Thoughts on music, film, art and design

Knightfall

2011-11-04T13:53:00.004Z

Here's the finished version of the film i worked on as part of the camera/lighting crew for Fxhome.

We shot it in the day so we could show how the Hitfilm software could deal with a night time colour grade.

KNIGHTFALL - Batman fanfilm from HitFilm on Vimeo.

The Blair Witch on happy pills!

2011-09-10T10:46:00.006+01:00

Went to see The Troll Hunter last night. Expecting a Blair Witch style jumpy gore fest, but got something so much more!

The film, although quite ridiculous in concept offers a subtle blend of docu-horror/slapstick-gore/comedy and modern day fairy-tale. Convincing acting and character development allows the start of the film to be nervy, edge of the seat stuff, we are expecting it to follow the same formula of other films in this genre, waiting for the creepy uncertainness of the Blair Witch to kick in or the jumpy anticipation of the Descent to take hold, but what is unveiled is much more akin to The Blair Witch on happy pills!

I was waiting to see the trolls and be terrified and impressed at their hideousness. But was fully aware that in many monster films once they are revealed and our imagination replaced with the "real thing" it never quite meets up to our expectations. But director André Øvredal is also aware of this predicament, so instead of trying to make the monsters as scary as possible (even tho the trolls are still pretty impressive and gruesome looking), he accepts this fact and plays on it. And this is where the direction of the film changes. Just before the reveal of the "terrifying" troll the first comedy line is delivered and we start to form huge grins across our faces as we follow the chase, and retreat of our main characters, hoping no one dies, not because its scary as such, although the suspense is still maintained, but because we want to see how the story develops. We want to see more troll deaths, and more troll characters, we are waiting to revel in all the different and wonderful ways in which they can be captured and killed. This helps to keep the suspense up, still keep us on the edge of our seat like a classic horror film should, whilst laughing all the way. And all along there is still a creepy undertone, of what if this was real?

This is definitely one to watch. Go along expecting nothing, and you'll come out grinning like a loon.

Superhero film shoot

2011-09-05T17:49:00.011+01:00

This weekend i worked on set as a lighting/production assistant with the FXhome guys on an intense two day shoot for two Batman and Deus Ex inspired short films films we are making to promote HitFilm, our visual effects and editing software launched back in July.

I was also involved in the pre-production for the Deus Ex short where i worked closely with our director Simon Jones to draw up some story boards. Which i'll put up online as soon as the short is finished!

Here's some photos i took using Instagram of the first days Batman shoot.

Clapperboard

Cinematographer on set

On the rails

Dolly cam

Setting up the cameras

Camera guys on set

Getting in to character

Goons on set

In costume

Fake rain on the sunniest day!

A little bit of mascara run

Redbulling it up

Thinking of the next shot

Rooftop view

Rooftop filming

You can keep yourself posted on the progress of the edit and visual effects by subscribing toThe Hitfilm Blog.

Portus Imaging: Photo Retouching

2011-09-01T11:40:00.007+01:00

I came across this cool photo imaging agency called Portus. Their portfolio shows the stages they went through to get to the finished piece.

Gives you a good idea how high end advertisements are put together and colour graded.

http://portusimaging.com/

Our film has been blogged!

2011-07-11T09:27:00.003+01:00

Found out today that our film 'The Profit' has been written about in a cool blog.

http://onesmallwindow.com/cool-internet-stuff/cool-internet-stuff-vol-24/

They gave it a nice little mini review!

Very pleased.

The Profit - Virgin Media Shorts

2011-07-07T15:18:00.003+01:00

Well here is the latest film that I wrote and produced!

It was shot in 9 hours after our original script had to be thrown out due to being let down by an actor, it was written and storyboarded by me in a couple of hours.

But most of the hard work credits go to Ross Turner our director, VFX artist and editor, as well as Daniel Woods who's responsible for the awesome set and machine build!

Enjoy!

London 48hour Sci fi film challenge

2011-07-01T12:53:00.008+01:00

I've been a busy busy girl for the last 6 months or so, lots of travelling, and film making, and working hard at my new job, which isn't really new anymore, I've been at Fxhome for well over a year now!

So i've finally given myself a chance to write on my blog, and i'm hoping that you'll find it all pretty interesting stuff!

Back in April myself and some friends entered the London 48hour Sci fi film challenge. I produced and art directed the short. We tried to prepare as much as possible before the shoot, but unfortunately we were unable to rework our script to the title Crowded City, it was a risk we decided to take, and i'm sure the judges found it highly amusing that the film didn't adhere to the comp rules!

Here is the result.

I also built a cable cam that runs on a 30ft static climbing rope, this was very important for the forest chase scene, my favourite part of the film! I'm also trying to think of new ways to utilise this awesome piece of equipment in any future projects!

Here's the cable cam

And here's me hauling it up the rope

And here it is in action!

If you're intersted in how to build your own cable cam i got the instructions from these cool guys!

DIY Cable Cam

Nepal charity trek

2010-12-12T21:33:00.009Z

Just got back from a charity trek in Nepal to see the work of The Nepal Schools Trust.

I had an amazing time there, and met some wonderful people. Here's some of my photos of the trip.

Rebecca's Nepal Photos, a set on Flickr.
And here's a little movie i made out of all the random video clips i shot.

Ooh - my animation has been featured!

2010-04-12T14:46:00.006+01:00

Net Diver has featured the Andy Ward site, designed by my friends at Brown and White and animated by me!

Check us out on Net Diver

And check out the Andy Ward site.

Viva Le France BMX Road Trip 2010

2010-02-28T18:53:00.002Z

DSC00649
Originally uploaded by xebex

Just got back from my week long BMX road trip! Some rad times were had - my mate johnny blogged every day, and as he has a far more amusing way with words than me i thought you cud read it here

Typography on my block

2010-02-03T17:16:00.001Z

Capitol House
Originally uploaded by xebex

Today was a slow day for work so i decided to explore my local area for some nice typography.

My latest work is live!

2010-02-02T10:32:00.001Z

Last week I created the homepage animations for the new Ryita website.

Check them out here!

Machotaildrop

2010-01-23T22:14:00.004Z

I stumbled across this bizare trailer for a film about skateboarding - it looks like it's across between RAD! and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

I'll look out for it when its released over here!

Back from the dead

2010-01-15T17:14:00.000Z

Zomrade!

2010-01-14T16:27:00.000Z

A country kitchen

2010-01-10T19:39:00.000Z

Norwich under snow

2010-01-10T10:31:00.000Z

Cyclops girl

2010-01-08T22:45:00.000Z

Anglia Square, Norwich

2010-01-07T19:26:00.000Z

See more in my Anglia Square Flickr Set

Storm in a tea cup

2010-01-06T22:52:00.000Z

Brain freeze, fried brains, brain food

2010-01-05T23:41:00.000Z

Just do it

2010-01-04T21:30:00.000Z

Time heals

2010-01-03T13:20:00.000Z

Old habits die hard

2010-01-02T18:30:00.000Z

Rebirth

2010-01-01T22:04:00.000Z

The Dead Weather - Horehound

2009-11-23T11:17:00.004Z

Wow! this album is so good! I know i'm a little bit late in discovering it - i think it was out in june of this year, better late than never tho! I've always thought that supergroups sounded a bit of a rubbish idea, lots of posey peopele just posing about basically, and i'm sure Jack White does his fair share of posing on this album but who cares when it sounds this good! It's got all the best bits of The Whitestripes (minus the crap drumming!)and all the best bits from The Kills ie Alison Mossharts awesome voice!

if you like garage/blues rock then this is just completely the best!

New Nikon COOLPIX s1000pj

2009-10-15T12:41:00.004+01:00

I read about this on the Creative Review site, so sorry this is just a blog of another blog but this is like the raddest thing i've seen come out of camera technology in ages so i just had to repost! It's a compact digital camera with a projector built in, usually i try not to get sucked in to the latest cool stuff but, this is just too awesome, can i have it for Christmas please Mum and Dad?

Check out what Japenese Ad angecy did with the camera!

Photoshop in movie posters

2009-10-02T15:44:00.003+01:00

I found this cool french blog which showcases the photoshop work of film posters, it's a little like the blog photoshop disasters, but this ones shows some pretty impressive photoshop work aswell as duplications or dodgy touch ups.

check it here

Inglorious Basterds: Review

2009-09-04T11:13:00.003+01:00

Don't get me wrong now, i'm a big Tarantino fan, or was, but this film reminded me of a play that a 6 year old might do of a film he saw, where he got all the other films he'd seen muddled up and then messed all his lines up and then got carried away with playing sword fights instead of concentrating on the original idea which was actually quite good, if only he could remember it but he was too busy trying to squeeze in all those other exciting bits from other films he'd seen. The only saving grace was the lovely backdrop he'd painted on the stage, so mummy thought it was wonderful anyway.

Made for Skate

2009-08-14T23:55:00.002+01:00

MADE FOR SKATE tells the stories behind the shoes that carried skateboarding through its colorful history.

I came across this awesome site, detailing the history of the skate shoe, whilst researching for a personal project, i fell in love with the book so much that i bought it right away on amazon.

The website is really nice too, with some cool downloads, check it here

Duxford Air Museum

2009-07-28T12:28:00.002+01:00

Propellors
Originally uploaded by xebex

I enjoyed the graphics and beautiful engineering of the aeroplanes at Duxford Museum, even the bombs look incredible, terrifying to think how many people they could and did kill.

View my Flickr Set

New favourite Band

2009-07-01T11:53:00.005+01:00

Last.fm is great! I listen to it every day and am constantly discovering new awesome bands. Unfortunately i can't really afford to buy all this new music i'm discovering but i think LITE are an exception. They've just got instrumental math rock down to a t. I'm off to buy their stuff!

Check them out here.

http://lite-web.com
http://www.myspace.com/liteband
http://www.transductionrecords.com/main/artists/lite/

And while your at it, don't forget to check out my last.fm page xebex, and see what i've been listening to recently!

See you on the radio!

My new Nike hi-tops

2009-06-06T15:53:00.003+01:00

My new Nike hi-tops
Originally uploaded by xebex

ok, ok, i know it's a bit sad to wet yourself over a pair of shoes made using child labour in Thailand - and although i was slightly shocked by the shiny patentness, and freaked out by the pvc squeakyness - i'm really loving my new hi-tops. RAD!

If David Lynch directed Dirty Dancing

2009-05-14T16:13:00.004+01:00

There are some great re-cuts on you tube, like SCARY MARY
but this one has to be the best!

Of course you'll have had to have seen Twin Peaks, and Blue Velvet among others to really get it!

Film Review: Let the right one in

2009-04-24T11:45:00.004+01:00

Let the Right One In is about a little boy who meets a mysterious girl who doesn't feel the cold and purrs in her sleep. She's been 12 for a long time, and is a vampire, It's not a horror film tho, it's more a love story, a tenderly observed insight into the beginnnings of a beautiful relationship. A classic film that crosses genres in the most perfect way.

Some of my favourite films are Swedish, Show me Love (Fucking Amal), Together and now Let the right One In. All these films are so tender, so well observing of emotion and human interraction. They all have a similar visual quality too, especially Let the Right one in, it looked like it was shot on faded old polaroid, the colour tones giving the bleak Swedish landscape and architecture an amount of warmth echoing the beauty and warmth we discover in the girl, who although a killer, has a huge amount of love to give.

Post Secrets

2009-04-22T16:04:00.003+01:00

Here's an image from one of the first blogs i ever subscribed to, there's plenty of dark and strange stuff on there but this one inparticular made me laugh quite a bit. Nice idea!

post secret blog

Beautiful Vans Slip ons

2009-04-20T20:57:00.005+01:00

Discovered these beautiful hand painted Vans Slip ons. I love the way the shoes reprasent two very different sides of American culture. I need to get me a pair of these.

Befriend the artist Louie Gong, on facebook or his website

New ad for Gucci, by Chris Cunningham

2009-04-20T20:46:00.001+01:00

I saw this advert for the new Gucci perfume by Chris Cunningham, famous for his aphex twin and bjork music Videos, although i quite like the ad visually , it in no way makes me want to wear this perfume, don't fancy being possessed by an evil ghostly flower demon! Oh and don't realy fancy wearing a perfume named after a margarine either!

In a dream

2009-04-12T21:59:00.002+01:00

In a dream looks like a beautiful yet painful insight into the life of a wonderful artist. I'm hoping my local arts cinema will show it soon.

Film Review: The Class (or Entre Les Murs)

2009-03-31T12:35:00.006+01:00

Well firstly, if you have any romantic notions of teaching, then DON'T watch this film! A very gritty realist enterpretation of what it's like to teach multi-ethnic students in an inner city Parisien school. Some of the reviews i've read say the film offers hope and optimism, but i'd have to disagree, it seems to me that there are so many more things going on in these people's lives, that school is simply a thing they have to do to pass the time, they don't understand or realise the importance of education, and many are simply happy to not still be living in their home countries.

It's hard for me to understand why they wouldn't take advantage of the free education system given to them, considering that where they come from the system is more or less non existent, but i guess 14 year olds just don't think like that. These kids have far more to deal with in their lives than you or I ever did at school, and why should immigrant kids behave more gratefully that any other bulshy teenager?

One character who constantly gets in trouble, has to bring his mother into school so she can be told of his issues, he translates for her as she he told that he is disruptive and never does his homework. She can't understand, and explains he is a good boy and helps her when he can and cleans the house when she asks and does the dishes. It's so frustrating to see that the comments made about his behaviour are meant to help him acheive the education he deserves, but instead both take it as a personal attack, and instead of trying to improve pretty much give up.

It's so sad to see people's confidence so low, that they can't recognise when people are tryign to help them.

As for the film itself, it's very well done, natural lighting, unknown actors and fly on the wall documentary-esque style, makes you feel like you really are in the class room, from a technical point of view it feels like it could almost be a part of the Dogma Manifesto.

The classroom scenes are incredibly interesting, from a french language point of view, as a study of how the teacher deals with the students, and the little insights you get into the lives of children that normally we would never meet.

I definately learnt a lot from the film, even if the kids didnt seem to, i guess there was small glimmer of hope in some of the students, but all in all i felt that the majority wouldn't achieve much.

Some of the scenes were rather long and drawn out, and the documentary style isn't every ones cup of tea, but i was gripped for most of it.

Don't go expecting a French version of Kids tho, it's certianly not that!

Film Review: Lesbain Vampire Killers

2009-03-28T20:02:00.003Z

OK, i'm a big fan of comedy horror films, my faves being Shaun of the Dead, Bad Taste and Army of Darkness. I've seen many others and most of them are awful, yet still entertaining, so it enfuraties me that many of the peoeple who have reviewed this film seem to have no knowledge of the genre, they don't understand that it's s'posed to be cheesy and low budget, it's not about perfect script and method acting, its about fun and sillyness, gore, and guts and inventive ways of killing monsters. The film is fast paced, delivers some great lines (some do fall a little flat tho) it does well to mix modern day sitcom-esque style script with 70's style exploitation and hammer horror. And no it's nothing new, but who cares, it's all fun and sillyness and when it comes down to it it's good to watch a new british comedy horror that does it well.

High Touch Visuals

2009-03-26T15:08:00.004Z

There's a new book out called Tangible which looks at how designers are using the stylistic means of graphic design to implement their ideas spatially. I haven't bought any design books for ages, but this one is far too tempting. It looks fantastic and covers ideas and ways of working which is very new and unfamiliar to me.

Here's a link to the publishing site where I found it. Be prepared to part with some hard earned money tho, as it all looks so inspiring!

Gestalten

Back from France!

2009-03-01T11:37:00.003Z

I'm finally back from sunny France! It seems like we were there for ages, then suddenly it was over all too soon. I probably rode the best i've ever ridden, (apart from New Years Day dirt jumping at Snape). I jumped the first double on the first straight of the legendary Montelimar BMX track, and scared the living crap out of myself, i managed to pluck up the courage to do it four times but then after that i had to have a long sit down to recover from my moment of insanity. The photo above, is a pic of me doing a similar sized jump, can't remember where this track was now, but it had a permanent circus tent next to it!

I also managed to do a pretty cool jump to manual over a decent sized step up double, Alec is putting together a road trip video, so i'll post it up when he's done that!

I was pretty proud of the amount of French i managed to speak, it's funny how French lessons from 15 years ago come back to you, I managed to tell a nice lady in the pharmacy that i had a "mal al la tete", and get some paracetamol, and i also discovered that france has 30 elite female racers and that one town had 50 club members under 11! It's awesome how the French treat BMX racing, i guess maybe they take it as seriously as football training which might put off a lot of UK riders, cos it kinda takes the fun out of it when club days seem so regimented, but they certainly know how to build a club and train their riders up to become awesome!

Aswell as lots of cool riding (check our flickr goup here and Joeys flickr page here for more photos) There was lots of drunken sillyness, cross motorway food fighting, falling out of windows, impressive scab collections, and i never want to eat another salami and cheese sandwich in my life!

Film Review: My Bloody Valentine 3D

2009-02-06T23:57:00.007Z

Just got back from watching this and i have to say i'm quite desturbed as to how much enjoyment i gained from watching the many different ways somone can be killed with a pick axe! To put it simply the film is a pretty generic teen slasher flick, nothing new here but, it's well made, it gets you jumping in all the right places has some fantastically gruesome gore in it and even has some nailbiting character playoffs towards the end. I've never seen a film in 3d before and i was pretty impresed by the effects, althought there is only so many times I can stomach a pick axe flying towards my eyeballs at high speed! I wont give it all away but one of my faveourite moments was seeing a hand dripping with blood onto the head of the girl in front of me! Very amusing! It was pretty cool that the whole film was in 3D, not just the scary moments - tho be prepared to feel a bit car sick afterwards!

You also get to wear these very sexy glasses! They have polorising lenses in, rather than the classic red and blue lensed glasses made out of card. I guess this allows the affect to be more realistic and also lets you wear them through out the film, whereas i can't imagine wearing the red and blue lenses for more than 5 mins - let alone an hour and a half!

Cool music AND BMX!

2009-02-06T11:26:00.004Z

Not sure how long this video has been out for, cos i've had the album for well over a year now but only just seen this today, and its ace, makes the hairs stand up on my neck, and, like my friend Mattie said, it's very Donnie Darkoesque. Love it!

It's Spring time!

2009-02-05T10:26:00.004Z

It's Springtime!
Originally uploaded by xebex

Well - I wish it was Spring time!

This is an illustration i did for Soup (where i work's) latest email. And I'm pretty happy with it! It will be tiled across the background of the email, you can see the tiled image on my flickr page.

You can also see some of the other tiled illustations i'v done for Soup:

here www.soup.co.uk

and here www.soupmedia.co.uk

Enjoy!

Music Review: These Arms Are Snakes

2009-01-29T15:30:00.008Z

Ok ok! i'm a little late with this review considering the album came out back in October '08, But i can't help but be excited cos i think i've just discovered my new favourite band! I've known about Theses Arms Are Snakes for a while but never actually went so far as to actualy LISTEN to them. Whilst on a road trip, I was playing a freind Hoover, and he said they sounded a little like Theses Arms Are Snakes, and to my surprise and excitement i've discovered that these guys seems to have started where Hoover left off. They've managed to refine that slow grungy progressive hardcore sound I love so much and taken it to another level, with some amazing bass lines and huge fat guitar sounds. There's even an awesome drum track that reminded me of early Therapy? album Babyteeth. You can hear little snippets of Minus The Bear in there and of course bits of the infamous Botch can't help but slip in too.

Stand out tracks for me are Red Line Season, Seven Curtains, and Lucifer - Loving the keyboard line - sounds very nintendo esque and a little bit like the kind of thing A band called Horse are doing, but better 'cos those guys are bit sucky.

Photography/Typography

2009-01-27T10:33:00.005Z

Found this beautiful flickr set of "found typography". Although Las Vegas is probably one of the last places i'd consider visiting, maybe it'd be worth it to find photographs like this!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmeadows2/sets/72157612480733034/

Imaginary Bike Company

2009-01-23T12:44:00.003Z

Here's an idea i had for my imaginary bike company. The fist reprasents the solidarity of the company and the strength of the frames we'd make. It also plays on some traditional communist themes, which reprasents a 'power to the people' kind of ethos we'd have.

Adopt an Alien

2009-01-21T13:01:00.004Z

Absolutely loving this soft toy, any one wanna buy me this little guy?

I found him on this ace website called Etsy, a place where you can buy all kinds of wonderful handmade items.

Here's a link to the page where he can be bought!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19579206

Search of the week: Chives

2009-01-20T12:11:00.002Z

oh chives, I just love you, I looooooovvvvvvveeeee you! Rub you on my face.... oooooooh chives! - found by Susie

Serious Talent

2009-01-15T12:13:00.004Z

Olly Moss is only 21 years old and just graduated, he's had several of his t shirt designs printed on threadless and has an awesome nack for designing very clever conceptual movie posters. This one is my favourite

Check out his others here and this is his website http://ollymoss.com/

Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack

2009-01-14T12:24:00.003Z

Really enjoying the soundtrack! It's so well produced and thought about, the mix of dirty electro with the indian pop gives just the right feel. The drumming on the first track brings me right back to the excitement and tension as the chase broke out at the beginning of the film, the bass went though my chest and really gripped me... I want more like this!

Stand out tracks are

O...Saya - M.I.A. and AR Rahman
Paper Planes - M.I.A.
Aaj Ki Raat - AR Rahman

The only track i don't really like is Latika's Theme - it worked well in the film but just to listen to on it's own is a bit soppy and cheesy, and kinda spoils the pace of the album - but i guess it's not really meant to be listened to in the traditional way that albums are.

Action for Children

2009-01-13T09:45:00.006Z

Action for Children “Nicola”
Uploaded by ViaMedia

Saw this tv ad for http://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/ the other day and it really touched me.

This is the agency that created it www.passion-pictures.com

Hack into your own brain!

2009-01-12T23:20:00.002Z

Found this cool article discribing drug free ways of inducing hallucinations. Not sure if i actually want to experience it, but if anyone decides to try it do let me know how it went!

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/graphics/011109_hacking_your_brain/

Search of the week: Shower Head

2009-01-12T15:49:00.000Z

I wasn't expecting this when i typed in "Shower head" to Google image search. Somewhat desturbing me thinks - i dread to think what goes on in the mind of whoever it is that showers under that thing!

Sicko

2009-01-12T10:16:00.001Z

Tried to watch Michael Moore's Sicko last night but ended up having to turn it off, a) because it made me so angry that America is so f*cked up and b) because i didn't really think it was well made, it seemed to simply be showing sob story after sob story, like a damn episode of Jeremy Kyle! Maybe later on in the film they explain how the system could change, or approach the subject from a different angle, i guess i should try and watch the rest this evening, but as far as i can see this latest Moore film is dwarfed by the much greater and more intelligent Bowling for Columbine or Farenheit 911.

Spike Jonze - Where the Wild Things Are

2009-01-12T10:03:00.002Z

I was pretty excited to find that Where the Wild Things Are is being made into a film, and not only that, it's being directed by Spike Jonze! I would have expected Tim Burton or maybe Michel Gondry to take on such a project, but the fact that Jonze is doing it is even more interesting. Can't wait!

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-10T19:16:00.011Z

Just been blown away by Danny Boyle's new film starring Skin's Dev Patel and the oh so fine Madhur Mittal. Mnnnnnnn.

The film opens with some upsetting torture scenes as the Mumbai police try to break Jamal's spirit and make him confess to cheating on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Then as we are shown clips of the tv programme the film flashes back to unravel the answers to the Millionare questions through Jamal's life story, prooving that he knew the answers fairly and squarely.
The pace is fast and frantic,and the soundtrack ultra modern, with one of my favourite female artist's M.I.A featured several times. The intense and sometimes harrowing stories are interspersed with fantastic comedy moments one in particular playing homage to the classic "bed wetting" scene in Trainspotting, the whole audience grossed out in one massive groan of gleeful disgust!

Be prepared to see some heart wrenching material, but in return the film offers some fantastic feel good moments and beautiful photography. This is definately Danny Boyles greatest work yet, you can see the working's towards this in all his previous films in particular Shallow Grave and Millions. A modern day Romeo and Juliet set in India to the coolest soundtrack of the year!

Go see it!

To keep you occupied in the mean time check out the official website here http://www.foxsearchlight.com/slumdogmillionaire/

The Kransky Sisters

2009-01-09T19:17:00.004Z

The Kranksy sisters from Australia do a "modern" song - they are on tour soon, look out for them!!

Carbon Footprint

2009-01-08T19:23:00.003Z

Just calculated my Carbon Footprint on http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index.html and was pleased to see that my car useage was lower than the national average, but unfortunately my home and appliance useage was quite drastically above! Need to sort my energy use out me thinks!!

The Wrestler

2009-01-08T19:22:00.001Z

I love Darren Arronofsky’s other films, I’ve seen Requiem for a Dream 4 times and each time was just as heart wrenching as the last, Pi had a similar effect but The Fountain i wasn’t so sure about. I really can’t wait to see this film - anyone wanna see it with me?

My Awesome Nike 6.0's

2009-01-07T19:29:00.001Z

I was going to build a custom pair, but the ones i designed were so similar to these that i bought these instead and saved £15!

2009-01-07T19:25:00.001Z

Just sent the below letter to Howies after reading this post on their blog

http://brainfood.howies.co.uk/2009/01/what-do-you-do-can-we-help-you-do-it-better/

Dear Howies people,

I was pretty excited to read your post asking the public to make suggestions for any new products they might have in mind.

Ever scince i took up bmx racing/4x/dirt jumping 3 years ago it's frustrated me that you can't get a decent pair of women's cut race trousers that aren't pink or baby blue or flowery. There aren't really many girls in the bmx world who are into pink flowery things so i'm not sure why these companies make them.

here's some examples
http://www.gmo1.com/Fox_Racing_Womens_180_Pants_p/04219-285.htm
http://www.girlyz.com/website/gear.html

i've heard that some of the girls i race with have to buy mens trousers and then adjust the waist and legs using scissors and sewing so they fit better - an expensive business if you get it wrong! I have tried 2 pairs of mens race trousers and both fitted really badly, i ended up selling them and making do with jeans!

it would be great to have a decent pair of race trousers that weren't sickly colours (and followed the howies brand values) that were low rise, spacious at the knee (to get pads under), fit nice round the bum and not too short in the leg (i've attached a little sketch too!)

Also if it wasn't too much to suggest, it would be good to find a decent pair of jeans to wear whilst dirt jumping, i've tried boy fit jeans but the leg openings are generally too baggy and flap about too much. I've tried straight leg which are better but then you can't get knee pads under them.

It'd be great to have a nice pair of womens fit jeans based on the howies RIMMER jeans - i think i wud die and go to heaven if i could get my hands on them!

So anyway, I hope you are interested in my suggestions and I am very up for contributing more towards my ideas, research/designs etc etc.

Can't wait for your reply

Cheers

Rebecca

Search of the week: Mature woman and Grass

2008-11-05T11:29:00.000Z

My friend Susie was quite shocked to find this monstrosity today on Veer, i mean, what photographer would actually take that photo and say, "ooh yes, that will sell!"

Upholstery: Lessons 6 and 7

2008-06-26T10:21:00.000+01:00

Nothing much happened in lesson 5, but probably my favourite lesson so far was putting on the Calico, this is basically the material that you use to stretch over all the stuffing and the thick layer of felt used to even out any bumps, create the shape of the chair, keep everything in place and kind of act as an undercoat, All ready to put the outer fabric on.

Search of the week: Conversation

2008-06-12T12:46:00.000+01:00

Anyone in need of a hairy faced head on a stick?

Search of the week: Calendar

2008-06-09T11:10:00.000+01:00

ok ok, i know this image is only trying to suggest someone waiting to "come on" but really - as if you would have a half "ejected" tampon sitting next to your diary ready for when you are due!

MY GOD!

Search of the week: Fruit

2008-06-05T11:03:00.000+01:00

Is it me, or is this frog humping that strawberry?
Rob kindly doctored it for me...

Search of the week: Acacia tree

2008-06-05T10:59:00.000+01:00

Ok, so this isn't particularly weird other than the fact that it's a very strange looking animal, i sent it to Rob thinking he might need a little friend - as no one else talks to him.

Search of the week: Driving

2008-06-05T10:57:00.000+01:00

Please can someone suggest when this image may ever come in handy?

Search of the week: Children in car

2008-06-05T10:55:00.000+01:00

I'm speechless - as she is!

Search of the week: Mug shot

2008-06-05T10:51:00.000+01:00

Why would you ever need this image? please make suggestions in the comments.

Search of the week: Mixing Bowl

2008-06-03T15:23:00.001+01:00

Why would anyone create this image? I was innocently looking for a nice image to illustrate a mood board to show examples of children's activities and i got this!

I was really quite shocked... (can't help but keep looking at it tho!)

A3 Doodle

2008-05-23T16:57:00.000+01:00

This is a huge doodle/illustration i've been working on, for the Soup website there's some bits i really like shown enlarged.

Upholstery: Lessons Three and Four

2008-05-06T22:06:00.000+01:00

So its been a while since i last posted, mainly because i skived my lesson last week to go for a bike ride. But the week before i stitched loops into the areas of the chair where it needed padding, in preparation for me to insert coconut wadding into them. I should have taken a photo of how this is done but basically once a grid of loops has been sewn into the hessian you take a piece of wadding that would fill your hand, twist it and fold it over then thread it through the loops, then you sort of tear/break the wadding up to try and even out any lumps.

On the second session, i completed all the wadding on the arms, back and seat then proceeded to cover it with scrim, a sort of much lighter version of the hessian. You use to this is to hold the wadding in place and it's the start of creating the shape of the padded areas, then using a regulator(a huge needle)you adjust the stuffing and try and even out any lumps.

I chuckled to myself today when i discovered that in upholstery we use gimp and gimp pins - i hope i get to use some gimp too! Tho i have no idea what it is at the moment, hope i wont laugh when my teacher tells me hes goign to go and get me a (some) gimp. He he.

Upholstery: Lesson Two

2008-04-15T22:02:00.000+01:00

Today was a little disappointing in that it seems we are only reupholstering the chair for ornamental purposes. I think my tutor has got it into his head that i'm some poor deprived single mother or something so he doesn't want things to get too expensive for me, every time he gives me something that i need to buy later, he says "don't you worry" and gives me a little pat on the back.

Anyway I think to do my chair properly will cost a lot of money, i need to buy springs and different types of stuffing, so we are going to keep the costs down a bit so i can afford my next project which will be a proper chair!

So I think this chair will be suitable for cats only, tho he better not be a fat cat or he'll go right through the seat!

Anyway, today i started to put hessian on the chair back, seat and arms, it's still in pieces, but i put it together for the photo to get some idea of what the different parts are. I also started to sew loops of linen twine into the seat, this is so the stuffing can be hooked into it, i'll show more detailed pics of that next week.

Upholstery: Lesson One

2008-04-08T21:53:00.000+01:00

Wow! That was fun! If not a little embarassing - i walked into the workshop with my funny little chair, it was full of middle aged folk all meticulously working on beautiful pieces of classic furniture, the teacher took one look at my heap of junk and his face filled with quiet amusement, he could see right through that grotty exterior - and knew that what lay beneath was even worse! Poor guy couldn't help but exclaim at the crude and shoddy workmanship which basically involved firing nails into splintered planks of a pallet that by some miracle had be fashioned to create some kind of chair shaped object.

Anyway hammers and other funny little tools out and we started to strip the chair, then take the arms off, then the back, then the seat, then the nails and huge splinters of wood came off until eventually the chair was naked and unrecogniseable.

I can't wait to start rebuilding it.

Look at the size of these nails used to attach the arms to the body of the chair!

These tools can get very expensive - it's 20quid just for a pair of scissors!

Glueing together the huge splinter of wood that broke off whilst trying to wrench the arms off.

Funny little chair

2008-04-03T20:54:00.000+01:00

Today i bought a chair to practise on at my upholstery course, it cost me 25quid from the smelly second hand shop, the description said 1950's leather chair, i don't think its 1950's and it's some kind of vinyl covering not leather, so i can't wait to rip it off and get it looking all nice and new. Just hope upholstery is not as difficult as my friend Kelly says it is.

Rather apt...

2008-02-14T13:56:00.000Z

I found this squashed into the pavement today, rather apt

Sky take anti capitalist endeavour and turn it straight back into capitalism

2008-01-31T15:15:00.000Z

As you may or may not know (read my post below) the city of Sao Paulo, in an effort to clean up, recently underwent a huge overhaul by having all advertisements and bill boards removed, i think this was also some kind of socialist anti-capitalist statement - which i whole heartedly agree with, even if i do work in advertising!

Anyway trust Sky to use the anti capitalist statement for their next money making endeavour.

Beautiful ad - shame about its evil capitalist schemings :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWRJoLgFrdw

Font in progress 2

2008-01-17T14:28:00.000Z

Well here it is again, i've spaced it out a bit and changed a few of the letters, i'm quite alarmed at it's similarity to Bauhaus, i really really did not copy it - HONEST! I guess that's what happens when you use the" o" as a basis for the design, and i guess maybe subliminaly the lovely Bauhaus stuck in the back of my mind.
My main concern is that i have the making of several different types of font here - can you spot how many? i Reckon there's at least 3.

Font in progress

2007-12-09T12:06:00.000Z

Well here's a look at my first ever attempt at making a font.I'm struggling with the design of the s and although i like the c which is half an o i wonder if its width is too short. Any suggestions?

Oh and i just noticed i missed out the u! Damn it!

I've taken some photos at last!

2007-09-26T16:28:00.000+01:00

The other day I went to the Tate Modern and spent 3 and a half hours there, it was great! I looked at the work of Helio Oticica and all his contemporaries, I was inspired a little by them, and on my way between the gallery and the shops I took some photos. Here they are!

Daniel Eatock

2007-08-28T16:36:00.000+01:00

Discovered this website whilst looking through the Grafik website and I was intrigued by Daniel Eatock's photographic collections of alignments, coincidences, colour matching and pairings that generally go unnoticed in everyday life.

I hope it doesn't hurt my head too much as I look around the city trying to find similar situations that I can photograph and send in to his site.

Here's one of my favourite images of his and when I find something of my own I'll put it on here and hopefully get it displayed on his website too.

São Paulo’s ban on advertising

2007-08-09T10:20:00.000+01:00

I saw this on the fontshop site and thought it was interesting both visually and politically.

In this issue of Font, Tony de Marco clears away the clutter to reveal São Paulo’s ban on advertising. His photographs tell the story of what remained earlier this year when Brazil’s capital enacted new “clean city” legislation that outlawed all forms of outdoor advertising.

Here are some of de Marco’s remarkable shots that couldn’t make it into the print version of Font 006. Continue reading…

See more in his personal gallery.

And here's an article in business week about it.

I should read more

2007-08-07T16:40:00.000+01:00

Oh well at least I'm doing something creative... here's a little illustration I did for a new client at work. We're in pitch process so it's top secret who it's for!

As for reading more books, I am in the process of reading "We need to talk about Kevin" it's a fictional piece about the trauma a mother goes through when her son shoots and kills some of his class mates, I haven't got very far into it as I'm always too busy, but it's really interesting and somewhat disturbing to be able to relate to all the feelings she's having.

I've run out of Rooibos

2007-08-01T11:03:00.000+01:00

So I have this box of Rooibus (Redbush tea) on my desk that I'm s'posed to drink instead of tea, to keep me calm, but it's run out - it ran out about a week ago and i'm back on the caffeine, which i'm sure is not good for me, anyway the reason I'm sharing this with you is, I think the package design is rather good.

The site, which isn't anyway near as lovely as the packaging is here

I like scamping

2007-07-31T11:07:00.000+01:00

Ok i'm a cheater baby - yeah!
I dunno what it is about tracing stuff, but its just brilliant! Here's my latest scamps and I think they are quite good.

I hate it when I feel like this

2007-07-27T16:02:00.000+01:00

Actually today I don't feel like this at all - I just found this little doodle I drew once, whilst I should have been paying attention to something else.

On a car journey in the pouring rain

2007-07-21T14:21:00.000+01:00

Sitting in the the back seat of a hire car whilst racing down the A12 towards Bedford, trying not to be late for an important client meeting, I noticed this little chap.