The Weakends

...Motion City Soundtrack.

Monday is my 21st Birthday. EEK. And last weekend was the masquerade party outing to snobs, surprisingly everyone made a great effort with their masks, looked great :)

Having celebrations early along with now being home for Easter also meant lots of early treats from my friends, including a beautifullll powder blue Jones sewing machine with white flowers on the cover from Beckie and Sherree (will post a picture when I get back), a floral Cath Kidston teapot from Adam, which is sooo pretty I love it :), knitting needles and lovely soft wool to get me started with my knitting from Jaime & Alex, plus various yummee chocolate cakes and this v. special chocolate-brownie-tart



Oh and I also made Ajay a Moomin/ butterfly birthday cake. Moonin is a bit of a podgey Moonin.



And now after a hectic journey - lots of running for buses and struggling with huge heavy cases - I'm back in Blackpool for the week. Before leaving B'ham I had Hannah to visit so used this as an excuse to visit all the art/crafty shops that are about, along with my first full visit around the museum and art gallery, which is seriously huggge. Today we popped into the latest exhibitions at the Ikon, and were rather disappointed, definitely not what either of us are able to define as 'art'.

Going to try and get tucked into my teeny bed now for the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy :)

Disappear

...Motion City Soundtrack

I think my fave song of their new album. Which they played when we saw them at the O2 Sunday night, along with a whole load of classics. (But due to 5 albums, not quite as many classics as I'd have like. This is because they should just introduce a medley.) And they were amazing. Considering how tired/ slightly hungover/ bleugh I'd been feeling recovering from Friday and Saturday night, it turns out a lot of loud fun music that was just what I needed.


Photo courtesy of Jaime. Trust my battery to die as soon as I whip out the camera.

Her Morning Elegance

...Oren Lavie

Only managed to make it to one of the Flatpack events that were on last week and the weekend, but it was a free night of short films screened by Short & Sweet at Vivid. They were all real good, but this was one of my faves. A stop frame animation music video by The Nathans, giving us much inspiration for the animation we're making on wednesday. Enjoy :)

Natural's Not In It

...Gangs of Four.

I have two cakes in the oven. I need to do my hair and make-up and pick out an outfit, and I'm leaving for party time in an hour. You'd think I'd have more of a sense of urgency right?

I finished my mask today, ready for my 21st birthday celebrations tomorrow. Wanna seee?

Jump in the pool

...Friendly Fires

Here I am on a Sunday evening, very numb bum after being sat here all afternoon trying and failing to get the first chapter of my dissertation written. Getting distracted by everything and anything.

This week we went mini golfing and laser questing. It was v. fun. Mini golfing, I'm not so great at (third to last. boo), but laser questing, it seems, I am much more masterful than expected. Had great fun running about, hiding round corners, jumping out to shoot the juvenile delinquents who we were sharing our session with. (Note, v. v. v. small boy with attitude + hoody + cigarette = scarrry)


This week I have written myself a long list of things to be achieved before I have guests to stay and disrupt my work flow at the weekend.
- DISSERTATION. No messing now, must stick to deadlines. eek
- Spring clean of house
- Make masquerade mask, atm mine is taking the form of spiderman. It must have a makeover
- Animation day, prior to which will be animation planning
- Tomorrow's first workshop for Media Talent Bank, it's Social Media. ooooo.

Alright, well after making that schedule, I guess I should give myself a break for tea time. Food = Fuel. Fuel = dissertation.

Will leave you with a bit of Gaga and her pinky pinky hair. Mine is not, nor will ever be this bright, do not fear.

Saturn's moon Enceladus

David A. Hardy (Acrylics)

So yesterday we went to the West Midlands Open 2010 exhibition at the Gas Hall, which is currently displaying work by local artists. After carefully inspecting every piece, I left with this clear favorite, the one that made me stop and go 'WOOAAH' (aside from the perfectly detailed pink flower on canvas, argh lifetime love). It may not look as amazing in this image, but up close it is really quite stunning. The colours, the detail, the texture, just great! Trust me to pick out the one dedicated space artist from the whole room :)
Anyhow, it's worth a look in if your about Birmingham, there's some really great pieces.

Tomorrow

...Ladytron

Basically, I think this video is beautiful. It is what life would be if our eyes could see amazing colours in everything. And is by Neil Krug. Who I have only recently stumbled upon, but his work is AMAZING. I love. All.



This is also another in the way of hair ambitions. But since I'm not willing to go white-blonde then it's a rather distant ambition.

Away Frm U

...Oberhofer, for the none spotifyers


Hello dedicated reader(s?), this might be a big(ish) one since I haven't posted anything thing in agggges. Would like to say I have tones to show for this, but no, no I do not. Keep not posting because I think I have more important things to be doing them, but then I don't get those done either. But since I can't do anything until I've freed up enough space on my hard drive for files to open, and enough emails for my inbox to start sending again, I thought I may as well post.

So since my trip to York which was aggges ago, I had a visit from my sister, Tom and Jack. Usual events occurred, Jack got lost, we had a few drinks, ate a lottt of food, watched films and were really lazy.
Last weekend I then want to Manchester. My sister and I made mousakka, she's in first year so was kinda weird being in halls again, afraid to use anything in the kitchen without witnessing it being washed first and tiptoeing in and out of the teeny showers. Ahh freshers. Also weird hearing everyone with broad Northern accents, as oppose to everyone here where North goes as far as Stoke, and anything above is pretty much foregin.
Friday night was Passion Pit who were supported by Ellie Goulding. I tried to take pictures, but my camera is shitty so I failed. This is Passion Pit. This is the only picture I took that was in focus. BRAVO ME.



Saturday I spent the day with Ajay, Kerry and Phil, most of which we spent deciding what to have for tea and where to buy it. Over the years we have perfected the art of making an easy task very complex. Also visited the art museum, where we had great fun playing with coloured plastic tubes, making a landscape.
Sunday a quick shop and late lunch in Weatherspoons with Tom and Kerry before returning to B'ham.

So this weekend is the first one I've had on my own in quite a while, making saturday ALEX day. Great stuff.

Also had our first attempt at dying my sister's hair usuing hemp, which has a nice muddy/pooy/pesto consistency. So her hair is now orangey/reddy/brown, making me want to do something with mine. So I'm going for 1 of my two desired hair colours, a pinky tinge. Inspired by Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette, Gaga and Rachel McAdams. Mine is not quite as great of course, but I'm working on it.




Knowing my now not so regular posting pattern, I will leave you with some good songs to make up for the recent lack, and probably future lack.

This is another great from Wolfgang.

Wolf Gang, "Back To Back"

Fyfe Dangerfield When you walk in the room. Another Neon Gold link. Spotify is being pretty neglected atm.

And finally, I am weirdly obsessed with this song. Like, a lot.

Home

...Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.
As recommended by Miss Warren, tis just great.

So I realised I've not posted in a while. Seem to have been quite busy, but with very little to show for it. As usual.

This past weekend I went to York where my Dad had booked an apartment for my Nana's birthday, which overlooked the river and was right across from the city center. I'd forgotten how nice York is, it's been quite a while since I last visited, and as an embarrassed girl guide marching around in a long line of pairs, I don't think I really appreciated it then anyway. The shops really are the cutest in any city I've ever been, each street is crammed with cobbles and tipsy squiffy buildings what have seen every era we learnt about in history class, all the way from Viking times through to the middle ages, Tudors and Victorians, and unlike most cities -ahem Birmingham- York has preserved as much of it as possible.
History aside, the shops are just great, within 10minutes of leaving the train I found myself outside Cath Kidston and Jack wills, ahh just fabulous! Although I was only a window shoppper for the majority, I did treat myself to a dear little tea strainer shaped like a mini teapot - complete with a mini dish to pop it on (I say treated, I mean treated by my father). This obviously meant I felt the need to stock up on loose tea at Whittards. Darjeeling, Acai & Goji berry and White Pomegranate tea. Yummee.
Also took Diana with me, still have yet to quite figure out what I'm doing, plus that I forgot what half the settings meant, so am sure her first film will be rather hit and miss.
Hmmm what else. It snowed, again! Meaning everyone left early Sunday morning for fear of getting stuck driving home, leaving me to explore the city a bit more on my own. I wandered aimlessly around in the snow looking for my tea, bopping in and out of charity shops. I think the combination of snowy weather plus it being Sunday morning made people want to stay at home, but it was really quite peaceful out around the Minster, all quiet and dusted with white. Just lovely.

Okay I'm now going to have a look at my methodology, making no promises to finish it, since clearly that approach isn't working for me. Have found myself in exactly the same work position as this time last week, oh geeeez I need some structure.

Since your in love

...Jesse Malin

When I was 8 I received a card on Valentines day, I was quiet a shy child, and so when I opened my desk to find it lying there I was more embarrassed than flattered. Without really thinking I screwed it up and slid it into the bin before anyone saw. Later that day the boy who sat next to me fished it out and held it out to me asking if I wanted it back, again I was too concerned at the embarrassment, so I hurriedly told him that no I did not want it, and to put it back. He looked a bit hurt. The card was handmade with glitter and really very cute. It must have taken him ages.
Well now I'm 20, and pretty sure that karma has a large part to play in my lack of cards ever since. 8 year old me may well have kept that card if she'd have known it would be the last one she'd be receiving.

Today is definitely a day to be spent with friends and alcohol.