New project. Yes, I know, I need to ease up on the projects.
200 Portraits, the untitled Beast project and now a new thing. Fortunately, I can work on the other projects within this one.
It's a 12 hour art webcast.
Watch this space.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Friday, 22 April 2011
Now you're (over)thinking with portals.
I imported all the stuff from my other blog to this one.
Yesterday I finished Portal 2. Oh my.
What a wonderful game. Seriously. Although...I started it on Tuesday in the afternoon and played for about an hour and then I finished playing it over Wednesday and Thursday (yesterday). The only time I left the house during this was on Wednesday to see 'Your Highness' with my boyfriend (NEVER see that movie. It sucked).
In a way, I think the game sucked me in a bit too much. The protagonist, Chell, much like in the first version, does not see sunlight for the duration of the game. And I started to feel weird when I even thought about going into the sun. Only today, knowing that I had finished the game, was I able to comfortably leave and walk around.
Portal 2 is the sequel to the incredible game Portal. In Portal, you play a 'test subject' called Chell who has to navigate a series of test chambers in the Aperture Laboratories facility using a portal gun (shoots two portals that you can use to get to places that you can't just walk or jump to) overlooked by a robot named Glados. I don't want to give away what happens in case someone who hasn't played it actually reads this, but as you go through the game and learn how to use the portal gun, the story gets a bit more complicated and...It's such an addictive game.
Portal 2 is set CENTURIES after Portal and Chell is back. At the start of the game, you are met by a new character. A 'personality core' named Wheatley (Stephen Merchant) and you find that Aperture Laboratories is screwed. It's falling apart and everyone is dead.
This isn't a games review blog and I don't want to give any spoilers away, but you should definitely play it.
If you get Portal 2 on Steam, we can play co-op.
So do it.
Johnny went to Northern Ireland to see his family this morning and I went to see 'Arthur'. I liked it. It was funny and cute. After that, I walked to the 'international market' that's going on in the city centre and bought myself a strawberry tart before sitting down in front of the cathedral to enjoy it. I also ended up covered in sticky strawberry sauce. Super cool.
After that, I mostly just walked down lanes and streets around the city centre and near where I live that I didn't know or hadn't seen through before stopping at Sainsbury's to buy some fruity mineral water and lemons. It was a really sunny day, so it was nice. Didn't need to wear a jacket, didn't have anything much to do. Just wandered around listening to Zoe Boekbinder's album 'Artichoke Perfume' and remembering how good it is.
Yesterday I finished Portal 2. Oh my.
What a wonderful game. Seriously. Although...I started it on Tuesday in the afternoon and played for about an hour and then I finished playing it over Wednesday and Thursday (yesterday). The only time I left the house during this was on Wednesday to see 'Your Highness' with my boyfriend (NEVER see that movie. It sucked).
In a way, I think the game sucked me in a bit too much. The protagonist, Chell, much like in the first version, does not see sunlight for the duration of the game. And I started to feel weird when I even thought about going into the sun. Only today, knowing that I had finished the game, was I able to comfortably leave and walk around.
Portal 2 is the sequel to the incredible game Portal. In Portal, you play a 'test subject' called Chell who has to navigate a series of test chambers in the Aperture Laboratories facility using a portal gun (shoots two portals that you can use to get to places that you can't just walk or jump to) overlooked by a robot named Glados. I don't want to give away what happens in case someone who hasn't played it actually reads this, but as you go through the game and learn how to use the portal gun, the story gets a bit more complicated and...It's such an addictive game.
Portal 2 is set CENTURIES after Portal and Chell is back. At the start of the game, you are met by a new character. A 'personality core' named Wheatley (Stephen Merchant) and you find that Aperture Laboratories is screwed. It's falling apart and everyone is dead.
This isn't a games review blog and I don't want to give any spoilers away, but you should definitely play it.
If you get Portal 2 on Steam, we can play co-op.
So do it.
Johnny went to Northern Ireland to see his family this morning and I went to see 'Arthur'. I liked it. It was funny and cute. After that, I walked to the 'international market' that's going on in the city centre and bought myself a strawberry tart before sitting down in front of the cathedral to enjoy it. I also ended up covered in sticky strawberry sauce. Super cool.
After that, I mostly just walked down lanes and streets around the city centre and near where I live that I didn't know or hadn't seen through before stopping at Sainsbury's to buy some fruity mineral water and lemons. It was a really sunny day, so it was nice. Didn't need to wear a jacket, didn't have anything much to do. Just wandered around listening to Zoe Boekbinder's album 'Artichoke Perfume' and remembering how good it is.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
a hell.
I'm in Kent with my family. I came down for my birthday. I've been here...not long over a week, I suppose. I'm not sure how many days. I could have been here any amount of time (time tends to be like that with me). It's weird because my family live with my mum's new partner and I've only been to this house once. In Summer. I slept in the conservatory on the couch in my jeans every night for nearly 3 weeks. This time because it's winter and my mum doesn't want me to freeze, I have been sleeping on my 7 year old brother's bedroom floor on an inflatable mattress.
My laptop broke. The whole 'blue screen of death' thing happened so I called Johnny and asked him what I could do and he told me to do somethings and I did them and it worked again...for about 2 minutes. Now it won't switch on at all. For my birthday, my mum bought me another laptop that turned out to be more of a netbook, which is a really long story that I don't feel like writing down. It works fine though. Right now I am waiting for my brothers to finish watching Misfits so that I can watch Ace of Cakes. My food obsession seems to be rearing it's ugly head again. I just watch cooking shows all the time. My favourites are the cake ones. I may as well be a 40 year old woman with lots of cats.
What else I am doing:
-Working on the whole Maisy Peters thing:
^A collection of writing about mental health
-Illustrations for a graphic novel about sexual abuse, anorexia and the connections that can exist between them (still in planning stages so don't expect to hear about that one any time soon).
-Illustrations for a writing magazine called 'Beautiful Scruffiness' (which is the most exciting thing on my list)
-Commissioned portrait.
I was meaning to go see some friends in London this week but I suck at planning and I don't care enough. I don't want to go out. I just want someone to talk to who can vaguely understand what is going on. Last night it got to the point where it seemed like emailing Samaritans was a fantastic option. Then I slept. I felt a little better but not by much...I recieved a response. I'll never be doing that again, let me tell you.
I don't know! I feel like a ball of messed up right now and maybe talking to someone wouldn't really help but I still wish I could because maybe it would get rid of the feeling that I have. It feels like I've been screwed into a paper ball really tightly and it's also noisy on the inside. That doesn't make sense!!!!
My laptop broke. The whole 'blue screen of death' thing happened so I called Johnny and asked him what I could do and he told me to do somethings and I did them and it worked again...for about 2 minutes. Now it won't switch on at all. For my birthday, my mum bought me another laptop that turned out to be more of a netbook, which is a really long story that I don't feel like writing down. It works fine though. Right now I am waiting for my brothers to finish watching Misfits so that I can watch Ace of Cakes. My food obsession seems to be rearing it's ugly head again. I just watch cooking shows all the time. My favourites are the cake ones. I may as well be a 40 year old woman with lots of cats.
What else I am doing:
-Working on the whole Maisy Peters thing:
^A collection of writing about mental health
-Illustrations for a graphic novel about sexual abuse, anorexia and the connections that can exist between them (still in planning stages so don't expect to hear about that one any time soon).
-Illustrations for a writing magazine called 'Beautiful Scruffiness' (which is the most exciting thing on my list)
-Commissioned portrait.
I was meaning to go see some friends in London this week but I suck at planning and I don't care enough. I don't want to go out. I just want someone to talk to who can vaguely understand what is going on. Last night it got to the point where it seemed like emailing Samaritans was a fantastic option. Then I slept. I felt a little better but not by much...I recieved a response. I'll never be doing that again, let me tell you.
I don't know! I feel like a ball of messed up right now and maybe talking to someone wouldn't really help but I still wish I could because maybe it would get rid of the feeling that I have. It feels like I've been screwed into a paper ball really tightly and it's also noisy on the inside. That doesn't make sense!!!!
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Sunday Superlist.
Also known as 'crap I found in my notebook and in my twitter feed'.
- By the time a person feels thirsty, his or her body has lost over 1 percent of its total water amount.
- My mum can turn both her feet backwards.
- According to twitter, Jeremy Kyle got hit on the head with an envelope and people have decided that it is newsworthy. That's just special.
- Taylor Momsen like, JUST tweeted this: 'Get the new issue of Revolver Magazine, there's a free centerfold...I mean poster of me inside...' ....Interesting. Taylor Momsen is a 17 year old in a band called The Pretty Reckless who dresses in...well...not very much. She seems to say a lot of provocative things and this seems to get a lot of people talking. I don't think she's really doing anything different to what other 17 year olds are doing. Maybe just different to what other popular 17 year old singers are doing.
- This could be useful. http://www.angelfire.com/me/marmalade/mathtips.html
- I believe this to be interesting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com....prostitution-experts-vers_b_756845.html
- I had a discussion with my friend Sophia about the idea that it's okay to judge someone for saying they're straight and later dating someone of the same gender or saying that they're gay and later dating someone of the opposite. It's not. You don't get to choose who you want and neither does anyone else.
- I am pretty sure we've managed to skip Autumn. Apparently the weather is going to be in the single digits this week. What is going on with you, earth?!
- Always a good idea to figure out how to take the ideas of others into consideration without getting into a huff. Something I am trying to figure out now (so far to no prevail).
- Is twitter brutally murdering my braincells? All I know is that I couldn't think of anything else to type here for a minute until I got distracted by EchoFon (the twitter app I use on firefox).
- No matter how many things I say about twitter murdering my brain cells, I do love it. All my friends have email addresses. If I feel like climbing into the bin and staying there forever or whatever, all I have to do is send an email and suddenly someone else knows exactly how I feel.
- I am so happy to be able to try to draw and paint and put my feelings into something visual. If you can make someone feel something or know how you feel from looking at a picture, that's special and that is my goal.
- Kanye West tweeted this picture: http://twitpic.com/2ykw3f Apparently it's a rejected album cover or something. Johnny described it as 'shocking and crap'. I laughed.
- This site has some really gorgeous and occasionally inspiring images. http://dreamwalking.tumblr.com/
- The kitten is sitting on my lap. He has been crying almost non-stop since Johnny went away on Friday but he has finally stopped freaking out and is now purring happily.
- The less you argue about small things, the more likely you are to get what you want. If what you want is peace and quiet. Which it should be, if it's a small thing.
- This joke has been going around and I love it:
Q: How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: It's a really obscure number, you wouldn't have heard of it. - If you're in the UK and have to do shopping sometimes, this might actually save you some money. It was a good thing to come across: http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/
- There are too many below-par fashion bloggers. I will never be a fashion blogger. I don't care enough about forcing my terrible dress sense on to others (that's not to say that all fashion bloggers suck. My favourite blogs are fashion blogs).
- This is a really wonderful blog: http://fuckyeahillustration.tumblr.com Through it I discovered how awesome James Jean is.
- The more people see this, the better.'Being A Dickhead's Cool'
Friday, 15 October 2010
Quick rush post.
This week:
Johnny and I went to see 'The Social Network' on Wednesday. I have been listening to Birdeatsbaby's new EP 'Bigger Teeth' and Chapter Three of Kim Boekbinder's album in 4 parts which is titled 'The Impossible Girl'. I have been obsessively staring at James Jean's website.
I read 'The Accidental' by Ali Smith and 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Social Network is fantastic. I was, I admit, rather surprised. It is, of course, a movie about a website. But still, it was very interesting. Also, Justin Timberlake was in it and his acting was passable enough to make me not feel like hurting him for inflicting 'Sexy Back' on the world every time he opened his mouth. Well done, Mr. Timberlake. Well done. Jesse Eisenberg who played Mark Zuckerberg (the creator of facebook) was pretty good. I feel that the real stand out, though, was Andrew Garfield as facebook co-creator Eduardo Saverin. You should go see it. Apparently the movie isn't very accurate, though. I don't care.
Bigger Teeth by Birdeatsbaby is something I looked forward to for a very, very long time. I pity the fool who doesn't go right to the link at the top of the post to listen to them. As usual, it's perfectly reasonable to say 'if you like The Dresden Dolls, you'll probably like Birdeatsbaby', but that's not to suggest that they don't have a completely different sound belonging entirely to them Go listen to it. Go listen to it. Go listen to it. Also listen to their album 'Here She Comes a-Tumblin''. Last year, Birdeatsbaby came to stay with us on their way to Glasgow. It was very exciting. I was very shy. Johnny played one of their songs (which is also one of my favourite songs ever, called 'I Always Hang Myself With The Same Rope') with them in our living room. Amazing.
The Impossible Girl: Chapter Three by Kim Boekbinder contains large amounts of super-goddamn-awesome. Kim has released her album in parts on the August 15th, September 15th, today and the next part is due out on November 15th. The latest part includes one of my favourite songs, of which a live version was released some time ago, 'Rainbows and Unicorns'. It's so good. Go listen to that as well.
I don't really feel like writing about the books aside from to say that they're great and both well worth a read.
I leave you with this quote from 'The Accidental' which is also currently on the whiteboard in our kitchen:
'Eggs are beautiful', said Astrid. 'When you eat an egg, you are eating beautifulness itself.'
Johnny and I went to see 'The Social Network' on Wednesday. I have been listening to Birdeatsbaby's new EP 'Bigger Teeth' and Chapter Three of Kim Boekbinder's album in 4 parts which is titled 'The Impossible Girl'. I have been obsessively staring at James Jean's website.
I read 'The Accidental' by Ali Smith and 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Social Network is fantastic. I was, I admit, rather surprised. It is, of course, a movie about a website. But still, it was very interesting. Also, Justin Timberlake was in it and his acting was passable enough to make me not feel like hurting him for inflicting 'Sexy Back' on the world every time he opened his mouth. Well done, Mr. Timberlake. Well done. Jesse Eisenberg who played Mark Zuckerberg (the creator of facebook) was pretty good. I feel that the real stand out, though, was Andrew Garfield as facebook co-creator Eduardo Saverin. You should go see it. Apparently the movie isn't very accurate, though. I don't care.
Bigger Teeth by Birdeatsbaby is something I looked forward to for a very, very long time. I pity the fool who doesn't go right to the link at the top of the post to listen to them. As usual, it's perfectly reasonable to say 'if you like The Dresden Dolls, you'll probably like Birdeatsbaby', but that's not to suggest that they don't have a completely different sound belonging entirely to them Go listen to it. Go listen to it. Go listen to it. Also listen to their album 'Here She Comes a-Tumblin''. Last year, Birdeatsbaby came to stay with us on their way to Glasgow. It was very exciting. I was very shy. Johnny played one of their songs (which is also one of my favourite songs ever, called 'I Always Hang Myself With The Same Rope') with them in our living room. Amazing.
The Impossible Girl: Chapter Three by Kim Boekbinder contains large amounts of super-goddamn-awesome. Kim has released her album in parts on the August 15th, September 15th, today and the next part is due out on November 15th. The latest part includes one of my favourite songs, of which a live version was released some time ago, 'Rainbows and Unicorns'. It's so good. Go listen to that as well.
I don't really feel like writing about the books aside from to say that they're great and both well worth a read.
I leave you with this quote from 'The Accidental' which is also currently on the whiteboard in our kitchen:
'Eggs are beautiful', said Astrid. 'When you eat an egg, you are eating beautifulness itself.'
Uhhh.
I am not cut out for blogging. So I'm going to stop blogging here. Mostly. I might occasionally post something, but I wouldn't count on it.
However, I have a new blog. I don't intend on updating it much. It's mostly my own notes and things I've written and things people have said. Just a place to keep stuff. Feel free to follow it, but don't expect ALL THE WORDS EVER.
http://dastardlyloop.blogspot.com
However, I have a new blog. I don't intend on updating it much. It's mostly my own notes and things I've written and things people have said. Just a place to keep stuff. Feel free to follow it, but don't expect ALL THE WORDS EVER.
http://dastardlyloop.blogspot.com
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Monster Girl's Interview with Yours Truly (June 2010)
Monsters, today I thought I'd fill you all in on a project my lovely talented friend Audrey is doing at the moment, called the 200 Portraits project. I've had queries about the portrait she did of me (it's my new facebook profile photo) and thought I'd fill you all in about how to score one yourself! Instead of me waffling at you about it, though, I thought I'd get Audrey herself to tell you all about it! She's pretty rad. So follows the first ever interview here at Monster Girl Writes!
AB: People (mostly people I do not know) send me pictures of themselves and I paint or draw them. I mostly use ink, but I also use some fancy markers (ProMarkers) that my boyfriend bought a while ago when we decided to make a webcomic (this did not make it past the ideas stage, by the way).
MG: What gave you the idea for 200 Portraits?
AB: I'm doing it for a few reasons...Firstly, I just found out that for a few fun and exciting reasons that I shan't go into here, I cannot get a job for a few months, so that means a fair bit of sitting around the house wanting to eat my own legs due to boredom. Secondly, I am going to be working at a festival for home educated families in July, so I figured it would be a good chance to go and do some art with/of/for some other people and faces are the thing I'm best at, so I thought it might be nice to do a bunch of portraits of the people I meet. THIRDLY, last year I did another project where I had to do paintings every day for a month, so I figured that if I was going to get something going, I might as well get something going where I do a certain number of things again. 200 seemed about right.
MG: What are you hoping to get out of the project?
AB: I think it will be pretty awesome when it's over and I have sketchbooks and things full of other people's faces. 200. More people than I can probably fit comfortably in the house I live in. I've had so many different people send me pictures too. One woman sent me a picture of her horse. I'm not amazing at drawing animals, but I fully intend on giving it a go.
Another thing that may or may not happen once I've passed the finish line is an exhibition. 31 Paintings had an exhibition in spite of the fact that it was far less ambitious than this, so that's the aim.
Another thing that may or may not happen once I've passed the finish line is an exhibition. 31 Paintings had an exhibition in spite of the fact that it was far less ambitious than this, so that's the aim.
MG: How can Monster Readers get involved?
AB: By going to the website (http://200portraits.info) and sending me a photo! A question I've been asked a lot is 'what kind of photo?' and I have to say...it really doesn't matter (though if you have any other questions, my twitter username is audreyisanidiot). I can make something of most of the things I've been sent and I won't be leaving any out for difficulty reasons. OR, if you're not into that, you can tweet about the project to get people you know involved or donate to the project and I'll send you a pretty picture in the mail (the details for that are also on the site).
MG: Favourite scene in a Star Wars movie?
AB: I have a new love for the scene in the Cantina, with Han Solo being a cool motherf***er and whatnot, mostly because I am going to be production manager on a Star Wars fan film type thing sometime soon and part of it takes place in there so I've been thinking about that one thing more often than I usually would. I also enjoy Han responding to Leia's 'I love you' with 'I know'. My boyfriend does that to me though and it makes me want to murder him...
When I was about 8 or 9, I used to watch 'Return of the Jedi' every day after school and I always just loved that movie as a whole. I can't remember why I loved that one in particular now, though.
When I was about 8 or 9, I used to watch 'Return of the Jedi' every day after school and I always just loved that movie as a whole. I can't remember why I loved that one in particular now, though.
As well as the 200 portraits website, Audrey has a blog which you can check out here and you can follow her on twitter here and if you'd like an example of the photo to portrait process, here's the awesome portrait she did for me! It's so cute! Probably could have found a better photo for her to work with though :P
(pictures included at source)
http://monstergirlwrites.blogspot.com/2010/06/interviewing-audrey-bishop-of-200.html
Friday, 24 September 2010
Personal Update #1.
This is a new blog. I already have a blog! What am I doing?!
This blog was meant to be more for articles and new art more than personal updates, but now that is all I feel like posting here. So. Fresh start. I will keep it updated with articles and new art, but I will also throw in personal updates. Such as this one.
Once again, it is a Friday night and I am at home with my boyfriend instead of out being odd with the other crazy kids in my age group. This is good. Going out is not on my 'things that I do like' list. We live in North West England and we have a kitten named Shadow. He works in IT and I am an artist who is also looking for a normal people job. I also write articles! Usually unpaid ones! Thrilling stuff.
Today has been particulatrly good. I got a copy of Zoe Boekbinder's new EP 'Over The Top'. It has 5 songs on it:
Crush, which I have loved since I heard it in a YouTube video of her and her sister (Zoe and her sister Kim used to be a band called Vermillion Lies) playing it live. I bought the EP for this song, in all honesty. The version on 'Over The Top' is different but really, reeeeally good. Single Ladies, which is, as you can probably guess, a cover of the Beyonce song. But made cool. Poker Face, Lady Gaga cover, clearly. Also made cool.
Break You Nice is a song by Electrosexual, Scream club, Mz Sunday Luv and, of course, Zoe. It wasn't what I expected to hear at all, but after a few listens, I fell in love. Lastly Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey, according to the notes on the CD, is performed by Zoe's grandfather Bobbie Boekbinder (circa 1954) and is terrific.
Anyway, clearly Zoe is awesome. I hope you already knew that from her fine work with Kim Boekbinder as 'Vermillion Lies' and her solo album 'Artichoke Perfume' (which is utterly sublime...also I don't think I've ever used the word 'sublime' before).
On a related note, Kim Boekbinder is releasing her album 'The Impossible Girl' in 4 parts (1 a month). The first two are out now and amazing. Particularly the song 'Stalker' which you can listen to (along with the rest of part 2 and if you follow the links, part 1) HERE. You should also click where it says 'video'. The videos for 'Open/Avocado' and 'Impossible Girl #2' are amazing and I admit that I didn't know the one for 'Sex, Drugs & Nuclear Physics' didn't exist, but that is an excellent song, so the video probably is too. Watch, watch, watch.
What else?
This will probably mark me out as a loser, but I don't care. If you like something, you should own it, so here we go. My Chemical Romance's new song can now be listened to on the internet. My 13 year old self is ABSOLUTELY DYING, YOU GUYS. The song is called 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)'.
Seriously. In real life. On the bright side, I think that the song (also the trailer for the album which exists but I can't be bothered to look for and post it) show that they're not taking themselves seriously and fuck it, neither should you. It's catchy! The I like about this band is that they're a bunch of geeky guys who aren't cool! They're a group of freaks who made some decent music, got famous, got their hands on some money and did something with costumes and stuff that most of their fans didn't even like (The Black Parade) because it was what they wanted to do. I don't like them as much as I used to, but I do like that aspect of them. So much.
Now I'm going to go do other stuff. You should absolutely look at my flickr.
Over the next few days I am going to be posting a few other things, such as Monster Girl's interview with me and a review of the project I did last year. They shall be placed here for safekeeping. Why would I want to lose stuff like that?
Audrey.
This blog was meant to be more for articles and new art more than personal updates, but now that is all I feel like posting here. So. Fresh start. I will keep it updated with articles and new art, but I will also throw in personal updates. Such as this one.
Once again, it is a Friday night and I am at home with my boyfriend instead of out being odd with the other crazy kids in my age group. This is good. Going out is not on my 'things that I do like' list. We live in North West England and we have a kitten named Shadow. He works in IT and I am an artist who is also looking for a normal people job. I also write articles! Usually unpaid ones! Thrilling stuff.
Today has been particulatrly good. I got a copy of Zoe Boekbinder's new EP 'Over The Top'. It has 5 songs on it:
Crush, which I have loved since I heard it in a YouTube video of her and her sister (Zoe and her sister Kim used to be a band called Vermillion Lies) playing it live. I bought the EP for this song, in all honesty. The version on 'Over The Top' is different but really, reeeeally good. Single Ladies, which is, as you can probably guess, a cover of the Beyonce song. But made cool. Poker Face, Lady Gaga cover, clearly. Also made cool.
Break You Nice is a song by Electrosexual, Scream club, Mz Sunday Luv and, of course, Zoe. It wasn't what I expected to hear at all, but after a few listens, I fell in love. Lastly Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey, according to the notes on the CD, is performed by Zoe's grandfather Bobbie Boekbinder (circa 1954) and is terrific.
Anyway, clearly Zoe is awesome. I hope you already knew that from her fine work with Kim Boekbinder as 'Vermillion Lies' and her solo album 'Artichoke Perfume' (which is utterly sublime...also I don't think I've ever used the word 'sublime' before).
On a related note, Kim Boekbinder is releasing her album 'The Impossible Girl' in 4 parts (1 a month). The first two are out now and amazing. Particularly the song 'Stalker' which you can listen to (along with the rest of part 2 and if you follow the links, part 1) HERE. You should also click where it says 'video'. The videos for 'Open/Avocado' and 'Impossible Girl #2' are amazing and I admit that I didn't know the one for 'Sex, Drugs & Nuclear Physics' didn't exist, but that is an excellent song, so the video probably is too. Watch, watch, watch.
What else?
This will probably mark me out as a loser, but I don't care. If you like something, you should own it, so here we go. My Chemical Romance's new song can now be listened to on the internet. My 13 year old self is ABSOLUTELY DYING, YOU GUYS. The song is called 'Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)'.
Seriously. In real life. On the bright side, I think that the song (also the trailer for the album which exists but I can't be bothered to look for and post it) show that they're not taking themselves seriously and fuck it, neither should you. It's catchy! The I like about this band is that they're a bunch of geeky guys who aren't cool! They're a group of freaks who made some decent music, got famous, got their hands on some money and did something with costumes and stuff that most of their fans didn't even like (The Black Parade) because it was what they wanted to do. I don't like them as much as I used to, but I do like that aspect of them. So much.
Now I'm going to go do other stuff. You should absolutely look at my flickr.
Over the next few days I am going to be posting a few other things, such as Monster Girl's interview with me and a review of the project I did last year. They shall be placed here for safekeeping. Why would I want to lose stuff like that?
Audrey.
Monday, 20 September 2010
An article I wrote for RawMg.
I avoided showing this to friends after it was posted as I know too many people who are furiously anti-record labels. However, in the comfort of my own blog, I do not care. So here it is. Little things I have gathered from stories about social networking sites, musicians and record labels. This was posted up on RawMg (link to article at the bottom of the post) and is my second piece of actually-published-in-real-life writing.
'Unless you have been in hiding on Mars, you will probably have heard someone talk about 'the death of the record industry'. People aren't buying CDs as much as they used to,
practically anything you could possibly want can be found on some dark corner of the Internet for free and plenty of people have taken the path of rising through the ranks of social networking sites such as MySpace using only their computers in lieu of 'proper' recording equipment. So are record labels necessary?
Once upon a time, yes. Without one, you were unlikely to gain the success or promotion required to hit the big time and make real money (though there is the large chance that you wouldn't make a great deal of money anyway). Nowadays...it depends on who you ask. Bands like 'Millionaires', 3 American girls who accidentally started their band by posting a song created on Garageband on their MySpace page have earned a lot of success in the US and overseas gained a fanbase without a record label have had their songs used in various TV shows, they have released EPs with Decaydance and the label they are now signed to, B-Unique Records (which itself is a division of Atlantic records) along with their self released first EP, 'Bling Bling Bling!', so it would seem that they have seen success with and without.
Lily Allen is another example of a MySpace musician who gained a following through the site, got signed to a record label and is now a very popular artist with 2 hit albums under her belt. Kate Nash was discovered and signed when Lily Allen put one of her songs in her MySpace 'Top 8', and so it goes on.
However, some have seen a very dark side to the record industry. Just ask Amanda Palmer who literally (and very publicly, at that) begged Roadrunner Records to drop her. Palmer's band 'The Dresden Dolls' released two albums with Roadrunner and had seen plenty of underground and some mainstream popularity when they went 'on hiatus' in 2008. Still tied to a contract, she released her first solo album 'Who Killed Amanda Palmer' with them. It was promoted by the label very little and Amanda claims to barely have seen a cent from the album itself, instead making most of her money from various pre-order packages and different merchandise, most notably a book featuring pictures of her 'dead' in various places with stories by author Neil Gaiman to go along with them. Once liberated from her label and after posting a celebratory blog, Amanda has released an EP of Radiohead covers played on the ukulele, which is available from 52p but can be purchased at any amount above that -depending on how generous the buyer is feeling- and more merchandise packages to go with it.
Similarly, Radiohead released their 2007 album 'In Rainbows' after ending their contract with EMI. A digital version of the album could be bought for any amount at all, though a physical copy could be bought for a set price and was found to be very profitable.
With the downfall of MySpace and the uprise of websites like Bandcamp, which allows users to upload their music and give it away for free or sell downloads, it is little wonder that more and more musicians are coming out and making money on their own terms. Other social networks like Twitter and Facebook allow people to connect with friends and strangers alike to spread the word about their latest creation. The Internet is a place for artists to thrive alone and getting signed has become less of a concern for many of them and many of them are happy with their growing fanbases.
All that said, record labels aren't quite dead. Lots of talented people are still getting signed and making the money and the music required to stay on top in spite of the fact that the sales of CDs have gone down and digital sales have gone up and people are downloading like crazy and fame may be a harder goal to reach without publicists, managers, producers and everyone else working for a label backing them.
Are record labels necessary? It depends on your goals. But 'the death of the record industry' hasn't quite occurred yet.'
'Unless you have been in hiding on Mars, you will probably have heard someone talk about 'the death of the record industry'. People aren't buying CDs as much as they used to,
practically anything you could possibly want can be found on some dark corner of the Internet for free and plenty of people have taken the path of rising through the ranks of social networking sites such as MySpace using only their computers in lieu of 'proper' recording equipment. So are record labels necessary?
Once upon a time, yes. Without one, you were unlikely to gain the success or promotion required to hit the big time and make real money (though there is the large chance that you wouldn't make a great deal of money anyway). Nowadays...it depends on who you ask. Bands like 'Millionaires', 3 American girls who accidentally started their band by posting a song created on Garageband on their MySpace page have earned a lot of success in the US and overseas gained a fanbase without a record label have had their songs used in various TV shows, they have released EPs with Decaydance and the label they are now signed to, B-Unique Records (which itself is a division of Atlantic records) along with their self released first EP, 'Bling Bling Bling!', so it would seem that they have seen success with and without.
Lily Allen is another example of a MySpace musician who gained a following through the site, got signed to a record label and is now a very popular artist with 2 hit albums under her belt. Kate Nash was discovered and signed when Lily Allen put one of her songs in her MySpace 'Top 8', and so it goes on.
However, some have seen a very dark side to the record industry. Just ask Amanda Palmer who literally (and very publicly, at that) begged Roadrunner Records to drop her. Palmer's band 'The Dresden Dolls' released two albums with Roadrunner and had seen plenty of underground and some mainstream popularity when they went 'on hiatus' in 2008. Still tied to a contract, she released her first solo album 'Who Killed Amanda Palmer' with them. It was promoted by the label very little and Amanda claims to barely have seen a cent from the album itself, instead making most of her money from various pre-order packages and different merchandise, most notably a book featuring pictures of her 'dead' in various places with stories by author Neil Gaiman to go along with them. Once liberated from her label and after posting a celebratory blog, Amanda has released an EP of Radiohead covers played on the ukulele, which is available from 52p but can be purchased at any amount above that -depending on how generous the buyer is feeling- and more merchandise packages to go with it.
Similarly, Radiohead released their 2007 album 'In Rainbows' after ending their contract with EMI. A digital version of the album could be bought for any amount at all, though a physical copy could be bought for a set price and was found to be very profitable.
With the downfall of MySpace and the uprise of websites like Bandcamp, which allows users to upload their music and give it away for free or sell downloads, it is little wonder that more and more musicians are coming out and making money on their own terms. Other social networks like Twitter and Facebook allow people to connect with friends and strangers alike to spread the word about their latest creation. The Internet is a place for artists to thrive alone and getting signed has become less of a concern for many of them and many of them are happy with their growing fanbases.
All that said, record labels aren't quite dead. Lots of talented people are still getting signed and making the money and the music required to stay on top in spite of the fact that the sales of CDs have gone down and digital sales have gone up and people are downloading like crazy and fame may be a harder goal to reach without publicists, managers, producers and everyone else working for a label backing them.
Are record labels necessary? It depends on your goals. But 'the death of the record industry' hasn't quite occurred yet.'
By Audrey Bishop
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
And Gone.
Listening to Amanda Palmer's ukulele Radiohead covers EP.
Working on the 200 portraits project.
There's a competition at the moment. If you retweet about http://200portraits.info or post about it somewhere and link me to it or make sure I see it, you go in the running to win a print of an older picture (not old old. I did it in the past year. But it's not new). So far, response is good. Might keep it going until I go home.
I had tacos in the backyard with my brothers today. I wore pajamas all day. I downloaded 'Everybody's Gotta Live' by Love and remembered making plans with Rachael based around going to South Bank and singing that particular song loudly. Then I remembered her buying a poem for £1 from a guy there and local authorities shuffling him along.
I also remembered this girl, Emily, who I used to kind of know who was one of the most interesting people I've ever met and also one of the most approachable. I was kind of fixated on her for a while. I was interested in hearing about her life (not to a stalker degree. Just in a way where we were friends on MySpace and I actually bothered to check what she was up to now and then). She was very sick, though. On and off. Like everyone who was in my life around 4 years ago, she disappeared into the void. I genuinely thought she had died because she was so sick and disappeared so abruptly and took all her friends with her. I never heard anything about her again and was too scared to ask. A while ago...Probably a couple of years ago at this stage, come to think about it...There was this thing in Covent Garden. It was like a funny shaped room. Inside there were coloured squares and you texted your wishes to a number and they appeared on the coloured squares inside. (I actually found what it is. Click here for a little explanation.) Anyway, me and my friend Sophia walked in and stood staring at the things that appeared on the walls for a few minutes. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw dark red hair and I spun around quickly to see Emily standing there, staring at the walls with the rest of us. I must have been gawking because she shot me a quick worried glance, laughed, grabbed her friend by the arm and ran off. I stepped out of the 'wishing well' and looked around for her, but she was no where in sight. But she wasn't dead, so that's nice.
Anyway. Today I've been wearing pajamas, drawing and remembering.
Working on the 200 portraits project.
There's a competition at the moment. If you retweet about http://200portraits.info or post about it somewhere and link me to it or make sure I see it, you go in the running to win a print of an older picture (not old old. I did it in the past year. But it's not new). So far, response is good. Might keep it going until I go home.
I had tacos in the backyard with my brothers today. I wore pajamas all day. I downloaded 'Everybody's Gotta Live' by Love and remembered making plans with Rachael based around going to South Bank and singing that particular song loudly. Then I remembered her buying a poem for £1 from a guy there and local authorities shuffling him along.
I also remembered this girl, Emily, who I used to kind of know who was one of the most interesting people I've ever met and also one of the most approachable. I was kind of fixated on her for a while. I was interested in hearing about her life (not to a stalker degree. Just in a way where we were friends on MySpace and I actually bothered to check what she was up to now and then). She was very sick, though. On and off. Like everyone who was in my life around 4 years ago, she disappeared into the void. I genuinely thought she had died because she was so sick and disappeared so abruptly and took all her friends with her. I never heard anything about her again and was too scared to ask. A while ago...Probably a couple of years ago at this stage, come to think about it...There was this thing in Covent Garden. It was like a funny shaped room. Inside there were coloured squares and you texted your wishes to a number and they appeared on the coloured squares inside. (I actually found what it is. Click here for a little explanation.) Anyway, me and my friend Sophia walked in and stood staring at the things that appeared on the walls for a few minutes. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw dark red hair and I spun around quickly to see Emily standing there, staring at the walls with the rest of us. I must have been gawking because she shot me a quick worried glance, laughed, grabbed her friend by the arm and ran off. I stepped out of the 'wishing well' and looked around for her, but she was no where in sight. But she wasn't dead, so that's nice.
Anyway. Today I've been wearing pajamas, drawing and remembering.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
'Mystery Project #3'
A few days ago, I tweeted something like this:
'If you're creative and can record yourself talking (maybe even if you can't) and may want to do a thing, email me. audreybishop@live.co.uk'
Then I gathered up the replies (I can't remember how many there were, but I am happy to saythat it was a number above 10. That's when I stopped counting. Not everyone has responded to that email, though, so it might be down to something more like 6 or 7) and sent out an email explaining what I was doing and why. I won't go far into the 'why?' because it was inspired by a conversation I had with someone who doesn't realise I'm using the conversation for my new project, but the 'what?' is a a podcast type thing about what people do in terms of art or creativity or whatever they want to talk about and how they do whatever they do. And why. And what they're doing.
So far, on my side, I seem to have someone who sings and acts and someone who cooks and maybe a writer and maybe a photographer and a couple of others that I can't exactly recall at this very moment. A few of the people, I think, know me mostly from the 200 Portraits project and Beth Hommel's tweet about it. So I'm glad that that has helped me get people interested.
Anyway, today I'm getting on a bus for like 7 hours or something to go to London to meet my mum. Then we're going to Kent. On Friday I'm going to HESFES to do some volunteer work type stuff. I'll get to see Keira, who I've known since I was 9 and have barely seen since I moved to Carlisle...along with a few other people but I don't think many of my friends are actually going.
Going to take a lot of photos and draw and not use my computer for a whole week. Special.
I also won't be updating the 200 Portraits site during my trip. If you need any info or anything like that, though, you can contact my assistant: twitter: assistantchump ...I'll post her email address here later.
'If you're creative and can record yourself talking (maybe even if you can't) and may want to do a thing, email me. audreybishop@live.co.uk'
Then I gathered up the replies (I can't remember how many there were, but I am happy to saythat it was a number above 10. That's when I stopped counting. Not everyone has responded to that email, though, so it might be down to something more like 6 or 7) and sent out an email explaining what I was doing and why. I won't go far into the 'why?' because it was inspired by a conversation I had with someone who doesn't realise I'm using the conversation for my new project, but the 'what?' is a a podcast type thing about what people do in terms of art or creativity or whatever they want to talk about and how they do whatever they do. And why. And what they're doing.
So far, on my side, I seem to have someone who sings and acts and someone who cooks and maybe a writer and maybe a photographer and a couple of others that I can't exactly recall at this very moment. A few of the people, I think, know me mostly from the 200 Portraits project and Beth Hommel's tweet about it. So I'm glad that that has helped me get people interested.
Anyway, today I'm getting on a bus for like 7 hours or something to go to London to meet my mum. Then we're going to Kent. On Friday I'm going to HESFES to do some volunteer work type stuff. I'll get to see Keira, who I've known since I was 9 and have barely seen since I moved to Carlisle...along with a few other people but I don't think many of my friends are actually going.
Going to take a lot of photos and draw and not use my computer for a whole week. Special.
I also won't be updating the 200 Portraits site during my trip. If you need any info or anything like that, though, you can contact my assistant: twitter: assistantchump ...I'll post her email address here later.
Friday, 2 July 2010
It's been a thing, you guys.
In my email account, I have a folder reserved for emails relating to 200 Portraits. Specifically the ones that actually came with photos (questions and responses to the update emails remain in the inbox). So far there is about 120. I've recieved photos in other places so soon I'll need to really count them up and figure out how many I have and if I should stop asking for submissions.
My best friend Bekki recently offered to be my assistant. So far the main thing she has had to do is gather email addresses to add to a list...Partly so if I decide I want to send an update to everyone who has sent a photo, I don't need to go too far to find their addresses and partly just because it's good to have a list of everyone who is involved. After I gave her full access to my (personal, might I add. This is how lazy I am. All your emails regarding the project go to my personal email address even though I have one specifically for 200 Portraits that I don't use) email account, she sorted through all of them and put them into the correct folder.
My hero.
I asked her if she'd read any of the emails that had come with the photos and she said no. I am grateful that she was thoughtful enough to not just read my stuff, but I kind of wish she had. Some of the stories that have been sent with the photos have really been something.
I've had emails from people who are sick and in hospital, parents who are worried about their children, people who believe that they aren't beautiful and want to see what I can do with their pictures.
People who didn't say anything about their pictures even though they looked like they had really interesting stories. That was nice as well. It's nice that there are interesting people with interesting pictures and interesting stories who don't feel the need to explain themselves. Because maybe what I am looking at and thinking 'wow. That's so strange/cool/funny!' about isn't really anything to them.
People in crazy costumes. A horse.
It's been really interesting so far and I look forward to seeing what else appears in my inbox.
The response to the cards I've been sending out to people who donate has been positive. That is very pleasing because it's not the easiest aspect of this. I am trying to complete a lot of suitable portraits of absolute strangers and the cards are really only another thing on the list. But knowing people are getting them and enjoying them makes it 10 times easier to pick up a pencil again and again and again for things that won't even be a part of the one large goal towards which I am trying to head.
Anyway, here is an interview that a friend of mine posted on her blog. Also it's a good blog, so maybe you should become a reader of it too.
http://monstergirlwrites.blogspot.com/2010/06/interviewing-audrey-bishop-of-200.html
http://200portraits.info
A.
My best friend Bekki recently offered to be my assistant. So far the main thing she has had to do is gather email addresses to add to a list...Partly so if I decide I want to send an update to everyone who has sent a photo, I don't need to go too far to find their addresses and partly just because it's good to have a list of everyone who is involved. After I gave her full access to my (personal, might I add. This is how lazy I am. All your emails regarding the project go to my personal email address even though I have one specifically for 200 Portraits that I don't use) email account, she sorted through all of them and put them into the correct folder.
My hero.
I asked her if she'd read any of the emails that had come with the photos and she said no. I am grateful that she was thoughtful enough to not just read my stuff, but I kind of wish she had. Some of the stories that have been sent with the photos have really been something.
I've had emails from people who are sick and in hospital, parents who are worried about their children, people who believe that they aren't beautiful and want to see what I can do with their pictures.
People who didn't say anything about their pictures even though they looked like they had really interesting stories. That was nice as well. It's nice that there are interesting people with interesting pictures and interesting stories who don't feel the need to explain themselves. Because maybe what I am looking at and thinking 'wow. That's so strange/cool/funny!' about isn't really anything to them.
People in crazy costumes. A horse.
It's been really interesting so far and I look forward to seeing what else appears in my inbox.
The response to the cards I've been sending out to people who donate has been positive. That is very pleasing because it's not the easiest aspect of this. I am trying to complete a lot of suitable portraits of absolute strangers and the cards are really only another thing on the list. But knowing people are getting them and enjoying them makes it 10 times easier to pick up a pencil again and again and again for things that won't even be a part of the one large goal towards which I am trying to head.
Anyway, here is an interview that a friend of mine posted on her blog. Also it's a good blog, so maybe you should become a reader of it too.
http://monstergirlwrites.blogspot.com/2010/06/interviewing-audrey-bishop-of-200.html
http://200portraits.info
A.
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
200 Portraits and a Carrot Cake.
I have blue hair.
I dyed it last night. I used some really good dye. I used Fudge Paintbox dye which is the best coloured dye I've ever used. My mum used it to put pink in my hair when I was a lot younger and I used to wear a red bandanna over it. A couple of years ago I dyed all my hair bright pink and it looked amazing. A lady on the bus asked me if I was a rockstar and countless little girls walked past me with their parents pointing at me and saying they wanted hair like mine. SO. I went online and found a person on amazon who sold that particular kind of dye in the UK and I got a colour called 'blue hawaii'.
But yeah! This is a terrrrible picture because it's just a phone one I took to post on twitter. You can also see what a mess my desk is. Whoops.
Today I'm going to watch Sleeping Beauty. In my hunt for interesting facts and things, I discovered this, which is supposedly an early version of the story: Sun, Moon and Talia (click)
I thought it was interesting (also if you don't understand the story, while slightly different, the plot on the wikipedia page makes way more sense).
Aaaanyway, I've been doing this project...I'm doing 200 portraits of all different people who send me their photos. Someone even sent me a picture of their horse. You can do it too: CLICK!
You can see some of the pictures there, but here are a couple of my favourites:
Paloma(13/200) and Sarah (1/200)
So yeah. That's what's going on.
I also did a brief interview for Monster Girl Writes (which is a brilliant blog, by the way) and if that goes up, I'll post a link here.
Later, dudes.
A.
I dyed it last night. I used some really good dye. I used Fudge Paintbox dye which is the best coloured dye I've ever used. My mum used it to put pink in my hair when I was a lot younger and I used to wear a red bandanna over it. A couple of years ago I dyed all my hair bright pink and it looked amazing. A lady on the bus asked me if I was a rockstar and countless little girls walked past me with their parents pointing at me and saying they wanted hair like mine. SO. I went online and found a person on amazon who sold that particular kind of dye in the UK and I got a colour called 'blue hawaii'.
But yeah! This is a terrrrible picture because it's just a phone one I took to post on twitter. You can also see what a mess my desk is. Whoops.
Today I'm going to watch Sleeping Beauty. In my hunt for interesting facts and things, I discovered this, which is supposedly an early version of the story: Sun, Moon and Talia (click)
I thought it was interesting (also if you don't understand the story, while slightly different, the plot on the wikipedia page makes way more sense).
Aaaanyway, I've been doing this project...I'm doing 200 portraits of all different people who send me their photos. Someone even sent me a picture of their horse. You can do it too: CLICK!
You can see some of the pictures there, but here are a couple of my favourites:
Paloma(13/200) and Sarah (1/200)
So yeah. That's what's going on.
I also did a brief interview for Monster Girl Writes (which is a brilliant blog, by the way) and if that goes up, I'll post a link here.
Later, dudes.
A.
Monday, 7 June 2010
-24th April 2010, Shepherds Bush.Partly at Paloma's house, partly to combat boredom during quieter moments at the merch table.
I uploaded a bunch of stuff to facebook, if we're friends on there.
My mum kindly uploaded this photo she took of me at the bus station just before I left London, also:
I can't say I'd thank her for it.
My mum kindly uploaded this photo she took of me at the bus station just before I left London, also:
I can't say I'd thank her for it.
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Loss.
As far as I know, I have to go home. Or I get to go home. I haven't decided.
Going home means getting to go swimming.
Going home also means I lose most of my possessions and someone I care about.
The longest I remember living in one house=3 years.
The shortest I remember living in one house=6 months.
I'd say on average I usually spend around a year and a half living in a house.
There was the one with the garage on the hill that I pointed out saying 'we lived there!' each time we went past it for years, even though I don't remember living there.
There was a two storey house in a weird sort of court where all the houses matched and my dad had 2 mokes and I liked to dress up as Pocahontas and steal pea pods from the plants that grew from our neighbours yard into ours.
There was the house in a court in Mill Park where I made enemies of the girls who lived on the other end, out of which we eventually moved because of earwigs. They were everywhere. We were plagued by the things.
There was the beautiful but small house in Ocean Grove. A 10 minute walk from the beach, a lovely backyard...My nanna owned it and now she lives in it.
There were others but when I try to remember them my mind just goes blank.
I've lived in different houses in different countries and states so that means that when I build up a collection of things...things that I'm used to being able to see and touch and use...I often have to lose them. And friends...I have lost so many friends. Sometimes I've left town and not bothered to tell the friends or I never bother to keep in contact (the internet has changed this ever so slightly, which is wonderful). Once I came out of school and met my dad and he said that we were moving to Sydney and I didn't have any say and I didn't get to tell my best friend until we'd driven all the way to Sydney and I got to call her when I got there.
I used to have so many books. As a child, I read all the time. I read and I drew. All I did. I lived in the library.
I had so many books that they filled boxes and bookshelves and every time I moved I had to get rid of most of them. But my collection would always build back up, as if by magic.
It's slowed over the years.
I spend less time reading but I still have more books than I could carry to another continent. I also have more CDs and DVDs and I have all these random bits of life that it would absolutely kill to lose.
I get jealous of the people I meet who live in the same house they lived in when they were 3 or whose parents (or one of their parents) still live in the house in which they were concieved because that means the possibility of going through boxes and finding things you haven't seen since you were 6 and old photos and not building up your life, wary of the fact that one day you might have to give it all away or just lose it. Once when I was younger one of my mother's friends lived with us and she came home to find that she'd stolen everything we owned except for the TV and a box of photos.
If you're one of those lucky people who has barely moved their entire life, I'm jealous. You should take advantage of that and go through all the cupboards in the house right now.
All that said, I'm not disappointed with how things are. I've travelled so much and seen so many places.
I just want to stop for a little while.
Going home means getting to go swimming.
Going home also means I lose most of my possessions and someone I care about.
The longest I remember living in one house=3 years.
The shortest I remember living in one house=6 months.
I'd say on average I usually spend around a year and a half living in a house.
There was the one with the garage on the hill that I pointed out saying 'we lived there!' each time we went past it for years, even though I don't remember living there.
There was a two storey house in a weird sort of court where all the houses matched and my dad had 2 mokes and I liked to dress up as Pocahontas and steal pea pods from the plants that grew from our neighbours yard into ours.
There was the house in a court in Mill Park where I made enemies of the girls who lived on the other end, out of which we eventually moved because of earwigs. They were everywhere. We were plagued by the things.
There was the beautiful but small house in Ocean Grove. A 10 minute walk from the beach, a lovely backyard...My nanna owned it and now she lives in it.
There were others but when I try to remember them my mind just goes blank.
I've lived in different houses in different countries and states so that means that when I build up a collection of things...things that I'm used to being able to see and touch and use...I often have to lose them. And friends...I have lost so many friends. Sometimes I've left town and not bothered to tell the friends or I never bother to keep in contact (the internet has changed this ever so slightly, which is wonderful). Once I came out of school and met my dad and he said that we were moving to Sydney and I didn't have any say and I didn't get to tell my best friend until we'd driven all the way to Sydney and I got to call her when I got there.
I used to have so many books. As a child, I read all the time. I read and I drew. All I did. I lived in the library.
I had so many books that they filled boxes and bookshelves and every time I moved I had to get rid of most of them. But my collection would always build back up, as if by magic.
It's slowed over the years.
I spend less time reading but I still have more books than I could carry to another continent. I also have more CDs and DVDs and I have all these random bits of life that it would absolutely kill to lose.
I get jealous of the people I meet who live in the same house they lived in when they were 3 or whose parents (or one of their parents) still live in the house in which they were concieved because that means the possibility of going through boxes and finding things you haven't seen since you were 6 and old photos and not building up your life, wary of the fact that one day you might have to give it all away or just lose it. Once when I was younger one of my mother's friends lived with us and she came home to find that she'd stolen everything we owned except for the TV and a box of photos.
If you're one of those lucky people who has barely moved their entire life, I'm jealous. You should take advantage of that and go through all the cupboards in the house right now.
All that said, I'm not disappointed with how things are. I've travelled so much and seen so many places.
I just want to stop for a little while.
Monday, 31 May 2010
Like a satellite, I’m in an orbit all the way around you...
I cannot stop listening to Satellite by Lena Meyer-Landrut.
The song that won the Eurovision Song Contest.
Therefore making me an incredibly sad, sad creature...It's still a really good song though. For some reason it reminded me of 'I'll Kill Her' by SoKo and now I keep listening to that as well. I don't think I really like SoKo that much. I like maybe 2 of her songs.
Not that she has that many out anyway...
After (the day after, I think) I hurt my neck in London, I met Paloma at Waterloo station and then we wandered around and I stayed at her house. We watched 'Secretary', which I'd previously only seen part of but enjoyed. It's a good movie.
I went to see Laura, who I hadn't seen in ages but met when I was 9 and this other girl -Amy- I was friends with when I was 9 was there too. We made cupcakes and Laura unearthed a bottle of wine and there was popcorn and we watched some movie that I can't really remember too well but it bored me.
I came back up to Carlisle. Not a lot has happened since I got back. I was meaning to go to Lancaster to see Sarah but I'm broke, so I didn't. It's too expensive a trip. Johnny and I went for a walk the other day and there was some steam fair thing going on and we walked through where all the caravans and things were and there were lots of odd, odd things going on.
And swarms of bugs.
No more walking through parks until the weather is different, I suppose.
Talked to Keira, am working at hes fes in July. No idea what I'm doing. Was meant to last year but couldn't afford to get there.
That was bad.
It should be good this year.
I hope some friends I haven't seen in a long time are there. My old tutor will probably be there (another person I have known since I was 9. Except a proper real life grown up who can be like 'oh god, you've grown up into a failure, haven't you?' or something...Not that I've actually grown up into a failure...But if anyone could tell, she probably could. ANYWAY, moving on...).
I got a copy of 'Crazy Taxi 3', which my brothers and I used to take turns at playing, even though it's one of the worst games ever to hit the world. Basically, you drive around in a speeding, jumping taxi and smash into things and try and get your passenger to their destination in about a minute.
So I'm gonna go play that.
The song that won the Eurovision Song Contest.
Therefore making me an incredibly sad, sad creature...It's still a really good song though. For some reason it reminded me of 'I'll Kill Her' by SoKo and now I keep listening to that as well. I don't think I really like SoKo that much. I like maybe 2 of her songs.
Not that she has that many out anyway...
After (the day after, I think) I hurt my neck in London, I met Paloma at Waterloo station and then we wandered around and I stayed at her house. We watched 'Secretary', which I'd previously only seen part of but enjoyed. It's a good movie.
I went to see Laura, who I hadn't seen in ages but met when I was 9 and this other girl -Amy- I was friends with when I was 9 was there too. We made cupcakes and Laura unearthed a bottle of wine and there was popcorn and we watched some movie that I can't really remember too well but it bored me.
I came back up to Carlisle. Not a lot has happened since I got back. I was meaning to go to Lancaster to see Sarah but I'm broke, so I didn't. It's too expensive a trip. Johnny and I went for a walk the other day and there was some steam fair thing going on and we walked through where all the caravans and things were and there were lots of odd, odd things going on.
And swarms of bugs.
No more walking through parks until the weather is different, I suppose.
Talked to Keira, am working at hes fes in July. No idea what I'm doing. Was meant to last year but couldn't afford to get there.
That was bad.
It should be good this year.
I hope some friends I haven't seen in a long time are there. My old tutor will probably be there (another person I have known since I was 9. Except a proper real life grown up who can be like 'oh god, you've grown up into a failure, haven't you?' or something...Not that I've actually grown up into a failure...But if anyone could tell, she probably could. ANYWAY, moving on...).
I got a copy of 'Crazy Taxi 3', which my brothers and I used to take turns at playing, even though it's one of the worst games ever to hit the world. Basically, you drive around in a speeding, jumping taxi and smash into things and try and get your passenger to their destination in about a minute.
So I'm gonna go play that.
Friday, 28 May 2010
Dear ___________,
As civil as I try to be with you, I cannot imagine a world in which I do not want to punch you in the jaw.
Audrey.
Proper and less angry update later.
Also read my review of Jessica Allyn's f***ing brilliant album 'Delusions of Grandeur' here: http://indiemusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/jessica-allyn-delusions-of-grandeur-review ...shut up, you have to start somewhere.
Audrey.
Proper and less angry update later.
Also read my review of Jessica Allyn's f***ing brilliant album 'Delusions of Grandeur' here: http://indiemusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/jessica-allyn-delusions-of-grandeur-review ...shut up, you have to start somewhere.
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Nothing.
In the end, all I did was go to Sainsbury's with mum, make dinner and lie in bed.
Shortly after my last blog post, I decided to 'get on with my day' by taking a shower.
I injured my neck whilst washing my hair.
I have been in awful pain all day.
I am hoping it will feel slightly better tomorrow as I plan on actually doing things tomorrow.
Shortly after my last blog post, I decided to 'get on with my day' by taking a shower.
I injured my neck whilst washing my hair.
I have been in awful pain all day.
I am hoping it will feel slightly better tomorrow as I plan on actually doing things tomorrow.
'I'll make you wings out of paper and glue...'
'...and you can fly wherever you are thinking, as long as you fly on back to me.' -'CRUSH', VERMILLION LIES (may have gotten something wrong. This is what I hear on the crappy recording I have on my iPod.)
Still in London. Have decided that I will stay until Saturday and meet up with Johnny in Leicester.
Today I'm meant to go on a picnic with Paloma and possibly Charley but we didn't really come to a decision in regards to when/where this picnic would take place. So maybe it will be today, maybe it will be...Not today!
Was also invited to some thing in Hyde Park but decided not to go to that as I'm fairly certain it involved people who I don't like and some people who absolutely disgust me.
Unfortunately, this also means not seeing two friends that I haven't seen in ages and ages. But I might see one of them on Tuesday, so it's not terribly tragic.
Yesterday, Riley and I went to the William Morris Gallery. It used to be the home of William Morris and it is in Lloyd Park, which is behind my family's house. Even when I lived with my family, I never ever went to it.
But yesterday, we were walking past and I saw that the door was open (I've never seen it open and it just looked so much more inviting, as it didn't feel like I was just barging into this big, pretty house) and I knew that entry is free and it just seemed like a good idea.
It's beautiful old house, filled with beautiful old things.
I bought some postcards. One for myself and one for Johnny. But I'm yet to decide if I'd rather mail it to him or just give it to him on the weekend. Probably the latter, as I'm so lazy.
The upstairs of the gallery scared me. When I got up there, I realised that even though I'd never been there, it was mostly the same as a building in a dream I had once, where someone was selling books and then suddenly it started to collapse and the floor kept falling away from under one of my feet.
In reality, the floor of the upper storey in the gallery is so creaky that it really did feel like I was going to fall through it.
One of the rooms made me feel a bit weird. I can't remember what was on the walls, but I know there was something. I remember that there was a fireplace and I remember Riley pointing out a power socket and joking that 'I bet that's where William Morris plugged in his electric heater.'
All I can really remember from that room is feeling disoriented and wanting to get out. As soon as I walked out, it went away.
That's exactly how I imagine it feels to be somewhere that is 'haunted' (which I never really believed in exactly).
Not that I thought it was haunted at the time.
We went home and I switched on my laptop to find an email from Amanda, thanking me and Kaitlin for doing all the merch stuff. It was really lovely. I hadn't expected it and it was a nice little thing to have happen.
While watching 'Total Wipeout', I struck up a conversation on twitter with a guy I met while doing merch. This guy was so funny and friendly and kept talking to us, so we got his twitter username. He is a part of this amusing online game... http://www.kill5.com/game.php?id=scene_and_not_heard
I didn't do very well at it, but I enjoyed it anyway.
I watched Doctor Who with my brothers and asked Johnny to call me to talk about it. He didn't seem to want to, because he had things to do, but he did. And we had a nice talk. And he opened and read my mail to me.
I played Jenga with Will for a while. He doesn't actually have proper Jenga, he has...a sort of rip-off game, I guess...Called Tumble Down. It had the name of the game over and over in different languages down the side, and one of them was 'wackelturm'. So instead of shouting 'jenga!' when the tower collapsed, we started shouting 'wackelturm!!!!'
Will then had to go to bed (oh the joys of being 7!!!) so I got my laptop back out and watched the movie 'Hideous Kinky'. Mostly because I read the book a long time ago and have been meaning to ever since.
I've heard that it's awful, but I rather enjoyed it. Not in a way where I now consider it to be the greatest movie ever, but I did enjoy it.
Kate Winslet is beautiful in it and I could relate to some of the things that happened to the characters.
Now to try and get on with my day.
Hmmmmmm.
Still in London. Have decided that I will stay until Saturday and meet up with Johnny in Leicester.
Today I'm meant to go on a picnic with Paloma and possibly Charley but we didn't really come to a decision in regards to when/where this picnic would take place. So maybe it will be today, maybe it will be...Not today!
Was also invited to some thing in Hyde Park but decided not to go to that as I'm fairly certain it involved people who I don't like and some people who absolutely disgust me.
Unfortunately, this also means not seeing two friends that I haven't seen in ages and ages. But I might see one of them on Tuesday, so it's not terribly tragic.
Yesterday, Riley and I went to the William Morris Gallery. It used to be the home of William Morris and it is in Lloyd Park, which is behind my family's house. Even when I lived with my family, I never ever went to it.
But yesterday, we were walking past and I saw that the door was open (I've never seen it open and it just looked so much more inviting, as it didn't feel like I was just barging into this big, pretty house) and I knew that entry is free and it just seemed like a good idea.
It's beautiful old house, filled with beautiful old things.
I bought some postcards. One for myself and one for Johnny. But I'm yet to decide if I'd rather mail it to him or just give it to him on the weekend. Probably the latter, as I'm so lazy.
The upstairs of the gallery scared me. When I got up there, I realised that even though I'd never been there, it was mostly the same as a building in a dream I had once, where someone was selling books and then suddenly it started to collapse and the floor kept falling away from under one of my feet.
In reality, the floor of the upper storey in the gallery is so creaky that it really did feel like I was going to fall through it.
One of the rooms made me feel a bit weird. I can't remember what was on the walls, but I know there was something. I remember that there was a fireplace and I remember Riley pointing out a power socket and joking that 'I bet that's where William Morris plugged in his electric heater.'
All I can really remember from that room is feeling disoriented and wanting to get out. As soon as I walked out, it went away.
That's exactly how I imagine it feels to be somewhere that is 'haunted' (which I never really believed in exactly).
Not that I thought it was haunted at the time.
We went home and I switched on my laptop to find an email from Amanda, thanking me and Kaitlin for doing all the merch stuff. It was really lovely. I hadn't expected it and it was a nice little thing to have happen.
While watching 'Total Wipeout', I struck up a conversation on twitter with a guy I met while doing merch. This guy was so funny and friendly and kept talking to us, so we got his twitter username. He is a part of this amusing online game... http://www.kill5.com/game.php?id=scene_and_not_heard
I didn't do very well at it, but I enjoyed it anyway.
I watched Doctor Who with my brothers and asked Johnny to call me to talk about it. He didn't seem to want to, because he had things to do, but he did. And we had a nice talk. And he opened and read my mail to me.
I played Jenga with Will for a while. He doesn't actually have proper Jenga, he has...a sort of rip-off game, I guess...Called Tumble Down. It had the name of the game over and over in different languages down the side, and one of them was 'wackelturm'. So instead of shouting 'jenga!' when the tower collapsed, we started shouting 'wackelturm!!!!'
Will then had to go to bed (oh the joys of being 7!!!) so I got my laptop back out and watched the movie 'Hideous Kinky'. Mostly because I read the book a long time ago and have been meaning to ever since.
I've heard that it's awful, but I rather enjoyed it. Not in a way where I now consider it to be the greatest movie ever, but I did enjoy it.
Kate Winslet is beautiful in it and I could relate to some of the things that happened to the characters.
Now to try and get on with my day.
Hmmmmmm.
Friday, 14 May 2010
Strangetime.
Kept waking up and falling asleep this morning, in and out of a dream where I was on a bus and there was this...weird talking baby-like creature who was loud and angry and wanted me to do the things that it couldn't do due to a lack of mobility.
Other parts of the dream also seemed to take place in Maida Vale tube station (the closest station to the tiny 2 bedroom house my family -with 5 members- used to have to pack into when I was 9-10) but with strange things. The ticket office was more of an old fashioned looking vending machine and the escalators were gone.
Maida Vale tube station has been in a lot of my dreams and I don't know why.
Today I decided that I'll probably stay in London an extra 5 days.
1. I don't see my family enough.
2. If I do that, I can get a bus to Leicester and meet Johnny there and get a train back with him the next day. It beats shelling out for the train journey back to Carlisle OR doing the less expensive 8 hour bus trip.
3. Gives me more time to go to shops I haven't been to in ages. Like Muji. And also art shops, because there aren't really any in Carlisle that I can go to. And galleries. Apparently one of my dad's friends has an exhibition on now or sometime soon, so I suppose if I'm around, I can swing by that too.
4. Gives me more time to sort out when Paloma and I are having a picnic. Because we've been discussing it since I got here, and while I have seen her, it wasn't for a picnic.
5. Maybe catch up with more Brigade types that I usually only see during an Amanda Palmer thing (and seeing as I was working at the last few, I barely saw them even then).
6. Mostly it would be nice to spend some more time with Will.
I'm proud of Will. My monster of a 7 year old brother.
It was Mothers Day, the other day, in other countries such as Australia, where I was born and have spent most of my existance so far, so I bought a copy of 'The Science of Sleep' for my Mum. Will doesn't understand most of it, seeing as most of it is in French, but has decided he loves it anyway, because of all of Stephane's dreams.
The other day, I found him pulling colorful crepe paper out of a box and I asked what he was doing and he told me that he wanted to make a picture of himself. So I helped him a bit and I made one of myself, too.
He plays a lot of video games, as do my other two brothers, and he is incredible at them. The things that I struggle with, the things my other brothers struggle with...he breezes through. And he's 7. He never ceases to amaze me.
ANYWAY, with the crepe paper self portraits and his enjoyment of 'The Science of Sleep' dream sequences, I've come to realise that despite how much time he spends playing video games, he's not a little zombie child.
He's a pretty creative kid -not that it's shocking. I know children generally are.- but I didn't realise just how capable of these things he is. I think that I forgot, because I've not been able to spend so much time with him, what with living on the other end of the country.
22.22
Other parts of the dream also seemed to take place in Maida Vale tube station (the closest station to the tiny 2 bedroom house my family -with 5 members- used to have to pack into when I was 9-10) but with strange things. The ticket office was more of an old fashioned looking vending machine and the escalators were gone.
Maida Vale tube station has been in a lot of my dreams and I don't know why.
Today I decided that I'll probably stay in London an extra 5 days.
1. I don't see my family enough.
2. If I do that, I can get a bus to Leicester and meet Johnny there and get a train back with him the next day. It beats shelling out for the train journey back to Carlisle OR doing the less expensive 8 hour bus trip.
3. Gives me more time to go to shops I haven't been to in ages. Like Muji. And also art shops, because there aren't really any in Carlisle that I can go to. And galleries. Apparently one of my dad's friends has an exhibition on now or sometime soon, so I suppose if I'm around, I can swing by that too.
4. Gives me more time to sort out when Paloma and I are having a picnic. Because we've been discussing it since I got here, and while I have seen her, it wasn't for a picnic.
5. Maybe catch up with more Brigade types that I usually only see during an Amanda Palmer thing (and seeing as I was working at the last few, I barely saw them even then).
6. Mostly it would be nice to spend some more time with Will.
I'm proud of Will. My monster of a 7 year old brother.
It was Mothers Day, the other day, in other countries such as Australia, where I was born and have spent most of my existance so far, so I bought a copy of 'The Science of Sleep' for my Mum. Will doesn't understand most of it, seeing as most of it is in French, but has decided he loves it anyway, because of all of Stephane's dreams.
The other day, I found him pulling colorful crepe paper out of a box and I asked what he was doing and he told me that he wanted to make a picture of himself. So I helped him a bit and I made one of myself, too.
He plays a lot of video games, as do my other two brothers, and he is incredible at them. The things that I struggle with, the things my other brothers struggle with...he breezes through. And he's 7. He never ceases to amaze me.
ANYWAY, with the crepe paper self portraits and his enjoyment of 'The Science of Sleep' dream sequences, I've come to realise that despite how much time he spends playing video games, he's not a little zombie child.
He's a pretty creative kid -not that it's shocking. I know children generally are.- but I didn't realise just how capable of these things he is. I think that I forgot, because I've not been able to spend so much time with him, what with living on the other end of the country.
22.22
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