

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:26:10)
although i'm sure he wouldn't say ass

私は決私はCeaseFire says: (16:26:19)
probably the left buttock or something

Seb says: (16:26:41)
Oh, I apologize for this henious oversight.

Seb says: (16:26:57)
"Hello, I'd like some fruit sal - BLACK HOLES RULE LEFT BUTTOCKS EVERYWHERE!"

God bless Steven Hawking.
Sraen out.

Ooooooooooh! Shiny!

2007-04-14T16:53:00.000+01:00

I just downloaded the 30 day trial for Apple Aperture. It's so goddamn good! It's actually frightening how good it is. I actually can't use anything else right now. I dread about thinking of what I'm going to do when the trial runs out.

In a completely unrelated matter, what's your opinion on bank robbery Stargirl?

Sick Puppies Rule!

2007-04-14T11:25:00.000+01:00

No, I'm not as evil as that title makes out. Sick Puppies are an Australian band who sound like a [good] mix between the Foo Fighters and Nickelback, with some - I dunno, just a good sound of their own. Which is incredibly awesome.

www.sickpuppies.net

Super Gaijin Power Attack!!!

2007-04-13T20:15:00.001+01:00

Well, I've recently come back across one of my favourite Internet thingymabobs. The "I am a Japanese School Teacher" editorials have been going around the net for a few years now, becoming one of my favourite websites in the process. Unfortunately, I stopped reading late 2004 because he moved from www.outpostnine.com to www.gaijinsmash.net and began posting from the very beginning again - which meant it took over two years for him to finish uploading everything onto this new, blog-style system. Thankfully, I suddenly got the urge to read some of it and went there, only to find out that he had finished moving everything and would be uploading new content twice a week. Score 1 for Internet Psychic Powers!

Anyway, the editorials are about Jeffrey "Azrael" Windham's experiences teaching English in three different Japanese middle schools (Aged 12-15). Az is a writer, and a damn fine one (check out outpost nine for proof!), the editorials are a joy to read with little Scrubs like skits portraying his thoughts on some matters:

Any Japanese person who's been to America makes sure to regale their friends with stories of the massive plates of food they were hit with in restaurants...

Japanese person: Um, hello, excuse me? I'm afraid there's been a mistake in my order. Surely, you've brought me the family plate or something.
Waitress: Nope, that's for one person.
Japanese person: Sweet mother of all that is holy and pure! How is one person supposed to eat all this food!
Waitress: Actually...waitaminute...there IS a mistake in your order. This is the KIDS plate. I'm sorry, here's your regular portion...
Japanese person: *head explodes*

(From "Don't get fat in Japan")

The rest of them follow along the same vein. With more AWESOME.

Also, I thought I'd link to The Best Page in the Universe. If you like extreme cynicism and sarcasm mixed in with insults directed at pretty much everything and everyone, then it's an awesome site. www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net

Also, I have found another well written, fun blog - Miscellany Symposium. It is written by another Brit (YAY!) and talks about fun things. He's just started up, so check him out.

Class, we have a new student.

2007-04-12T21:50:00.000+01:00

Hiiiii Stargirl!

Well, I have given my good buddy Stargirl co-author status on this lil' blog. Everybody say hello. She is very cool, and into pretty much the same things as I am (albeit totally different aspects of them). This means variety on the same themes! So, death prog metal from me and indie electro dance from her. Isn't it fun?

Sraen out.

Greetings, All.

2007-04-12T20:59:00.000+01:00

Hello there.

Sraen, as he is known to the online community, has kindly offered to co-author his blog with me, although I won't be submitting posts as regularly as him ( he fancies himself as a bit of a techy and, incidently, has a fetish for Apple products =]).

Haven't much to talk about today; although I recently won a bid for a new Ipod on Ebay, so i'm a happy chappy at the moment. (My one sadly departing the living world a few months ago. Funeral's in May).

A few recommendations:

I've recently discovered; and subsequently fallen in love with; a band called Shiny Toy Guns, you've probably heard of them, if you haven't, go check them out because they're awesome: http://www.myspace.com/shinytoyguns. They're kind of rock/electro, think heavier Keane. It's really good, uplifting stuff. It's different.
Recently read 'Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure'. For those of you with no idea who Dave Gorman is, he's a famous english comedian/writer/storyteller. He's also written a similar non-fiction book, 'Are You Dave Gorman?'. He's an eccentric sort of guy, and his first book details his adventure of finding 54 people who share his name around the world. All because of a drunken bet with a friend that he couldn't find a Dave Gorman for every card in a pack of cards (including jokers).

Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure is about Dave's discovery of 'googlewhacking', or, a random selection of proper words that when entered into google, only comes up with one result. Naturally, his friends know his reputation for travelling the world to win a bet, so they bet he can't find a chain of ten 'googlewhacks' (he emails the email address on the site which is the 'googlewhack') who will each give him two other googlewhacks (random words). So off he trots around the world again, meeting all these random people he found purely because their site was the only one to include the words 'Rarebit Nutters' (example googlewhack).

I had at go at said googlewhacking myself, and it's harder than you think. I got 789,000 results for pygmy porcupine helicopter. Darn. Have a go anyway, if you're bored. You may even find a googlewhack yourself! If you do, add it to the Whack Stack: http://www.googlewhack.com/tally.pl.

That's about all I have to say now. I talk too much as it is.

Happy Googlewhacking =]

~Stargirl

I Muthafucking HATE MySpace

2007-04-11T07:58:00.000+01:00

Okay. I'm gonna come clean.

I hate MySpace with all my heart and soul.

I utterly despise it. In my opinion, it's full of shite. Grade B shite. The sort of shite that makes you want to rip out your eyes and fill the gaping, bleeding sockets full of petrol and then setting it alight to try and scour the images from your mind. The sort of shite that makes you want to DIE SLOWLY AND HORRIBLY.

It's when you see the awful pages of all the try-hards who, for some abominable reason, feel that MySpace is equal to an actual social life. It's when you see the pages of all the tweens/teens/dirty old men who have lots of 'friends' [read: junior alcoholic drinking/sex/drug buddies] and think that MySpace is an extension of that 'life'.

That's when your soul comes crashing down around you. The worst part is that they actually think they're being awesome for "designing" a site [NOTE: Unless you coded the site with html, you didn't fucking design it. Copying and pasting code from
another website to put pretty pictures on it IS NOT DESIGN] and they think that typing like somebody who has the barest knowledge of English is cool. Newsflash: the only reason people ever typed in fuckwit is because they can't touch type in an instant message. Not because it was cool.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like some MySpace pages. I see the usefulness of the site. I have seen the good pages (my friend Holly's is one example of a clean cut page, albeit with small text) and I know that most people don't know html (Hell, I don't. Why do you think I just have a Blogger accout?). It's just that most of it is the useless shite that I've just ranted about.

The bottom line is that most people are stupid. And when you give stupid people the ability to publish themselves for the world to see then you're in for a whole pile of shit.

I do like very much the majority of the band pages on MySpace, though. I think it is a great way for up and coming bands to get massive amounts of exposure, and the tunes are pretty good too. That being said, there are some awful sites out there.

Okay, some links (cause people who hate MySpace don't have useless twits to add them all the time)

http://www.ifuckinghatemyspace.com

Reasons to Hate MySpace

zefrank and the "I know me some ugly MySpace Showdown" challenge

zefrank and the continuation of the "I know me some ugly MySpace Showdown"

Ampage

2007-04-10T17:00:00.000+01:00

Well, my buddy FourEyes (from the blog I linked to a little while back) finally ordered a new amp to replace his crappy ass little Yamaha 10-watt.

He got that beauty up above.

Hell, I want one.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

2007-04-10T09:51:00.000+01:00

If that happens over there, it's only a matter of time until it happens here. THAT IS VERY VERY BAD NEWS!

Happy Zombie Jesus Day

2007-04-09T20:59:00.000+01:00

I hope you all had a merry and chocolate filled Zombie Jesus Day. But remember, it all began with Jesus Christ. The Easter Bunny came after.

So I had a productive day. I took a hundred odd pictures of clouds. Yes. Clouds. It's for my mock Photography exam next week. I have one day to organize my prep, develop my negatives, print them, mount them and the write something slightly coherent to go next to them.

Won't that be fun.

Sraen out.

Big Day Out pt. 3

2007-04-07T18:35:00.000+01:00

So here's the third part of my pictures. At this point, I had left the others to go with Holly and hang out with her friends. We walked around Chichester for a while, and then (after a few left to go home) Holly, Georgie, Sophie and I went back to Bishop's to lie about in the sun. After a while, the others came back and everything went full circle. Also, Holly's other friend Xanthe came round.

In other news, I used our art hut for the first time today. It was so liberating to have a specific place for painting. I actually got work done! Also today, I went with my buddy Nathan to buy his new guitar (he recently sold his Gibson SG). He went planning to get an Ibanez Jem 555, but while trying out guitars he came across an Epiphone Zakk Wylde signature Bullseye Les Paul. And he bought it. While there, we played through a Marshall Mode 4 amp head - which is the most awesome amp I have ever played through ever ever everererer. And it was only four hundred quid. For a Mode 4. That's fucking cheap. It makes my little MG30 look like a toy.

Okay, onto the pictures. As usual, click on them to go to my Picasa account where you can download them and read my comments. If anybody wants to use them anywhere else (such as MySpace) then feel free, as long as you say I took them (Seb Wrigley) and you link back here. Cheers.

Here's Sophie on the left and Georgie on the right. Georgie is beginning a habit of wrecking pictures of herself.

From Big Day Out -...

Normal people blink. Georgie scrunches her entire face in.

From Big Day Out -...

Okay, here's the story: Holly was cold, and I lent her my big ass leather jacket. Then Georgie said that it was so big you could fit two people in it. Then Holly called her on it. Some advice: never let two indie chicks play with your leather jacket. It'll always end badly.

From Big Day Out -...

Hey, just a heads up...

2007-04-07T09:17:00.000+01:00

I have no problem with anybody using the pictures I link to, but I'd appreciate it if you could link back here when you do, cause I want more people to come here. Thanks.

GTA IV!!!

2007-04-07T09:08:00.000+01:00

Holy fucking shit, a trailer for GTA IV!

*drools*

Randomness!

2007-04-06T09:56:00.000+01:00

Well, I thought I'd post some random crap. So here goes.

Yippie Ki Yay!

New Die Hard film. It's gonna be AWESOME. Like Snakes on a Plane - just don't think about it too much, and allow the laws of physics to go haywire, and it'll be fine.

Holy Fucking God

Fifth-graders posted lookout, had sex in class

Now I know it has nothing to do with us here in England, but it's fucking horrible. 11 year olds. Having group sex. In class. In front of everyone. I felt sick after reading that. There's something wrong with people now. Not just over there, but here as well. What on earth could have inclined 11 year olds to do that? What the fuck is going on with our society? I know some people are going to blame the crazy American heathens for this, but we have to shut the fuck up and face the music too. Remember last year? The eleven year old who had a baby? That's just as sick. She smoked twenty a day whilst eight months pregnant, saying it didn't affect her pregnancy. How fucking stupid can you get? We need to try and stop this shit happening. There's a fundamental flaw with our society which we're just sweeping under the carpet and allowing to go on. It's going to get to the point where nothing will stop it anymore, and then I don't even want to know what's going to happen.

I'm just one dude, so if you have any opinions then feel free to leave a comment. This needs to be talked about.

Big Day Out pt. 2

2007-04-05T12:41:00.001+01:00

NOTE: Can anybody who uses these pictures anywhere please link back to here, and say that I took them.

Okay, so here's Part 2 of my photos from April 4th in Chichester. At this point, we had moved from Bishop Palace Gardens, and were playing in a playground. Yeah, we are all that childish. Charlie jumps off a swing, Hannah flings around and does handstands and a bunch of them gather together for a group shot which looks like a promo pic for a bad teen drama.

In other news, my Garageband guitar cable arrived. I am now able to record music! Who knows, if I'm lucky then I may begin posting my music here!

Anyways, onto the pictures.

From Big Day Out -...

Big Day Out pt. 1

2007-04-04T22:39:00.000+01:00

NOTE: Can anyone who uses these pictures anywhere please link back here. Thanks.

So I did have a good turnout today, photo-wise. I was expecting that, because I was out with Holly (and good pictures tend to follow her around). But I sure as hell wasn't expecting this many pictures, let alone this many GOOD pictures. 283, after dropping the duds out. That's a lot. Which is why this is going up so god damned late.

Because it took several hours to edit them all.

And then to upload them all to my Picasa account.

And then to write this post.

So, this is going up so late.. Which is good, 'cause it means I have a little extra time to make sure I haven't written something like LOL BOOBS LOL!!11!1!11.

Of course, I wouldn't normally do something like that. Normally. But I'm pretty much drunk with fatigue. The Sleep Madness, I think it's called. Or at least something very much like The Sleep Madness. Anyway, I seem to have neglected my previous promises for more posts on music. Which means I am going to blog like a madman for the next few days, bring the few people who look at this thing something to actually read.

So, onto the pictures! Unfortunately, it is not polite to put dozens upon dozens of pictures up on a single page unless they're in thumbnail form. So, I'm putting only some of the good ones up here. If you want to look at more, or download the pictures, then click on them and you'll be directed to my Picasa album where all of this is possible, as well as you being able to read my comments. Yay!

From Big Day Out -...

Sraen out for now.

Sam and Max [with guest appearances from others!]

2007-04-03T10:57:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I hung out with Sam and Max all day. It was fun; we went around some music stores, lazed about in several parks and took pretty pictures. Here they are, in all their digital goodness. Again, I used my Canon EOS 400D with my Tamron Di II lens (although I may have used my Canon lens for some of them; I forget which) on my custom settings. I used these to play around with colour themes, to make the pictures "feel" more or less summery, as you can (hopefully) tell.

Max

From Sam and Max 0...

Max again

From Sam and Max 0...

Sam looking stupid.

From Sam and Max 0...

Well, the title mentioned guest appearances, and here they are. On the way home, I bumped into a bunch of people - Charlie, Holly and Hannah - who were then joined by several others - George, Sophie, as well as others who I don't remember/know. I'm lucky that my camera is very quiet, otherwise I doubt the pictures would have turned out half as awesome. These were edited to look very "summery".

Charlie and his Gee-Tar

From People in Bis...

Holly and her ridiculous jacket

From People in Bis...

Hannah and her very long hair

From People in Bis...

George looking George-like [read: awesome]

From People in Bis...

Well, that was my day out yesterday. It was good, apart from me losing a cool Red Hot Chili Peppers poster (thankfully Charlie now has it. I just need him to goddamn contact me!). I will hopefully do the same on Wednesday when I hang out with Holly (a different Holly from the one in the pictures).

Sraen out.

2007-04-02T19:43:00.000+01:00

Well, I really should update this blog more often. Anyway, I've spent the last few days moving stuff out of our front room and into our sheds. Also, we have begun to set up the Hut of Art - Or HArt as it shall now be known. It is currently full of stuff. Stuff which needs ORGANISING!

In other news, I've been taking some pictures for my mock Photography exams the week after Easter. Which is awesome, by the way - two weeks of nothingness. Anyway, the subject is Weather. So, I've been doing some stuff on sunsets (which are beautiful where I live). As before, they were all taken with my Canon 400D and my Tamron Di II telephoto lens, on custom settings (including a very high ISO speed, hence the graininess of some of them. I should learn to use other speeds.)

From The Sky

Also, I hope your April fools was not full of hurtful pranks. It is to be a nice fun day of jokes. Although I wish the one that My Chemical Romance breaking up was true - I REALLY hate those guys. The webcomic community had a few April Fools jokes - Applegeeks became Orangedorks, Irregular Webcomic got "cancelled" and... well... that was pretty much it. Squidi.net didn't do anything because the comic's on hiatus, Least I Could Do didn't really pull a prank and everyone else carried on as normal. I guess the comics I read don't "do" April Fools day all that much.

Sraen out

Update!: Turns out VGCats did do an April Fools, but not overtly. They made a "MySpace" page for one 'David'. Check it out.

Sraen out again.

Four Eyes

2007-03-26T00:04:00.000+01:00

Hey, my buddy just started his own blog at http://fiveleavesfoureyes.blogspot.com - I suggest you check it out!

My Photos [WARNING: IMAGE HEAVY]

2007-03-25T22:11:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm a photographer. I'm doing a photography GCSE, and plan to carry on into A Level. And, since I have this blog, I thought I'd put a few of my pictures on here for the world to see.

I used my Canon EOS 400D with a Tamron Di II lens. I used custom settings and then edited them in iPhoto (Which I'm only using until I get Photoshop on my Mac). It was mostly an experiment in colour, but I also have some B/W pictures as well (because they, to me, are the most striking), and one or two sepia toned ones. These were partly influenced by such photographers as Matias Bilbao and Ansel Adams.

You can view all the pictures here.

From Construction ...

Yes, I know there are too many. If you want me to cut down, leave a comment and I will.

I love this man (but not in that way).

2007-03-21T18:34:00.000Z

Eddie Izzard

This man is one of my favourite comedians - his blend of off-kilter irreverent humour is completely captivating, and the way he goes off on a semi-related vein means that he is on the verge of being an improv comedian.

Also, he can make fun of Darth Vader. Without me wanting to kill him.

Eddie Izzard - Death Star Canteen

Also, he can start sprouting French out and still be funny to anybody.

Sraen out.

The first Personal Post!

2007-03-17T18:54:00.000Z

I just spent the last two hours moving stuff from out of our front room with Lil' Sis and Sis' Annoying Friend. 'Twas oddly fun. I still blew it off once I saw there were flowers to take pictures of. I may upload them here at some point, if I can be arsed to.

Sraen out.

Originality in Music Pt. 1: Acoustic Guitarists

2007-03-17T17:56:00.000Z

When someone is original, it shows. Take the new "wave" (I say this lightly; it is more of a sub community than a wave) of acoustic guitarists with unorthodox methods. Trace Bundy and Erik Mongrain are two examples of this, and show two similar yet differing methods of using an acoustic guitar differently from the "traditional" ways of strumming and picking.

Dueling Ninjas

That is a video of Trace Bundy playing one of my favourite songs by him, "Dueling Ninjas". It shows the unorthodox methods he uses so easily, such as carrying the melody with one hand and the bass line with the other. One of the most striking things, however, is his left hand dexterity. Even without being a guitarist, you can see that he's something else. He is currently unsigned, but has self-released three albums and a dvd. His website is www.tracebundy.com

The next musician is Erik Mongrain, who is worshipped by one of my friends. And for good reason. His style is eclectic yet fresh, and he uses the guitar fretboard almost as a keyboard.

Airtap

This is Airtap, the song which shows his style absolutely - of course, it's one extreme of his skill; usually he simply incorporates some of these techniques into his playing, but retains his unique harmonic-laden sound. His website is www.erikmongrain.com

These guys are not the only ones who play the guitar in this style, are not the first, and definitely not the last. However, I do believe that they are significant examples of these musicians, who will likely have a nigh-impossible chance of landing a record deal with a major label - hence their self-publication. So, support these people, post comments, buy a CD. It seems the right thing to do; to support musicians who all too often are ignored in favour of the latest engineered tween sensation.

Sraen out.

Originality in Music Pt. 0: The Plan

2007-03-16T21:51:00.000Z

I'm a guitar player; that brings with it a certain view of the world, a knowledge of many things otherwise ignored by other people. I share this with all other musicians, whether they know it or not. As a result of playing only the guitar, I have developed the (bad, bad, BAD) habit of tuning out the singer and listening to the guitar parts of songs.

This means that I can guage the relative skill that's being put into the song - not a precise art, by any means, but still a useful after-effect of being a musician. Listening to modern music, I have found that many people are staying with the safe options open to them - music in the easy key of C, and Perfect Cadences throughout. This, to me, is incredibly boring and monotonous. There are original musicians out there, there will always be, but it seems that the market (especially the mainstream) is being saturated with these people, many of whom ride a wave based not of their skill but of their celebrity, of their scandalousness, of their view in the public eye. I'm not saying that a public image is bad, far from it, but that it shouldn't be the starting point - I don't wish to sound corny, but it's all about the music.

Therefore, I'm going to try and get my opinions out onto this blog in a series of entries entitled "Originality in Music", in which I will (attempt) to guide you through my musical tastes and observations. It'll start with "Originality in Music Pt. 1: Acoustic Guitarists" and will continue on from there. Hope you enjoy it.