Sunburnt Tiger

If it ain't fixed, break it!

2010-01-11T16:37:00.000-08:00

Things can be tricky, and it'll come as no surprise to anyone who has seen me lately that things aren't making me very happy at the minute. Things I need and want I can't have, and my current situation - which is, I'll happily admit, of my own making - is such that I can't change or fix things for about 6 months. It's been making me very negative.
I've not been sleeping, I've got my daemons, I guess we all have.

So I've put my mind to changing and fixing the few things that are within my sphere of influence, it's odd how much difference the little things can make. So far I've bought a new computer and am halfway through re-arranging my furniture (people who've lived with me probably won't be surprised by that one!) and whilst it might not sound like a lot it certainly is nice to feel in control. I'll be extending this logic to anything I can...

Happy Christmas Y'all!

2009-12-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

So turns out I don't know anyone's address and I've never been any good at sending Christmas cards anyway and sending loads of cards isn't very green! So here's two cards I made previously:

13 Years

2009-10-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

I know what I was doing 13 years ago today, or at least I remember some of the more important events of the day. I'm not sure what happened in between then and now or how I've changed over the years - I'm too close to see. It's impossible to see where another 13 years will land me. October 21st 1996 was a day that changed everything and it changed it for at least 13 years, as the years rolled by the meaning of the day altered - coloured by the events which followed.

Back when it was relevant it was a date I often forgot, but I don't think I ever forgot it's importance for me.

When nothing you do matters what matters is what you do...

2009-05-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

... so I've decided to build my own Crazy Golf course!

Obsession, it's a good thing right?

2009-01-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

"A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiams... What are mine?"

I am obsessed, but I reckoned that being obsessed with only one thing is creepy and a little unnerving where as obsessing about a handful of things is good and healthy! Perhaps obsession is a slightly strong word - perhaps its just extreme, and possibly excessive, liking of. Whatever the term here's a little list of things, it's in no particular order and is no way conclusive

Photoshop - I got my first look at PhotoShop (or PotatoChop as it became lovingly known) in 1997 and it was not long before I was putting my friends' faces into movie posters and stills. I loved it from the very start and since then it has been my ambition to make Photoshop as big a part of my life as possible - using it where ever possible in my university work at the time and spending more and more time retouching and doctoring images as a hobby. When I decided to get out of mechanical engineering it was a big influence on my decision to study computer science and specifically my choice of topics and dissertation which was creating and adapting a suite of image manipulation and comparison tools... basically a mini-photoshop imitation being the sincerest form of flattery after all! Since then every step I've taken has been one closer, and hopefully soon I'll be working in Creative Retouching and the dream will have been realised!

Crazy Golf - Mini, Crazy, Adventure or all 3 there is something perfect about small scale golf especially when it involves amusing obstacles! It's a game you can be competitive about but without being overly serious or stressful which is particularly excellent if, like me, your skill at sport comes more from luck than technical ability! I've played on 3 different continents I think the first course I ever played was the one in my dad's home town - made entirely out of concrete - I was distressed to see last time I was there that it has been demolished. As yet nothing has taken it's place, what could?

Tom Gauld's Illustrations - I thought I'd better put the word "Illustrations" in there in case somebody thought I was stalking Tom Gauld, in fact I've never met him and I've never even contemplated camped outside his front door just in the hope of touching him... I have had a short email conversation with him though. All that aside his drawings are wryly amusing and have a charmingly naive and human nature to them. You should check them out here.

Movies - I love films, I love the cinema, even bad films are good. It's some kind of voodoo. I like to think I can identify most films by looking at a random frame or scene regardless of whether or not I've seen it - I'm pretty good at it. I suppose quoting goes hand in hand with films (though not exclusively) I do love to quote and I'll admit it is at times hard to know where the quote ends and I begin (see first line of this post).

Pedalos - I've no idea why pedalos are great, maybe its something to do with the fact that they're mostly useless as a mode of transport and more than a little bit naff. Something about riding a pedalo really implies am intention of doing very little with the day, it speaks of the luxury of time and relaxation! So if you ever find yourself walking near water with me and notice a glazed over look in my eyes I'm probably thinking how cool it would be if we had a pedalo!

Lauren Laverne - Can't put my finger on quite why (possibly her lovely eyes, possibly the cheeky smile) but I've always been a little fixated with Lauren ever since the days of Kenickie, and just look at her now - a host on the culture show! The girl done good! Anyway I'm sure she'd be flattered by the admiration (for want of a better word) and should she ever decide to ditch her family she knows where I am.

Oh yeah and Batman... Oh, and stationery... And photos too... and Raymond Chandler novels.

2008 Film Review

2009-01-16T09:51:00.000-08:00

The Good Films are never quite as interesting to talk about so I'll just let you know my top films of the year and throw a few recommendations at you.
So best film of the year is too hard to call so I've chosen 2: In Bruges and The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight
Unless you've been living in a box you'll know what The Dark Knight is all about so I won't drone on about it too much simply to say that I absolutely loved it, it certainly helped that both times I saw it were on IMAX screens. I've always been a big Batman freak, Christopher Nolan is a genius who had already proved himself to be more than capable of doing a batman film, and the cast was just superb so it was already a recipe for success and it was better than I dared to hope! Highlight for me has to be Heath as the Joker - absolutely mesmerizing, and the opening sequence robbery.

In Bruges
In Bruges is on an altogether lower key - two hitmen (Brendan Glesson and Colin Farrell) are directed by their employer (Ralph Fiennes) to lay low in Brussels for a few days after some event (which is revealed part way through the film). It's an extremely black comedy about life and death, hell and redemption, as things in Bruges start out dull veer into excitement before heading to dangerous. It's excellent to see Colin doing some decent acting again it seems you have to wait years between his good performances as he calls in his performances in Hollywood blockbusters, presumably for the money, in this it certainly looks like he's doing it for the love. Hard to pick a highlight as its consistently excellent and the interaction between the two leads is perfect, Brenden Gleesson is always a pleasure to watch and this is going back to classic I Went Down territory.

Very worthy of mention: Pineapple Express; Burn After Reading; Be Kind Rewind; There Will Be Blood; Son of Rambow; Juno; Iron Man; Frost/Nixon.

Films I somehow missed and must get round to: No Country For Old Men; Gone Baby Gone; Sweeney Todd.

Ok on to the Bad Films. To be perfectly honest I watch a lot of bad films (I watch far too many romantic comedies for a start) but most of the time I'm prepare for the films to be nothing more than popcorn entertainment and that's all I want - I'm fairly forgiving to bad films. That said here are some stinkers I saw in 2008:

I'll start with the worst, Lost Boys 2 - I'm not sure that Lost Boys was what you'd call good but it was a lot of fun and certainly has a place in many hearts of my generation - to anyone who regards it fondly I would issue this warning - Stay away from Lost Boys 2, it's worse than you could imagine! Mind you Corey Feldman is vaguelly amusing to watch as he hams like never before! People who aren't bothered about the original are hopefully smart enough to stay away from the sequel anyway!

Close second has got to be In the Name of the King, all in all it was a pretty bad year for Jason Stretham, lets be fair he's never going to be a good actor but his hard man formula should at least deliver some entertainment, shouldn't it? Deathrace and Transporter 3 using hard man plus car formula were watchable nonsense but poor imitation of earlier hits. In Bank Job he attempted some acting as a cockney hard man (not much of a stretch there) and managed to be almost plausible as a human being, almost. The less said about In the Name of the King and War the better.

Also a pretty bad year for Mark Wahlberg - We Own The Night had all the ingredients of a great movie including a pretty ace looking cast but vered wildly between gritty and realistic and action packed, in the end failling to be either and ending up pretty boring. Marky Mark took scowling to a whole new level in the frankly baffling computer game movie Max Payne, didn't expect much and got about that.

Plentiful "weak, lazy, and generally half-arsed comedy" awards get handed out including Love Guru, Tropic Thunder, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, and Step Brothers.

There were a whole bunch of totally underwhelming films this year, not necessarily bad just chronically mediocre most notably The Day The Earth Stood Still, Hancock, and 21

So a lot of middle of the road rubbish in 2008 rather than anything overtly offensive, I think I may have carefully avoided the real dross. I am incredibly glad to have (deliberately) missed Mamma Mia, Sex and the City, and The Happening.

2008: A Year in Numbers

2009-01-15T05:34:00.000-08:00

I'll probably do a review of 2008 in words at some point but for now here are some numbers for anyone who is interested:

5000+ Photos*
217 Films, 30 of which in the cinema
30 Years old
27 Buildings stayed in
21 Books
21 Blog entries here
13 Birthday Parties
9 Flights
7 Concerts
6 Countries
5 Blog entries on Things We Know
4 Continents
5 Boat Trips
3 Plays
2 Book launches
1 Stagg Do
1 Rugby Match
1 Wedding

*Everyday in 2008 I took at least one photo, depending on how many photos you can be bothered to look through (366, 53, 12) click one of the links:
Best of the Day
Best of the Week
Best of the Month

Photoshop = Nazi Propaganda?

2009-01-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

I don't really want to be excited about Valkyrie but it's hard not to be after all Bryan Singer is one of my favourite directors and the cast is a veritable who's who of excellent actors including Ken Branagh, Terence Stamp, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Christian Berkel (if you haven't seen Das Experiment you really ought to check it out), Kevin McNally, and err Eddie Izzard (last seen as a talking mouse). Not to mention Tom Cruise of course who I'm loathed to admit is a pretty good actor if you're prepared to over look the whole weirdy-evil-brainwash-psydo-religion-cult stuff!

The film centers around the attempted assassination of Hitler by his own people during the second world war. For obvious reasons this is a story close to the heart of many Germans and Claus von Stauffenberg is seen as something of a national hero due to the part he played in trying to kill Hitler and hopefully save Germany before it was too late.

Germany doesn't like Scientology and has not recognised it as a religion due to the fact that it has primarily economical interests and as such is a commercial enterprise. In fact the cult has been declared unconstitutional (way to go Germany!) I may be reading too much into this but I should think Germans are very aware of the dangers of cults and brainwashing... Anyway all this bad blood meant that when Tom Cruise was named as the actor to play Stauffenberg, Germany basically told the production company to naff off if they thought they were going to be allowed to film at key historical locations. Scientology 0, Germany 2!

Eventually after much negotiating and, lets hope, lots of money passing hands filming was allowed. This was not the end of the trouble of course - during filming 11 men were badly injured when the side of a truck fell open when cornering at speed and spilt them onto the road. Also a huge chunk of material had to be re-shot after reels of film were wiped!

But the latest and to my mind scariest controversy has not been widely reported. United Artist released a pair of promotional stills - one a profile of the original Claus Von Stauffenberg and the other Tom Cruise in costume and the same pose, and my word don't they look similar! Perhaps they are related some how? No, the original has been altered to look more like the Cruiser! Hopefully you can see for yourself that the image has been altered: its been stretched, making his head shape longer and narrower; the chin has been given the Cruise dip; the nose has been given a bit of a curve (the original Claus has a very straight nose); and finally it's been aged and degraded to my mind a forgivable crime but one which help disguise the other alterations.

I'm not going to go in to any technical detail but what interests me is the morality of it, as most of you know I'm a big fan of digital art, altering photographs, and of course photoshop. I've always seen it as fairly harmless but this seems to be actually altering our historical record and here we enter the territory of 1984's Ministry of Truth. My worry is that most people are not very aware of Von Stauffenberg, I for one knew little more than the fact he was involved in a plot to kill Hitler with a bomb in a briefcase, and we're naturally going to pick up more knowledge from Valkyrie and probably start to associate Tom with Claus anyway. It would be nice to think that the film will encourage people to learn more about the real history and perhaps people will wonder if Claus looked anything like Cruise - that's certainly the kind of thing I end up wondering about these kind of films - so after leaving the cinema we head home and tap "Claus Von Stauffenberg" into a Google image search - first result is Tom in a still from the film and the second is the two pictures released by United side by side! So all of a sudden the main reference picture for Claus is the one which has been doctored by United Artists (allegedly).

It worries me, photoshop is a very powerful tool and as Stan put it: with great power comes great responsibility! Just because we can do an alteration and get paid to perhaps we still have a duty to question whether its the right thing to do.

Of course these are just opinions I can't prove that doctoring has occurred but I don't feel the need to I would like to believe that (along with a number of others) I am wrong, after all Tom is an actor and really shouldn't need to look identical to the person he's portraying - Joaquin Pheonix did just fine as Johnny Cash despite not looking a great deal like him.

Interestingly this article now has a correction at the top which sounds suspiciously like something that has come as the result of legal bully from United Artists and basically states that the writer of the artical hadn't done their research properly and had overlooked the archive image that United Artists had found and released!

Why are you in Blighty?

2008-12-29T03:54:00.000-08:00

Some people have spotted that I'm back in the country and though some people are a little nervous about asking (in case I have a breakdown or something) I think people generally want to know why... to be honest I'd quite like to know myself! Depending upon my mood these are the potential answers to the question why are you in Blighty?

Plans change
I had a good holiday in Australia but decided that that was enough and I had got what I wanted from the trip
I never wanted to live perminantly in Oz and once I established that I was not going to be able to get the job I wanted out there finding other temporary or random work seemed fairly pointless
I missed you
I know what I would like in life and that will probably be in the UK so I would be as well to start on the road to getting that sorted. So anyone who has a job, girlfriend or house in the country for me should send them over at once
I have no idea, I probably need my head checked... by a professional
Sun and relaxed attitudes don't suit my depression or need for pathos

Of course my visa is valid for a fair while yet so flying off again is not impossible...

Sydney, so good they named it!

2008-11-11T02:57:00.000-08:00

So I've been in Sydney a while now and as ever there are some photos in the usual place.

What have I been up to? Well, I've walked most of the city; lived on the 72nd floor in a luxury apartment; gone to Manly on a ferry (this is NOT a euphemism); eaten pancakes on Darling Harbour (nope not a euphemism either); seen the Opera House (a lot); climbed over the Harbour Bridge; seen rain; visited the Art Gallery; been to Bondi Beach; stayed in 3 different hostels; been involved in the rigging of a pub quiz; been attacked by birds; slept in bunk beds; watched thousands of bats fly across the city in the twilight; been round a random photo exhibition; seen the cleverly named Blue Mountains and Scenic World; been to the cinema; done some work experience with creative retouching specialist Electric Art; and yeah probably some other stuff.

And on the off chance you didn't know - I have another blog, the latest article on which is about Australia! Click here for things I know.

Can you hear me, Toecutter?

2008-10-28T01:27:00.000-07:00

I have toured the wastelands in the last V8-interceptor, bumped into Tina Turner, Bruce Spence gave me a lift in his gyrocopter, and when I look up at the night sky I remember his name - the Night Rider!

Ok so maybe that stuff just happened in my brain but I did see some ace things. The Road trip took us north from Brisbane to Bundaberg (a small town spread over a wide area) then north again Agnes Waters and the town of 1770 to go out to see the Great Barrier Reef. Post reef back south again to Brisbane via the Glass House Mountains then a few days on the road down to Sydney stopping at Gold Coast (on Indy night), Coffs Harbour and Newcastle. And here comes the big boring list of things I've seen

Wild stuff seen on land:
An eagle feasting on some smaller unfortunate beastie.
Kangaroos bounding across the road, just like on the warning signs.
Parrots flying around like regular birds, who do they think they are? And Gallahs too!
Several large bats swooping about the place.
Lots of lizards they seem to be the equivalent of squirrels in this hemisphere - just wandering about and posing for photos! The biggest one spotted being a Lace Monitor lizard who was somewhere around 4 or 5 foot long.
A pair of possums who seemed to live on top of one of the motels we stayed in who were very friendly!

Water beasties - mostly spotted on the Great Barrier Reef near 1770:
A family of Humpback Whales jumping and splashing about.
Blacktip Reef Sharks grooving around by Lady Musgrave Island.
Turtles, one of whom came and swam with me!
An Octopus hiding on the reef who was kind enough to demonstrate his amazing camouflage ability!
And obviously a huge number of colourful fish and coral.

"Big Things" - there seems to be a weird Australian tradition of making huge models of things (vaguely to do with advertising) - for note you should really read Danny Wallace's book "Yes Man" which makes reference to these fantastic "Big Things" as well as saying yes to the opportunities life throws you like quitting your job and going to Australia! Anyway there are hundred's to see of which we spotted: the Big Banana (apparently the first ever "Big Thing"); Big Pineapple; Big Clam; Big Prawn; and a few biggish things - a fly, shrimp, avocado and a strawberry - only about the size of a car; and a small Uluru (the size of a petrol station).

Also worthy of special note is SuperBee HoneyWorld a roadside museum! As ever photos of many of these wonderful things can be seen on flickr with more to follow at some point - maybe even fish photos if they worked!

Photos

2008-10-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hullo, the first (small) set of photos from Australia are up here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/olr/. I'll get more up as soon as I have more time at a computer of any sorts. In other news my brand new ipod has been wiped by a combination of stupid laptops and stupid apple programming - well I guess it couldn't all be sunshine and laughter!

Acting your age...

2008-10-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

...is entirely overrated and not something that messers Thomas, Hicks and Roberts have ever been accused of! Accordingly we took a trip to Adventure World amusement park yesterday, it's basically a low-key version of Thorpe Park or somewhere like that - but the waterslides are awesome, and the place was pretty much deserted! So we three 30 somethings ran around like the fat childish idiots that we are sustaining many an injury, getting stuck in tubes, eating icecreams and generally having a top time!
My advice for anyone who wants it is act your shoesize... today we're off to the aquarium!

Land, Sea and Air

2008-10-14T03:27:00.000-07:00

Went to Caversham Wildlife Park yesterday and Rottness island today so I've seen lots of flora and forna! I've stroked koalas, kangaroos, and a wombat - all very soft, softer than expected. Also seen were kookaburras, owls, spotted quolls, tasmanian devils, minks, and tonnes of other beasties!
Today the weather was gorgeous for our trip to Rottness Island - which is a small island with virtually nothing and no one on it, perfect for beaches and snorkeling. Huge numbers of fishies to be seen along with amazing coral - most excitingly we saw a lobster and a stingray!
And, of course, as always there were parrots flying around pretending to be normal birds!

Phase One

2008-10-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

I'm now in Perth, Fran and Gord making me a welcome guest for the past few days. I'm not sure I really "got" Singapore to me it seemed rather a lot like Hemel or Watford - or rather a large number of Watfords gathered together! Malls and malls and malls which considering I've spent a number of months trying not to spend any money wasn't really what I was after. But Perth is a lot easier to "get" weirdly it actually reminds me a lot of Porthmadog (my Dad's home town in North Wales) - a seaside town with a fairly relaxed attitude... it is slightly hotter, though did go in the Indian ocean today which was cold beyond all expectation! What else have I done? Eaten prawns, Vegemite, and tim-tams. Seen parrots (walking around like regular birds), a bar of gold being poured, Norwegian Figs, a kukabura (sp?), a number plate that read Roo Mad, a shop called Dingos and one called Crazy Craig's, and a whole bunch of art in the Gallery of WA. Dave has joined us now, Thursday has come to Australia, walking along the beach and paddling in the Indiana ocean on the way to the Cott probably beats walking down Charring Cross to the George but I'd probably better keep trying just to make sure...

More news from nowhere...

2008-10-04T05:33:00.000-07:00

All things being equal I start my odyssey on Monday night and the next time I write it'll be from Australia!
The vague plan (for those interested) is

A couple of days in Singapore
A week or so in Perth staying with Gordon and Fran
Fly across to Brisbane with Dave
Make our way to Sydney over the next 2 weeks
Find somewhere slightly more permanent to live in Sydney and find some work
Visit New Zealand in February or March
Head back to Australia... what happens from this point depends on lots of things!

If I find myself near a computer during this time I'll be bunging photos up here and obviously if I have anything to say it'll be right here!

More Propaganda for Mr Frost

2008-09-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

Spent this evening creating a propaganda poster for the Ghast Empire.

Having looked through a lot of war time propaganda posters I can advise the following to help your country win the war:
Don't do anything alone, ever!
Don't talk to women!
Don't let women talk!
Don't listen to Women
Get Canada involved!

A bit of creative retouching for Space Captain Smith

2008-09-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

With the launch of The God Emperor of Didcot I was asked to do some images in the spirit of propaganda and spreading the word.

This one is based on a model built by the author himself (which you can see by rolling over the image).

The plan was to give the picture the feel of a Victorian photograph, hence the slightly cheesy framing, as well as adding a suitable moon/desert style backdrop and jets, billowing dust and smoke clouds as though taking off or landing.

Redesign of TD

2008-09-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

I've finished (as far as these things can ever be finished) redesigning Thursday Design. So if you fancy seeing the slightly less verbal and slightly more graphic version of me you can find it at www.thursdaydesign.com
Hope you like the new look!

How to be nice, a quick tip.

2008-09-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

Some people need help to be nice, sad but true. So here is a little tip:
If you are lucky enough to be sitting whilst others have to stand on a busy train, bus or tube when it reaches its final destination you should let them off first. They've earnt it! Don't start standing up and trying push past, just wait, in no time at all they'll have cleared and you can be on your merry way.
I don't understand why Londoners are always in such a rush (and I include myself in this) most of the time we're only on our way to work anyway so that extra 30 seconds really doesn't hurt that much!

Remember, kindness is its own reward!

Why so much blog today?

2008-08-28T12:29:00.001-07:00

I've not been around much of late, I guess I'm not very consistent when it come to writing things here... which I suppose begs the question why now?

Well it all links to my trip to Australia, for example right now I probably ought to be doing something else - worrying and organising for my trip and most importantly get my C.V. and website sorted and talking to the people I'm hoping to work for out there! Which leads us to the fact that I can now encourage you to go and have a look at my website, you can see it at http://www.thursdaydesign.com/ I hope you like it!
And finally I'm quite likely to be using the blog to keep interested parties (if there are any) informed of my travels as I roam around the world!

Oh and of course my friend Toby has another book out! It's as good, if not better than the first you can get it from Waterstones or Amazon.

A day at the end of July

2008-08-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

This is just a little account of a very entertaining day I spent wandering around London in late July, it was entertaining enough to write about at the time so I figure I might as well put it here too!

Been to the fête at the V&A, which was distressingly like every other village fête I've ever been to but supposedly with a sense of irony. I didn't spend long there but instead looked round the rest of the museum, I had forgotten how cool it was - some pictures. I found out what a tabernacle is, I hadn't realised that it was a gap in my knowledge!

I then walked to Hyde Park past Knightsbridge (navigating by the sun!) I found a bench to sit on by a fountain, the tranquility of which was slightly marred by the heavy throb of London traffic and someone playing music through their phone. I had to move on before long, shortly after being investigated by a small rodent, maybe its his bench!

From Hyde Park I went through Green Park and St James's briefly chasing a Zeppelin, from there I continued past Downing Street and crossed the river by Westminster Bridge and wandered down the Southbank past the Aquarium, London Eye, and eventually stopped to watch the skateboarders and BMX riders - more pics. I bought myself a well earned beer and sat by Thames reading my book and chilling out.

I then met up with a couple of good friends for another drink and eventually we ended up outside a pub in Soho for another friend's birthday celebration.

It's days like this that make you realise just how excellent London is!

Dreams can be cool, so very cool!

2008-08-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

Last night I dreamt that I was a Ghostbuster!

So apparently I'm going to Australia...

2008-08-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure how it happened really.
My good friend Gordon has gone to Oz to live for a few years and invited me out to visit him, good excuse so (with about a years notice) I arranged a month or two unpaid off work, so the plan was to go over for September/October time. Well it's no secret that I wasn't enjoy work as much as would like, to cut a long story short it doesn't have enough of a creative element involved for me, and I was looking around for something new hopefully in creative visualisation or graphic design of somekind. So when I was told that dispite the previous arangement I would not be allowed the time off to go to Australia it was the catalyst I needed to get me moving. A few people were key in my final decision:

Jaime - Jaime had the misfortune of sitting next to me at work and hence got the brunt of my general bad mood, but she's always been a supportive friend (as well as an equally under used resource at Spotlight!) and keen traveller so was quick to suggest I went to Oz whatever work said.
Gordon - obviously Gord was nice enough to invite me out in the first place, but also when I said I couldn't make it he just said that I was always welcome and when I decided to tell them where to stick their job and go to Oz anyway I could stay with him until I got myself on my feet!
Stephen - after being told I couldn't have the time off for Oz Stephen and I took a road to the south of France, it was perfectly chilled out enough that I could get my thoughts together (with some wise words from Stephen) and make my decisions. Also as my flatmate he's had to put up with my work related rants for sometime now!
Cez - my brother has always listened to my problems and occationally offered solutions. He's a proponent of the take a big leap and do something crazy school of thought - and although both of us are usually too scared to take those risks this year we both have, he has quit his job and is going become a teacher (good luck bro!)
Danny Wallace - I was read Danny Wallace's excellent book "Yes Man" for the second time when all this kicked off. The main thrust of the book is about being positive and taking hold of the possibilities that life throws your way or even creating them yourself. And by coincidence one of the biggest decisions that Danny has to make is about Australia. I'll say no more for fear of ruining the book - which you really ought to read and maybe even learn from!

So yes I'm off to Australia, it's one of the craziest things I've ever done, I'm more than a little scared but above all I'm excited! Let's see how sunburnt this tiger can get!

Fear of failure is self-fulfilling!

2008-03-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

My cowardice is almost as inhibiting as my lack of self confidence, good eh?
I'll never get into design because I don't believe I'm good enough combined with the fact that I'll never be brave enough to make the jump from the known to the unknown.
Risk is just something I'm no good at when I have a comfortable alternative.

I am NOT a vegetarian

2008-03-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

The more the people label me the more I want to fight against it. I used to be a vegetarian for about 5 years - for about 5 years I ate no meat or fish, since then I have seldom cooked anything non-vegetarian probably because that's how I learnt to cook and if I can avoid killing animals then that's surely a good thing. Late last year I decided, in the hope of being a bit healthier, to return to a vegetarian diet. I was not vegetarian! If someone else was cooking I would eat what ever they provided. The plan was to do it for a month - but I was enjoying it so it has kept going... but I am not a vegetarian, I am someone who eats a mostly vegetarian diet. I like animals enough not to kill them, however there are times which for convenience or just selfish desire I will eat meat or at least that's the theory!
However I'm mental so now enough people think of me as vegetarian that I feel almost forced into being a vegetarian. It's ridiculous, why is it that other peoples thoughts and views affect me me so much? And why am I now feeling like rebelling? It's as though other peoples views bully me into a course of action which I then fight against, especially stupid because I was previously enjoying!
I over-think things and am a bit of an idiot but does anyone fancy a burger?

Wannabe Geek

2008-01-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

I have realised recently that I occupy that uncomfortable middle-ground between geekdom and normality. Being, as I am, far too geeky to be anything but a social pariah and yet not geeky enough to actually be able to do anything useful like build a flux-capacitor or make a PC work!

Day 10, 2008

2008-01-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

One of the resolutions I made was to take a photograph everyday this year. The hope being that I might improve my photography and photo editing skills, and it might also make an interesting review of the year.
Of course there is the problem of getting to the end of a non eventful day having seen nothing worth taking pictures of! So I may end up with a collection of photographs of objects in my house, and possibly having annoyed the hell out of my friends by constantly thrusting my camera in their faces!
We shall see! Here are the first 9, if you want to follow the progress you can find all my pictures here

Day One, 2008

2008-01-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

Once again another year has passed and, as seems to be the tradition, I've made some resolutions. A fairly standard selection of changes intended to improve body mind and soul for the benefit of my fellow man and maybe, if my luck improves any time soon, some women too...

But then I began to wonder is the world worthy of such positivity and generosity? A pointless question I'll admit, that's simply not the way the world works, only doing things because you hope to be rewarded will lead only to frustration.

I'm still resolved, I shall better myself for my own benefit. I am prepare to continue bending myself to the will of the world but this year I also plan to bend the world to my will.

"It's the same thing your whole life: Clean up your room. Stand up straight. Pick up your feet. Take it like a man. Be nice to your sister. Don't mix beer and wine, ever. Don't drive on the railroad tracks... I'm not gonna live by their rules anymore! You make choices and live with them." - Phil Connors, Groundhog Day

Space Captain Smith

2007-12-30T13:46:00.000-08:00

"The British Empire has always had a fine stock of heroic gentlemen of daring-do: Quartermain, Bigglesworth, Wooster, Lancelot, and now Smith!"

My good friend Toby Frost has written a book! And by gum its good!

Space Captain Smith of the Great British Empire and his intrepid bad of misfits and weirdos set out across the galaxy battling aliens and villainous foreigners and hoping to be home in time for tea and tiffin!

It's due for publication in May and you can pre-order it from Amazon now, you can visit the Space Captain Smith webpage, and you can even join the Facebook group!

"If Alain Quartermain and James Bigglesworth had a heavy evening on the hookah sooner or later one of them would tell this tale and claim it as his own!"

Free Papers (a rant)

2007-12-30T04:22:00.000-08:00

Never has there a better example of getting what you pay for than the free papers that currently plague the streets of London! Free yes, worthless definitely!
In fact worthless is too good a word for them... they are far worse than that!
It's a wonderful thing that currently we (generally) are worrying about environmental issues (and it's about time we did) so it annoys me greatly to find paper being used so frivolously only to be binned in their millions. I know it easy to think "it doesn't matter because my newspaper will get recycled" but that logic only works if recycling was a 100% efficient and used no energy in the process! As it is your "guilt free" recycling of this daily news uses a tonne of energy and paper - resources which we should by now have realised are not infinite!
I understand the commuter's need for something light to read, but should that really be encouraged? It's seems to be yet another example of the dumbing down of our nation (and possibly world), appealing to our lazier instincts. If these free papers didn't exist perhaps (and I'm not naive enough to believe this is guaranteed) people might read a book, perhaps even talk to each other, and hopefully if nothing else be discerning in which newspaper they read because they are paying for it!
I have tried to read them (I'm not proud, I forgot my book) and I couldn't find anything in them, I barely managed 5 minutes of idle flicking before I had to abandon all hope! If someone tried to charge you money for one of these pieces of garbage you would laugh in their face as it is hundreds of men and women in matching t-shirts and caps hit the streets and forcefully distribute these non-entities they get lapped-up!
So London, please stop picking these up, carry a book with you, buy a newspaper, talk to someone, anything! Just stop being so lazy! I'm sure you're smart enough to realise how badly written and how pointless the content is.

Beginnings

2007-12-29T04:26:00.000-08:00

Seemingly the internet is not full enough of useless junk apparently we want to hear one another's thoughts and views on daily life. These days you're not anybody if you don't have a blog! Well I should think I'm as tedious as the next person so I've make myself a little blog too! I imagine it'll be blog-lite because its not often I can be bothered to write things down, I find life is far too short and generally if you going to discuss or rant about something it's more fun to do it with someone else! Here then is my little world as I see it!

It's highly likely that if you're reading this that you know exactly who I am, but knowing more couldn't be bad!

Je m'appelle Owen.
I'd love to be able to call myself a graphic designer, sometimes I do.
I'm passionate about films, by some fluke I work in or at least (figuratively) next door and (literally) upstairs from film!
I find life funny, humour is an essential part of who I am and varies between the more highbrow comedy (Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is one of my favourite films) to the possitively childish (Dumb and Dumber being another fav)!
I often start lists and then realise I don't have enough to put on them
Usually I put some pointless items before giving up and returning later when I've thought of more!