Tut, tut Asda.

As I was removing the pathetic amount of follicles atop my upper lip this morning, I noticed this on the crappy Asda's shaving cream...

I see a flaw in their design...

Art.

Art is such a tricky thing.

It’s as tricky as Richard Nixon posing you a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. In Dutch.

It can be tricky for different reasons. Some people find drawing a straight line difficult...even with a ruler. There are a million and five ways to find the concept of art complicated – line, tone, perspective, colour, composition...plus a million other things.

Art is tricky.

Throughout my time of arting about at A Level, I faced many problems. I can’t say I enjoyed all of the time spent painting and drawing and writing up about the painting and drawing. The main reason for this is because I had a guideline to stick to. I had several strands, objectives and assessments to follow and mould my work around. At the time, we all despised this system. “Damn you Edexcel!” we’d moan as we finished a rather superficial page in our books about how our piece had come to fruition.  These guidelines may work for the sciences and the mathematics, hell even English, but Art as a subject is much more personal and set mark schemes can’t really do it justice. We were trapped in the qualification organisation’s grotty cell, rattling at the bars eager to be free. There’s no need to explain why we’re painting this or that, and there’s no need for these stupid preliminary sketches and pages. Or so we (I) thought...

My oh my, how things have changed.

Now I’m outside the educational system, helplessly trying to create some art myself on my own, I’m rattling at the other end of the spectrum. No longer am I stuck in that cell, instead I’m on my knees crawling under the burning sun in the middle of a barren desert. Too much space is the problem now, too many possibilities at my leisure. Where do I start? Where do I begin?

Art is tricky.

I have a few set rules, starting off with focusing more so on the sea, water and the coast. I live on the coast, so why not use it? I live where Turner painted some magnificent pieces of art (something about the unique way the sun sets over the Margate sea I hear). Now I’ve simply got to the find the correct mixture of contextual references, something a few months ago I would have shuddered at the thought of, and personal responses.

Art is -

Priorities.

And on the eleventh day, God said “Let there be Skyrim!” And it was so, the skies fell with Bethesda’s highly-anticipated RPG sequel. And God saw that it was good, if a bit buggy.

-Genesis  2:3.5

Yes, today Skyrim is released and gamers will rejoice. Not me though, I don’t really care. I also don’t care about Modern Warfare 3, another big game released only a few days ago.

Now I don’t want to get too preachy or ‘uncool, maaan’ but let’s not forget that 11/11/11 isn’t just the day where fantastically new games are released. Or when Facebook users can shove down our throats the idea that “OMG!! ITS 11.11.11.11.11!!!!?!! THIS WON’T HAPPEN 4 ANUTHER 100 YEARS!!!”. No, it’s also Remembrance Day/Armistice Day/Veteran’s Day and let’s not forget that.

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

Arty Stuff - 10/11/11

Right-o, last art update for this bloody horse picture. After quite a few attempts at finishing I've realised the desired outcome will never be possible. Part of this is probably down to my own skill, but also because the painting is too damn small! You can't get much detail when you need a brush approximately 1 hog's hair thick!

Anyway, here it is -

Finished study. Acrylic, ~35 mins, 10/11/11

Overall I think it's ok. I'm liking the background less and less, but it's too much hassle to try and correct it properly now. It'd be easier to start the whole thing over again if I were to do that. Nonetheless, it was still a nice piece to create, I just hope the final, proper horse painting I'm going to do will be more successful. Though, because I'll be doing it on a larger scale, it should be.

Let's see...

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Arty Stuff - 07/11/11

Not much arty stuff today at all I'm afraid. In fact, it's only one piece - the horse thing from a while back which I'm trying to finish.

Background filled in but still messy, plus some more details on the legs - 4/11/11

I finally added in a background and I quite like the use of the brush strokes for the planks of wood. However, I never seem to learn that leaving the background until the end, or at least after a while is the most annoying thing EVAR! Now I've got to neaten up all the edges of the horse.

Minor tweaks - 6/11/11

Yesterday I didn't make any major changes, just as it says - 'minor tweaks', particularly to the legs and the rider. Although looking at it now, her nose looks like the size of the child snatcher's due to the shadow of that hat. Must fix that or else I'll be creeped out by it...

Something about time, or productivity, or nerds? I don't know.

I often wonder where all the time goes. Where all those seconds, minutes and hours flow to after they’ve passed your conscience at varying speeds. It’s annoying that time has such power over people, and can often nay frequently alter the perception of other people. Although what I’m about to describe is a fairly niche idea surrounding time, considering scientists are pondering about the qualities of time and its relativity plus much other hoo-har, I’d like to think it’s something a number of people go through and understand.

Time is a strange little thing, or big thing, or not a ‘thing’ at all. For example, the effect of it comparatively between two people could vary wildly. In a situation where myself and another who happens to really like creating databases are creating databases, the time will inevitably drag and linger and outstay its welcome  for me  (I mean , I only offered it the use of my bathroom and now it’s staying here for dinner), but not for the other guy who really likes creating databases.

Good for that guy, where would we be in a world without databases? Dead I presume, in some sort of terrible Y2K incident where the robots and motherboards and circuits revolted against us cruel and “just turn it off and on again/just give it a little whack”-ing humans.

Time is often demonstrated or analogised as water (see second sentence), yet often people can fall in this water and start to drown. Reflecting this back into the real world, it would equal something like spending all day browsing the internet doing nothing at all in general. In a zombie like fashion, you tab in and out of websites such as Reddit and YouTube, absorbing everything and producing nothing – i.e. being unproductive. As you’re ‘drowning’, the water around you is passing but you’re stuck under the current helplessly flaying around trying to move to no effect. What this equates to it that you come off the internet realising it’s now 8:00pm when only a little while earlier (according to you), it was 2.00pm. Damn, where did the time go?

Let’s compare the above effect with other types of people – people who I despise because I can’t be like them, or at least find it difficult to. Instead of drowning in the river of time, they are beautifully bobbing along with it. Imagine the Lady of Shallot but not dead. They realise the time, move with the time, use the time to their effect and crucially realise the organisation of time. Once again, in reality this would relate to, well, just organised people. Organised in any sense of the word.  It doesn’t have to be academically, you wouldn’t have to be writing essays, painting masterpieces or composing orchestras every day. No no, to some folks it could be putting the washing out, going shopping, creating their next dolls house piece of furniture.

And sometimes I am like this, other times I am not. I swing from one end of the spectrum to the other, throwing consistency out of the window. Annoyingly, I could be super productive one day, feeling great and accomplished, then use that one day of productivity to subside the next day’s – “oh, well I did a lot yesterday so it doesn’t matter.”

Therefore, the way time can alter people’s perception of one another is through its use between two different people. I know someone who is constantly out and about, never in his room and doing stuff and who therefore views me as a lazy, good for nothing that should straighten up and fly right.

In some ways this relates to this blog, although overall I have been impressed with the way things are going. I realise this week has been a bit terrible but there are reasons for this (let’s just say the work experience didn’t work out, hence the lack of Day 2, 3, 4 and 5). But it also relates to the days of the weeks and the weeks of the year. I don’t want to be doing nothing, so I’ve got to be doing something. Routines can work, sometimes (usually for the first day, statistically) but it’s a start. I mean, it worked a bit for this blog so hey, there we go.

Enough of this elusive rambling, it’s just I enjoy rambling so much. It doesn’t require any true structure or cohesiveness – it can be anything. Marvellous!

Work Experience - Day 1

After waking up late leaving no time for getting ready, I quickly dashed out of the house at around 8:33am, needing to get to said work experience for 9am. In the end I was around 8 minutes late - not great, but it could've been a whole lot worse.

Today didn't comprise of much, although I did gather a basic understanding of the routine the Isle of Thanet Gazette has. (Remember that thing I said about knowledge?)

After a reasonably slow and daunting start (meeting all these new people in a new environment, or even more daunting, try to do something these people are professionals at), I started typing up some letters and meeting announcements for this Friday's Gazette. Never have I been so paranoid of my spelling. Not even in an exam was I so worried about those bloody apostrophes, despite the fact I was only typing up who won this months bridge tournament!

Following that, I went with some reporter - Andrew Woodman - to Margate Magistrates and Crown Court, which was rather overwhelming. I realise it's only Margate and nothing spectacularly big, but seeing the whole process of justice was rather cool. I did get some odd stares from the Magistrates though, who probably wondered what this little brat was doing there.

In the afternoon, I learned about NIB's (news in brief), where I took some overly long press releases or lifeboat reports and summed them into roughly 100 words. Sounds easy, and some were, but for others you really did have to think about the who, what, where, why, when, how and more importantly - what people wanted to know from the story.

Towards of end of the first day, there was a long but ultimately helpful news meeting where I could see how stories were gathered, formed, moulded, processed and pushed along that production line of journalism. All very fascinating.

So, in general, the first day went well. I can't say I was very confident but I listened and watched a lot to what the people did there - who they spoke to, what they asked etc. Let's see how it goes tomorrow...

Things are a-happening!

Indeed they are, for tomorrow I'm starting a week-long bit o' work experience for my local newspaper. It doesn't really sound like much, but in truth it is.

The main reason is because if journalism is a career I want to look into, getting some knowledge of the field in any way, shape or form is useful. Ok, so it's a local paper but what they do is still the same - finding stories, writing, editing. Knowledge is power, and all that.

Plus, it's just going to be cool. At the very least it will keep me busy for a week, at the very most it could cement my desire to enter the field of journalism and get a little toe in the door of it.

Anyways, I did some more art earlier, finally going back to that horse picture I started a while back.

Did a bit more to the legs and overall blending in of the tones. Acrylic, ~40 mins 

I mainly focused on the legs, although to be honest not alot was done for the amount of time it took. Looking at it, that front right leg needs enlarging, but I'm liking it so far. The contours of the the muscles are quite difficult to capture, especially with the size of this painting (it's A3 size) but we're getting there slowly. It's still terribly annoying that the rider's head is just out of the frame but what can you do? (Apart from framing it correctly in the first place, silly.)

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Nerds unite!

This year, I thought it damn time we got some pumpkins for outside our door, so we picked them up cheap a few weeks ago ready for the occasion. Not that we've got any sweets or treats for the little brats...

Anyway, we finally got around to carving them today but I wanted to be a bit different with mine. Screw the classic pumpkin faces with the buck teeth, squinty eyes and nostrils, I wanted something only nerds could find interesting. Therefore, I give you the Creeper pumpkin!

Now to fit it with explosives for when the kids come a-knocking.

Review: The Adventures of Tintin - Secret of the Unicorn

I saw The Adventures of Tintin the other day, so I thought I’d write up a quick review about it.

I’ll start off by getting the main thing out of the way – I enjoyed it. It was entertaining, enjoyable and didn’t annoy me. All good things. Time did not drag, nor did it constantly morph my seat like a piece of plasticine into an uncomfortable  pile of fabric and sponge, making me wiggle and fidget throughout the entire film (something which inexplicably happened during Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, despite it also being very good). No, Tintin was a good film. Good.

But it wasn’t great.

And the only thing I can put that down to it the fact that, at its very core, Tintin is a children’s movie.  There’s no intellect or emotion, or really any humour, it’s just a film designed to keep the youngun’s happy. And let’s be clear, it did - I heard several giggles and guffaws around me. But what separates Tintin from the likes of Toy Story is that it targeted only children, whereas Disney Pixar usually sprinkles in a few lines for adults to pick out. Unfortunately, none of that was in here, or if it was I missed it. So that’s what stopped the film from being great, it catered to only one audience, but it was still good and here’s why…

First off, the art style was brilliant. I loved it. Producer Peter Jackson has previously said :-

“We're making them look photorealistic; the fibres of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people – but real Hergé people!”

That last bit, about looking like Hergé’s people rings true to me. Now, I’ve never actually read a Tintin comic before, but most people know what is meant and have at least seen a picture of the comic. Immediately it was clear (and I won’t give away anything) this film was going to offer a faithful adaption of the famous comic book characters, at least in visual form anyway. Often, the type of CGI-capture this film used can be jarring or just look plain creepy (ahem…Polar Express), but here it was beautiful.  Hergé’s actual art style was something called ‘Ligne claire’, which basically left everything in a panel with equal importance e.g. the background had the same ink thickness as the characters in the foreground. This gives a clean, almost refreshing quality, which I’m pleased to say transferred over to the silver screen remarkably well.

The plot is apparently three Tintin comic stories all tied together - The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham's Treasure. This being the case, the film ran rather smoothly indeed and any disjoints or gaps were obviously sealed with some good polyfilla by writers Edgar Wright, Stephen Moffat and Joe Cornish.  I had heard one review before seeing this film, by the much beloved Mark Kermode who said he found the story rather flat and plain. All I can say is that it seemed big enough and exciting enough for my £3.75 (go Orange Wednesdays!) so goodness knows what it was like for 10 year olds. That being said, Kermode had read the comics, so he might be comparing it to a brilliant comic story or something. The action and events were very Spielberg-y – the rises and falls, the relationships, the dialogue, the action (all of the ‘set action pieces’ were creative, inventive and very well put together). In fact, the film had a Spielberg stamp all over it, being another producer. He really does leave a mark doesn’t he? Suffice to say this film included actual guns and no walkie talkies.

Finally, to wrap up this increasingly overwritten review, I’ll say a bit about the acting. And yes, it was acting, just done in a costume with loads of bobbles all over it. Jamie Bell was, as a replacement, good. Nothing spectacular, but then I hear the character of Tintin isn’t meant to be. Tintin is, in fact, rather plain – it’s the characters around him. Or so I hear and read anyway. Personally I felt Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were underused as Thomson and Thomson, but at the same time I found them slightly annoying so hey, perhaps the balance was correct. Daniel Craig can do a damn fine ‘villain’ voice, yet to me the voice didn’t match the character visually. Now I’m just nitpicking.

Overall, The Adventures of Tintin is a wonderfully crafted, hugely enjoyable film. It’s well worth a watch, but that’s probably it. Unlike other classic children’s movies, this doesn’t warrant repeat viewings, which sums up its problems quite well. Oh, except, there’s going to be a sequel so you might have to watch it then too. If anything, the film has made me (and probably many others, including young children) want to read some of the original comic books, so for that it must be appreciated!

Arty Stuff - 26/10/11

I am back once more with arty stuff...the only 'stuff' worth knowing about.

Firstly, here's a painting I did yesterday. Following on from my walnuts, I decided a pumpkin we bought a few weeks ago ready to demolish and scare away dressed up little children would be a neat, 'organic', natural object to paint.

Pumpkin. Watercolour and acrylic, ~30 mins

I started off painting this with some newly bought, but extremely crappy (£1) watercolours. You get what you pay for I guess. However, in trying not to make the same watercolour mistakes as last time (i.e. small, pappy brush strokes that muddify the piece), the card started to shed layers as I was getting it too wet. Silly me. Therefore, I quickly turned to thicker acrylics and used a strange mixture of both to finish.

Overall, I'm pleased. From a distance it looks rather nice, yet up close it just looks unfinished really. It turns out orange is an incredibly difficult colour to make and the orange you're seeing is not actually correct. But hey, it looks like a pumpkin at least. Also, I'm rather proud of the lovely bright reflection the veg had in my room. A past version of myself would probably have painted the whole thing orange and then awkwardly smothered on white paint to achieve it. This time around, I just didn't paint it at all, or dabbed away small amounts.

Next up are just some simple sketches...

Some bottles from bathroom, single line (can't take pen off paper). Fineliner, ~ 6 mins

This was an attempt at a single-line, never leaving the page sort of deal. This process practically creates a vague silhouette so I chose some interestingly shaped bottles from my bathroom. You can probably tell where I started - yep, the mouthwash is all skew whiff but gradually it got better. I particularly like the top of the lynx bottle. It's always good to try these sorts of things so you don't reach a sort of plateau doing the same thing over. As an artist, something I crucially learned from A-Level is to always challenge yourself. Admittedly, this is a rather small step, but it's a step nonetheless.

The start of my dogs leg. Pencil, ~ 1 min

Another dog's head. Pencil, ~ 10mins

This morning I was sat watching TV and due to the fact it was only crappy Homes Under the Hammer, I decided on some quick sketches of my dogs instead. The top is a perfect example of why this is a stupid idea (not sketching, but sketching animals). Y'see, I'm no Dr. Doolittle, so the bloody mutt kept moving. Admittedly I did choose a rather weird and often moving part of her body (if you can make is out, it's the top of her hind leg, a bit like a chicken's), but still...bloody mutt...

The second went far more successfully, as the puppy was far less picky about her position. Unfortunately, I have a terrible habit of framing a picture wrong, and always zoom in too far, cutting things off. In this case, without the rest of her snout and nose, it looks weird. I do quite like the eye though - eyes are always tricky.

And to end things off, here's a sketch I did many moons ago (well, 23 to be precise) which until now I'd forgotten about...

Glass on paper. Biro, ~ 20 mins

It was just a glass, but transparent objects are a pain in the behind. This was especially the case because not only was the glass transparent (duh!) but it had little bobbles all over it which distorted the view. Somehow, despite not focusing too much on drawing (my mind was elsewhere at the time I believe), the end result was impressive. Well, in my opinion anyway. I do like using biro sometimes with the scratchy texture it gives.

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An unwanted post.

Ignore this post.

I made it so I could fill it in at a later time and be sneaky.

However, that was wrong of me so now it shall stay here forever this way - ignored, empty and soulless.

Take that you damn unwanted post!

Arty Stuff - 23/10/11

Here's some arty updates for you all.

Well actually it's not much, but we'll start with that flower thing from a couple of days ago...

Flower finished. Watercolour ~ 40 mins

Urgh, it's absolute shite really. To be honest I kinda gave up 2/3rd's the way through because I knew it wasn't very good. The thing with watercolours is, or at least how I see it, is that having larger, more confident brush strokes will result in a better piece.With this I got too bogged down in getting the shade and intensity of the colour right. In the end all these tiny little brush marks blended together horribly and now there's no space in the picture - it's all flat.

However, we've got to make the mistakes in order to not repeat them and I still see this as a valuable step in the right direction. As my art teacher used to say - "you must dig in the garden of failure in order to find the treasure of success"...or something. How deep the treasure is buried he didn't say.

Looking at the above piece made me angry though, so I ditched the colour and tried recreating tones in black and white watercolour. Luckily I had a mug right next to me which displayed many different tones with the lighting. It's not the right shape or in proportion, but I think the tones demonstrate the shape well enough...

Mug. Watercolour ~ 8 mins

Overall, I'm much more pleased with this and it took only a fraction of the time the flower one did. Marvellous!

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Oh you guys!

We had a visit from some Jehovah's Witnesses the other day. Before we shooed them away like diseased, possessed hobos, they managed to give us a leaflet about the end of suffering, or something. I haven't read it, and am not likely to, mainly because of the front picture...

 
I say no more.

Review: Quantum of Solace (plus a bit of art)

Today I wanted to do some painting, so I set everything up nicely for a spot of watercolour studies. All the paints were set up, the brushes, the cloth, the props (to start with, a pretty little flower). I was eager to go, mostly because watercolours, if used correctly, can be quite quick and still give decent results. Other times, if you try to rush watercolours, it comes out as one big watery, muddy mess.

Foolishly I decided putting something in the background to watch would be a good idea, and following on from my Bond-ian mood at the moment, I chose Quantum of Solace. As not to get too distracted, I chose an average Bond film, yet soon enough the film grabbed my attention.  Suffice to say, not much painting occurred…

So here’s my review – Quantum of Solace…isn’t actually that bad. In fact, it’s quite good. There was a lot of criticism upon the film’s release and I was one of those critics. I really didn’t like the film and to be fair, some of my judgements back then hold up today. Let’s get them out of the way first shall we?

A staple of the Bond franchise – the Bond theme song – was brutally butchered with Quantum of Solace. ‘Another way to Die’ by Jack White and Alicia Keys is just a chore to listen to, and it gets worse when the two sing together. Apart, they’re perhaps bearable but when the two voices combine to create some horrible hissing, screeching monster, that’s where I draw the line. I mean, did anyone actually listen to this before it was released? Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones it was not, more like Rita Coolidge and Madonna to me.

The film also lacked any decent editing. That opening car chase? Well yes, it was all very nice and pretty but I didn’t have clue what was going on. In order to create tension and excitement, there needs to be some form of context i.e. how far away Bond is from the enemies, where he is in location to his surrounding etc. (TimeSplitters demonstrates this perfectly.) That wasn’t clear, so what would have been a great opening just evaporated into questioning why things were exploding.

And that editing problem carried on throughout the whole film. Often I wondered why Bond was here or there, what was happening and why. The use of Shaky Cam can partially be blamed, but when key plot points are rushed in order for yet another action sequence, I get a bit frustrated. The first that springs to mind is the whole point about the marked money. That seemed to be cut together to last 30 seconds, and then bam, we’re in Haiti with Bond fighting another person.

There are other smaller problems (ahem…sci-fi desktop touch screen thing) , but any Bond film can include nit-picking material.  What I was surprised at by Quantum of Solace was its overall story, including the themes started in Casino Royale – the most obvious being Bond’s relationship with Vesper and his ‘maturity’ being a double-o agent. I like the character’s progression and it’s all dealt with very smoothly, mostly by all his friends and innocents being killed. Poor ol’ Mathis. The scene with his death is very powerful, if a tad cheesy.

There is this idea that the Bond actor’s third outing usually seals the deal with his particular 007, but I’d argue Daniel Craig has performed so well in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, we’re already there. Many argue we need a sprinkle more humour and light-heartedness, probably in the form of Q or Moneypenny and whilst I wouldn’t disagree with this, Craig’s Bond seems perfectly fine without them.

In the two years or so since I last saw Quantum of Solace, the criticism must have grown so much that today I expected it to be a steaming pile of steam (many thanks to Matthew Seales for that vicious insult). Instead, I watched a perfectly acceptable Bond film, filled with a generous scoop of action, tension, emotion and story. It blows Die Another Day out of the water anyway.

Perhaps I should’ve listened to the radio instead. In the 2+ hours I sat there with a brush in my hand, this was all I achieved...

I think I'll try again tomorrow...

Stream of Conciousness

Fantastic, I have a headache.

I actually wanted to write something decent today but my brain and body has decided against that. Whether it's the new headset I recently bought that seems to be crushing my ears to death, a general groggy disposition or that Bulmer's not mixing well with what some would say was a questionable microwave ready meal, I feel a tad ill.

Therefore, instead of having any meaningful, coherent thematic message, with a concise and well thought out argument or point, this post will be a general stream of conciousness.

First off Gaddafi is dead. Or is he? Maybe that was a look-alike, a double, a doppelgänger, who knows? He was hiding in some kind of pipe as well, which reminded me of a map in Halo 3 - I think it was called Highgroud. That was a good map, especially because I knew exactly where the shotgun was, not that I was any good at using it.

(Note to self: When I'm rich and famous, hire a personal masseuse because my back and neck are always sore.)

In other important events, I've found a viral YouTube video that I actually enjoy, hurrah! Yep, the video of Bradley Walsh in ITV's The Chase had me laughing the whole way through. It's fantastic, more because of Walsh's less than subtle amusement at Fanny Chmelar's name than the name itself. That being said, it's all good. I wish I watched it live. Oh and apparently it's pronounced with a hard 'c' sound, more like Kem-lar. However, this ruins the joke and must be ignored.

I'd like to think my sketching it going well. What's annoying is I used to be much better in the heat of the school term during art lessons. Because we produced so much work so routinely, my eye, hand and hand-eye coordination all work much better. Now, I've gone a bit rusty and crap. It's going to be tough to get back into it, but for the time being I plan to save at least 30 minutes a day to sketch and/or paint.

I've just darted my head around only to find an empty mug, once filled with vitality and life, effervescing warmth and security in the form of tea. I wish I had a constant supply of tea, like a tap at a bar. That'd be cool.

Well this post was weird and random, but that's the way it goes. Time for sleep methinks and let my weary head rest. Goodnight all!

Arty Stuff - 19/10/11

First off, here's what happened when I confronted oil paints for the first time in ages, trying to paint some walnuts...

Some walnuts. Oil paints ~25 mins

As you may be able to tell, I was too impatient to let some layers dry, so it all conglomerated into one big mushy mess. However, these nuts won't be ignored in the future I can tell you - I think I'll try again with acrylic so it dries faster.

Here's a bowl of random stuff (mostly shells)...

Bowl of stuff (shells). Fineliner ~15 mins

And finally here's the beginning of a quick study I'm doing of a horse and rider. It's in preparation for a bigger and hopefully better piece. With this one, I've been patient enough to do it in layers, this being the first. As Bob Ross would say - "touch it, just barely touch it..."

Horse/rider study. Acrylic ~30 mins 

A bit closer

Same again.

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Mythbusters AKA 'How big an explosion can we make?'

Mythbusters just isn't as good as it used to be, sadly.

I got hooked on a programme that would take science and make it watchable. Take old sayings, interesting concepts and ideas and test them. Start from the beginning and work their way through to the end of the myth and its result. I watched an episode earlier and it was just all explosions.

I don't know if they've just run out of ideas, but their over-reliance on YouTube videos and 'let's blow it up anyway' attitude has really put me off the show now. It's almost been 'dumbed down' I regret to say and that's what is annoying. The only reason the show has morphed into this cavalcade of pyrotechnics is because it's increased in popularity over the last 7 years, and wants to expand its audience. That's what it comes down to folks - the money.

Cha-ching!





P.S. I realise I've technically missed a day, but it's about 00:30 at the moment and because my sleeping pattern still isn't great I class this as still being Tuesday in my head. I know, excuses excuses...

Damn you A-Level English!

I feebly tried drawing something reflective the other day. I only spent 10 minutes on it so it didn't turn out too great but I liked all the weird angles of the reflections on the curved taps.

Reflection in tap. Biro ~10 mins

However, as innocent as I was before taking A-Level English, it's now changed me forever. I mean look at my taps - if this was described in a novel my English teacher would have a field day describing the 'imagery'...

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My bond with Bond

I've recently finished reading Roger Moore's autobiography 'My Word is my Bond', kindly given to me from a good friend as a birthday gift. As a result, I'm now in a terribly Bond-ish mood and am currently reading/watching lots of crap to do with the franchise.

I won't get too much into my love of James Bond, but I am a huge fan. I can't really remember my first time watching Bond, or where the fascination actually originated but I can remember doing a project focused around the Bonds, villains and henchmen way back in Year 4, making me 9. I also remember a year long argument with a friend of mine in Year 9, particularly in German lessons where we'd sit near each other. The argument focused, quite commonly, around who was the better Bond - Sean Connery or Roger Moore. I'm sure you can imagine which side I defended!

It's probably because Roger Moore was the first Bond I saw in action, and despite the fact people moan he was too light-hearted, too cliché, too wooden bla bla bla, I simply enjoy his films Moore. There's no doubt that Sean's Bond was closer to Fleming's, far more hard-edged and focused on his mission and there's also no doubt he did some amazing Bond films (one of my favourite Bond films being From Russia With Love). He is to many the definitive Bond, unmatchable. Well, in some ways I think this is just down to him being the first Bond, but in other ways I'll happily accept he was the best Bond. I don't care too much really, I just enjoy the films. (My Year 9, 14 year old self would be so angry right about now.)

Anyways, after reading his autobiography, my appreciation of Roger Moore has somehow climbed to new levels. I can't really explain how so, despite the fact I've now just read through his entire life. I guess the thing I like most about the book, and I'm sure this is the same with most of people admiring their favourite celebrities, is just how normal they are. It's stupid to think they're on some different plane of existence, but upon reading that Roger has a huge sense of toilet humour and throughout his life made many pranks and jokes, I find him even more likeable.

As an end note, here's a picture of Roger Moore adorned with another amazing thing - a moustache!

Expect more Bond-focused posts to come, by the way. Certain ideas are brewing in my head - Top 11 Bond moments/films/character/something? Or even a Bond film marathon, with a review on here after each one? Who knows?

Arty Stuff - Horse Sketches, 14/10/11

Mum and cousin's horse Oscar, headless. Pencil ~3 min

Oscar's head. Pencil and watercolour ~15 min

Oscar again. Pencil and watercolour ~15 mins

In the future, with all these types of posts (i.e arty farty ones), I plan to put my Picasa Web Album link at the botton, despite the website actually being terrible. Here y'go - https://picasaweb.google.com/103209418493144566265

Nostalgia - Part 1.5

Back on May 21st of 2010  I posted this...

3.  Top 20's, 10's or 5's of a particular subject...who knows what though.

...as an idea for future projects. Well, it's only taken a year and 5 months for that simple idea to come to fruition. Yes, this is Part 1.5 of my nostalgia thingy-majig, the reason being it isn't quite Part 2 but it's more Part 2 than Part 1, if you see what I mean. No, Part 2 is going to be a much more fully-formed piece about nostalgia, this is just a Top 11 of my most nostalgic pieces of gaming music. I thought it about time to do a Top 10, or 11 in this case, and the idea came from listening to one of the songs on the list earlier today. From that, all these other songs and whatnot joined in for the fun and now I've finally got a list to show and tell, hurrah!


This is probably going to be quite a lengthy post, as I ramble on about why these pieces of sound are so damn good. And that of course poses a problem - nostalgia is something entirely based on the individual person, so despite me ranting on and on, the following songs may mean nothing to others. Therefore, just enjoy the songs and music for what they are, and ignore my incessant childhood memories...


11 - GoldenEye N64 - Wrist Watch Theme

Ahhh, the obligatory GoldenEye reference whenever someone mentions childhood gaming. Of course, of course. Well, I was no different as a kid and played the hell out of GoldenEye, despite it freaking me out on a number of occasions (particularly on the Cradle level where you see the guys run towards you in the distance). Playing again not so long ago, I do wonder how we all managed to play on the N64, the controls were just awful, but being 9 we persevered. This pause menu music is the one I remember most, probably due to the fact I had to keep checking what the hell I was doing with the objectives lists. I can't say I was very good at this game...

10 - Crash Team Racing - Hot Air Skyway

CTR was such a fun game, and I actually knew about this game before Mario Kart, which is odd. It's not so much the particular level I've chosen above which is nostalgic, but I feel that theme is a good example of most of the music - wacky and very fitting with the game. This was one of the first games I played multiplayer, as a friend and I would often try to destroy each other in the battle mode. The square shaped map for that comes to mind first, with a little maze in the middle. Oh, and that friend was one of those gamers that moved around with the controller - highly amusing to watch, and due to the distraction often led to my defeat!

9 - Red Dead Redemption - Far Away

Ok, this game may be a little too new to actually count as 'nostalgia', but oh my did Rockstar do a great job with this one. I've mentioned RDR before on this blog, but the precise moment of this game where I was blown away was upon entering Mexico for the first time, when this song starts to play. Rockstar knew exactly what they were doing here because at that point in the game, for me anyway, I was a tad disappointed. I wanted to go to Blackwater, where it's new and fancy, not Mexico. So you go in, are surrounded by rocks and more rocks, alone on your horse when this starts. Absolutely stunning. That point was so much more than just gaming, (and trying not to sound too soppy) it was more an experience.


P.S. One of main tunes for RDR came very close to being put on here -Trigonometry, simply for its badass-ness.


8 - Super Mario 64 - Dire Dire Docks

Again, the obligatory reference of Super Mario 64 when discussing childhood gaming. So much has been said about Super Mario 64 and its soundtrack that I don't have much to put here. Oh, except, it's strange that such a peaceful and relaxing song was put with a level that always made me, and I'm sure plenty others, stressed as not to drown...

7 - Simpsons: Hit and Run - Lisa's Theme

All the music in Hit and Run is superb, but I've chosen Lisa's Theme in particular because it's just so damn cool, plus I really liked her world hub. This was one of the first games I played on my PS2, as it came bundled with it. Being such a huge Simpson's nerd, having played Road Rage and Wrestling, as well as the GTA games, this game was just amazing to me. The locations, the collectibles, the missions (though I really hate timed missions as they make me panic, a lot), everything was good. Originally when I first played, I never completed it, finding the last mission too difficult (and give me a break, it involved a car chase, a car race and the need for careful driving...pfft, I had no chance). Luckily, another friend and I did a marathon session over a weekend with it, and together we managed to do the final mission. What a great way to spend 48 hours!


6 - Minecraft - Piano 3

I realise Minecraft is just everywhere now, infiltrating every corner of the internet, but I don't care. I can safely say, in a hippster fashion, I was there before it was cool, man! Well, kinda. I first bought the game around August 2010 (in fact, http://droppedbanana.blogspot.com/2010/08/double-poop-but-dont-worry-minecraft.html) and it was only around Christmas the game exploded in popularity. C418's soundtrack is beautiful, and it's this piece especially that takes me back to that August. Back to that first time playing Minecraft, not knowing everything about it, being afraid of the caves and nervous about trekking too far away. The amazement of finding landscapes and recipes. I think that's what a lot of people strive for in Minecraft again, that apprehension, yet sadly once that feeling is over, it's over. Listening to this helps though...


5 - Super Mario Land - Birabuto Kingdom Theme

I really don't remember much about playing this game, I must have been too young, but this theme sticks out. That's probably why it's so high on the list, because of its vagueness.  I certainly remember those creepy Easter Island heads though. Either way, it's a happy little tune and those 8 bit sounds take me back to...well, I'm not too sure, but young anyway.


4 - TimeSplitters 2 - Ice Station Theme

My, oh my, this is a goody. Ice Station was in my opinion the best map on TS2, simply for that middle tower where you could effectively camp from the virus-infected AI. Then, if it all got too much, you could simply escape by smashing out of the windows and run around shooting like a lunatic. This theme for me is synonymous with sleepover's round my old friends house, where we'd wake up around 7-ish and turn on TS2 immediately for our morning game of Virus on multiplayer. It seems so odd now looking back. I even remember turning it on and playing by myself whilst I waited for my friend to wake up!


3 - GTA: San Andreas - K-DST Radio

I really wanted to post a playlist, featuring all the songs from the station, alas Blogger restricts me from doing so. Therefore, I urge you to do it yourself. GTA: San Andreas, as we all know, was and still is an amazing game with a phenomenal amount of content squeezed into that pathetic PS2 disc. Apart from its sense of humour and real-but-not-too-real quality that transcends it above GTA 4, the soundtrack for San Andreas is just far too good. My favourite, being a classic rock fan, was obviously K-DST with Tommy 'the Nightmare' Smith presenting. Who can forget that feeling of flying a jet over the rocky Bone County whilst listening to David Bowie's 'Somebody Up There Likes Me', or racing over the hills of Red County with Rod Stewart's 'Young Turks' in the background. I can thank GTA: San Andreas for introducing me to some fantastic songs and artists.


2 - TimeSplitters 2 - Wild West Theme

TimeSplitters 2 again? Well, yes. The Wild West mission was good (I remember killing that woman a few time from exploding the dynamite a tad incorrectly), but every time I used to play it, the music would capture my attention. For such an underrated game as TimeSplitters 2, it's just outstanding. Graeme Norgate, the composer for the TimeSplitters series, created a Western theme near equal to the likes of the great Ennio Morricone (particularly 'Ecstasy of Gold'). In fact, all of Norgate's music is brilliantly marvellous. I must admit, this song isn't too nostalgic for me, but the sheer quality of the piece, tied with the game pushes it to second.


1 - Kings of Leon - Because of the Times (Halo 3)

Kings of Leon? But they're not a piece of video game music!? Ok, ok , I'm cheating a little with the number one spot. The reason behind all this is because as good as the Halo 3 soundtrack was (and I mean, come on!), I always used to play my own music on top of it. This was mainly due to the fact I was amazed by the Xbox 360's ability to play music and games at the same time! Long story short, I was too lazy to upload any more albums after Because of the Times so it was just the same 13 songs that played. So whether it be the campaign, co-op campaign, online multiplayer or the incredible forge mode, I'd always be hearing Kings of Leon in the background. It was hearing the above song earlier that triggered all these memories of making race tracks with my mates on forge, playing custom games like Jenga and Ghostbusters and trying to get that achievement by playing the final mission on Legendary with 4 player co-op. Sigh. Those were the heydays of the Xbox 360, when all my friends were on it, in a party, chatting away and having a laugh. Now it's like a ghost town and that's partly the reason I don't play it any more. Such a shame really, but those times from late 2008 to late 2009 were a blast and I always wish there was a last sort of reunion where we all play Halo 3 together...*goes off to sob in a corner*...


Ahem, *sniff sniff*, well there we are, my Top 11 nostalgic pieces of gaming music. It's been quite a ramble but if you have read it all and got this far, congratulations! I think this post just goes to show that gaming isn't just about shooting and messing around and being lazy, it's about socialising with friends, having a laugh and in the process, creating some pretty damn good memories to keep...

A smaller rant...

I really hate how bad I am at starting/finishing things. Damn procrastination and damn my laziness. The problem I have, very often, is that all the ideas are in my beautiful brain* but the process of transferring them from there to either paper or keyboard never really happens. It's very annoying, don't you know. I'm sure you probably do - we all do this don't we?

Except due to recent events, I don't have the excuse of being busy any more - therefore, I'm going to set a target. A small target at first, but let's work from that. I've got to post something of relatively good quality** everyday for...hmmm...a week, to being with. Then, if that ends up successful, we'll go for two, then three and you get the idea.

* I sincerely doubt my brain is beautiful. In fact, it's just a big blob of cells and synapses, really. But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that rubbish...


**Quality is all relative here at Dropped Banana, much like space and time. However, along with reviews, general thoughts, rants and other stuff, I may also start to post bits and pieces of art I plan to do over the coming months in a sort of online portfolio manner. All I'm saying is be prepared...

A small rant.

I really hate the internet sometimes. Scratch that, I really hate the people of the internet. Giving people such freedom, ability to judge, critique or comment and such a wide variety of information and knowledge at the click of the button, would make people smarter I'm sure you'd imagine, but no. Almost everybody on this thing are fools, including myself. In fact, here's a graph to demonstrate...

Nostalgia - Part 1

Nostalgia, it’s a funny thing. Especially the bittersweet reaction to it - happy that it, whatever ‘it’ may be, occurred and sad that ‘it’s’ now gone. I should know a bit about nostalgia, at least the boring side of it anyway, for in my A2 level of English we studied the pastoral genre. I won’t get into the nitty-gritty for in reality I’ve locked away all the things I learned in Year 13 over the summer, ready to be released when they are inevitably needed at university. However, the basic principle of pastoral found in many Philip Larkin, R.S Thomas and Dylan Thomas poems to name a few is an overall nostalgic yearning for the past, when the grass was greener, the apples were juicier, the birds sang lovelier and the children were innocent…ter.

Come to think of it, many may find The Great Gatsby, a classic piece of American Literature to hold major ties with nostalgia – the last few pages in which Fitzgerald depicts the raw, natural beauty of the American landscape in the eyes of the new settlers wafts of the ‘American Dream’, what it once meant and what it means now (now being 1925, faced with the likes of Tom and Daisy Buchanan and their money, greed and carelessness).

Bah! This post has not-so-suddenly turned into an English essay! (Well at least that bodes well for the future.) Hmmm, let me recollect my thoughts for this post was actually supposed to digress off and into my nostalgic stance on video games, then possibly branch off into the wider meanings of such (see, I do plan these things). For now, we’ll call this Part 1 - the preface, the prologue, the set-up, if you will and be done with it.  Look out for Part 2, where instead of discussing the serious themes of literature we’ll be talking about things like this…

In the summer time when the weather is high...

BAH! JUST CLICK HERE TO SEE A BIGGER VERSION!

THAT'S RIGHT, HERE! 

(Why must trying to create a clickable image be so difficult? I really hate the internet sometimes...)

I'm sorry Matthew.

I'm sorry I haven't done anything with this blog.

I'm sorry for the lack of updates.

I'm sorry for the absence of reviews.

You have re-ignited a small flame (I said small, so don't go moaning if it's not much) within me to continue with this thing.

So I shall start this update with a nice collage of faces, which I noticed were particularly funny when looking through some Facebook photo albums...

The middle one has an expression similar to Mr White's...oblivious yet cheerful.  

P.S. I would just like to say 'Oh Mark...', if Mark is indeed reading this.

Pictures Fail.

All my pictures are disappearing. How annoying. I could link to my own files, but that takes too much effort.

On a brighter note, I have some ideas for this increasingly empty blog.

That is all for now.

Ciao.

More GTA News...

Once again it's not great. We are getting 3 to 4 missions done a session which isn't good enough dammit!

We're now stuck on a mission where you have to chase a helicopter along a free way, get off and aim a manual bazooka at the still flying copter and destroy it. Absolutely ridiculous.

This will not go well.

GTA: SA completion update

It's not going well, to be honest.

We have reached the middle point of San Fiero missions, and that's through a few sleepovers. We spent quite a while on a Zero mission called 'Supply Lines' which I believe is impossible (with that statement being made even more probable by the fact Rockstar even changed the mission slightly in a later version of San Andreas). Only after an hour or so did we realise the mission was not required.

Other missions are getting harder as well. Woozie's missions started easy but now we're having to increase our swimming skills and other crap.

However, we will persevere - it's better than Black Ops anyway.

By the way...

Christmas and New Year happened...