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Weekly Summation of things!!

       Ok, so it's Monday and feeling envigorated from the weekend and all of it's activities..ha, I have decided that from now on Monday's post will involve me creating a list of my top things of the week. 

• What I'm listening to- Music that I'm liking right now.
• Reading list- What I'm reading at the minute plus books I've really enjoyed & books I hope to read quite soon.
• Videos.
• Photos.
• Plus whatever else is interesting during the week! 

     As you would expect though this is my first week so it is still a bit rough around the edges however I hope to refine my posts in the future all going well.

*Music*

     I've been listening to music moreso than usual this week for one reason or another so I have a wide range of music to talk about. Its true to say that I have experienced quite a number of emotions during the week from hopeless depression on monday right on through to a reserved euphoria come friday so music has been one of my few escapes from the real world. Well enough about me.. lets talk music music! 

      My ipod has gone pretty old school this week I'll be honest. Thanks to one of my retro friends I discovered depeche mode, jefferson airplane and hole which are all well worth a listen in my book. Whatsmore frequent plays on my ipod include that of eric clapton, david bowie and the rolling stones. 

         My top ten songs worth the listen this week!

   10)  Lips of an Angel- Hinder

    9)   Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds- The Beatles

    8)   Ruffneck- Skrillex

   7)   Celebrity Skin- Hole

   6)   Rebel Rebel- David Bowie

   5)   Somebody to Love- Jefferson Airplane

   4)   Tears in Heaven- Eric Clapton

   3)   White Rabbit- Jefferson Airplane

   2)   Personal Jesus- Depeche Mode

   1)   A Little Respect- Wheatus

*Books*

    Here's just a quick list of books I've read recently and some books I am intending to read in the coming weeks!

   Books I've read recently:

• Geek Mafia
• No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency  
• Millenium Trilogy

    Books I am intending to read in the near future all going well:

• Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
• The Lovely Bones
• Harry Potter & (re-reading this in honour of the upcoming movie)
• The Colour Purple
•  Lord of the rings trilogy (eventually anyway)

*Videos*

     I have been watching tons of tv this week; what can I say it's just been one of those weeks. Anyway one of the tv shows which I have been watching consistently is family guy so naturally I felt it wise to include a clip. This particular clip is probably one of my favourite scenes from family guy EVER and that is no exaggeration it's hilarious. Don't believe me?! well then just ask the reams of followers on facebook who have liked the page entitled "Oh Squiggly line" .. need I say more?!

Family Guy- Stewies final thoughts- oh squiggly line!!

     This next clip I found while stumbling, one of my favourite things to do to kill time. It's from a long deceased show called Pinky and the Brain which was such an awesome show. It's really one of those old-school gems that when watched bring me right back to my childhood. This clip proves my point!

*Movies*
Just a list of movies I've seen over the last while:

• Bridesmaids
• Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2
• Julie & Julia
• Terminator 2 & 3
• In Her Shoes
• The 40 Year Old Virgin
• Fight Club
• Little Fockers

     All really good movies and in my opinion any one would be a great choice for a quiet night in with a cup of tea and some biscuits.

    

*Images*

     Just a few really amazing images that I came across while stumbling. Enjoy !

Other random items that I have come across and feel are worth seeing they gave me a laugh anyway.

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

                                      

My bedroom- these four walls

      I'll admit, one of the things I do while incredibly bored or lacking in things to do is clean my room whilst listening and singing-along to some of my favourite music. It's quite the time killer believe it or not. However after tidying the shoes, organising the books and folding the clothes there's not much else to be doing; that's when I get creative!

      Small ideas have just come to me over the years if I ponder enough and if not then I do a bit of stumbling until I reach that eureka moment. As a result my room is in a constant flux of change. My bed is constantly being moved from different parts of the room, the wall colour is constantly being changed or added to, posters and pictures are hanging from all available surfaces.

       So, let's begin shall we!? why not start with the... ceiling. The ceiling you ask?! why the ceiling, surely that's the most boring part of anybody's room?! Ok in fairness I at first thought this too but me being a creative youngster that I was back then I wanted something different. Well ok it's not the most original idea painting the sky and fluffy white clouds onto a ceiling but it's the only room in my house that has it so that is good enough for me. Easy peasy, all i needed was some sky blue paint, white paint, a roller to make painting so much faster, and a small sponge. A good afternoon of manual labour and this is what I came up with.

      As you can see in a moment of creativeness I purchased a mountain of glow in the dark stars, however these photos do not do them any justice. The reason why there is so little in each photo is purely because I do not want to give too much away just yet, you will have to keep on reading to find out reader!

 

  

     Where to next?! I think the logical thing to do is progress from the ceiling to the borders. Another simple effect to create i used masking tape around each of the walls to create a straight line when painting and painted in the same sky blue colour as the ceiling. When the paint was dry; I think I just waited until the next day actually, I purchased a cheap celtic type stencil and used the same purple/lilac colour of the walls to stencil all around the borders creating this effect.

   As you can see I alternated the colour of the stencil to the sky blue and stenciled a few around the walls just because I wanted to. Well that is about all for this post, only a drop in the ocean so please stay tuned.! =)

Just some random photos from a while ago

    For my first semester of college last year we were given the task of creating a portfolio of our photographs each photo fitting a certain brief eg. panning shot, max depth of field shot, action shot. Of course me being the eager first year I went a bit crazy. I found myself bringing my crappy camera everywhere; to the beach, to parks, even to my college campus, all the while looking like a snap-happy tourist.

Rusty old railing beside cliffs

      I was eager to please and found myself taking stacks and stacks of photographs. I already had quite an interest in photography (even though the only camera at my disposal at this time was less than high in quality) but this task gave me the opportunity to learn the basics in photo-taking which I found really interesting.

Glistening on the sea shore

      I found myself noticing things more and thinking to myself "That tree would look good from this angle, maybe if I shot it in black and white", "Wow that bunch of autumn leaves looks really pretty where is my camera?!". The whole idea of composing a photograph became a conscious thought in my mind everytime I saw rolling hillsides, birds congregating around a bird bath like businessmen gathered around a water-cooler, or a beautifully stunning flower being occupied by a fuzzy bumble bee.

Lone ranger!

       As time progressed I found out that I could take advantage of the college SLR cameras which reinvigourated me to say the least. Once again I became a crazy photo taking student; people would know I was coming because they could see the flash of my camera before they saw me. As my birthday was around this time how could I not avail of my new passion for photography, aswell as a high quality SLR camera. Needless to say it was a night to remember with a monster amount of photographs to prove it.

Photography Tips & Basics

        Well, I suppose to get the old creative juices flowing and what not it is helpful to consider these photography tips each time you want to take a photo, especially if your experiencing some artistic block or another; how annoying is that! 

       Below I have made a list of some basic tips to follow when taking a photo including some of my own photographic examples to help aswell as some links that you may find useful and should check out.

1.  Decide what type of photo you want to take

    Ok, well it may sound quite basic and perhaps even pointless but doing something very simple such as identifying your type of photograph can refine your mind and keep yourself focused on the task at hand.   

     Are you setting out to capture a motorbike hurtling down a road past your house in a panning shot?, or perhaps the rolling hills of the countryside in a landscape photo, maybe you want to take a person's photo in a portrait shot? or even capture the precise milisecond that a butterfly takes flight from the petal of a bluebell without a speck of blur in the photo.

     Something as simple as identifying your type of photo can really be a help when you are trying to create your photograph. Whatsmore, if you dont know how to properly take your style of photo then all you have to do is a little research; blogs, internet, photography books. They will all give you the advise you need to achieve the photo thats in your mind waiting to be developed.

An action shot of a graceful swan flapping its wings is captured by adjusting your camera to a very high shutter speed.

2. What's your depth of field at?

     To give your photos that extra something your depth of field is essential. Most basic cameras nowadays have special settings for each depth of field: Shallow, medium, max; so you can easily avail of depth of field.

     Shallow: This depth of field is often used when capturing a portrait or in macrophotography. It's characteristics include a blurred background with the focus on an unblurred object such as a face or the petals of a flower in the foreground. To create this effect change the camera's aperture to a small f-stop number.

The focus here is on the harsh textures of the tree bark while the backround remains quite blurry keeping the emphasis on the tree.

      Medium: This depth of field is good for most types of shots if you can't really be bothered to change the aperture.

     Max: This depth of field is most commonly used when capturing a landscape or seascape. The foreground, centre and the background of the photograph are unblurred. To create this effect change the camera's aperture to a large f-stop number.      

•     Of course like most things this whole topic of depth of field can be explained in extreme extreme scientific detail so feel free to do a little research for some extra credit!

Max Depth of Field: all of the photo can be seen without much blur.

 3. More is most definitely more!

     Another tip that might not spring to mind straight away is to take lots of photos! Simple no?! Basically, instead of pinning your hopes on that one perfect photo, take a number of shots of the one subject matter so you'll have some spares to choose from should your original photo turn out unlike what you expected. 

       Try taking the same photo using different settings, change the angle of your photograph, take your photo at different times of the day, mix it up! who knows what end results you will achieve.

4. Bad photo!? Don't worry you can edit that later

     Many people feel they are unable to make use of the wide variety of photo editing software that is available today. To those people I say, just give it a try what could it hurt! You would be surprised with what you can learn. For starters if you can't afford, or don't want to buy, professional standard software do not worry there are plenty of packages that you can download for free, however bare in mind that because you are paying nothing the tools available to you will be limited especially when compared to such products such as adobe photoshop.

        Here is a list of some free software that you can use to edit your photos:

• http://www.gimp.org/
• http://picasa.google.com/
• http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop

     Ok, so now that you have downloaded and installed your software... you are still completely lost as regards where to start. No worries my friend, all is not lost. Many websites and blogs offer excellent tutorials on the effects you can achieve using a piece of photo editing software; many youtube sites offer detailed video instructions which some people find more helpful than reading reams and reams of text.

      If all else fails, there are books, books, books! If you dont want to splash out on an expensive "photoshop for dummies" then head on down to your local library and get reading. If you don't feel like walking to the library then.. firstly shame on you, get some exercise! 30 mins a day wont do you any harm.. secondly, maybe your college friend is a budding photographer and is maintaining a photo-related library in their house which is stacked to the rafters. Take advantage and borrow some books in exchange for some pizza; it's a win win situation!

With the right amount of time learning how to use the software who knows what effects you will come up with.