Fullwidth

A friend of mine asked me for a particular photo that I shot while we were in Austria last year, skiing. I love going over my old work and rediscovering the gems! Brings back awesome memories, that’s for sure. If you want to see more of my work, head on over to my flickr page!

I’ve been following the escapades (you’ll see the pun momentarily) of ExtraCreditz for some time now. They’ve been posting hugely informative videos about all kinds of aspects of gaming that aren’t often coveredby mainstream gaming media. Unfortunately, The Escapist decided they’d screw them over after Alison, their animator injured her shoulder. $103,814. People REALLY like ExtraCreditzThere was a fundraiser to help cover her surgery as the insurance company – something that terrifies me about the USA – said they wouldn’t pay because it was a ‘pre-existing condition’. ...

This is a copy of an article I came across while looking at swordsmithing on Wikipedia and I made a fascinating discovery – nanotubes have been around and in use for much longer than we realise! Science is awesome! Carbon nanotubes are no longer the proud boast of 21st century materials scientists. It appears their discovery was unwittingly pre-empted by mediaeval Muslim sword-smiths whose tough Damascus blades taught the Crusaders the true meaning of cold steel when they fought over the Holy Land. ...

My friend Tina pointed me at this rather incredible DJ who periodically makes very chilled dubstep-y mixes. The mixes are over an hour and a half long and they flow from incredibly chilled to energetic without being in-your-face like a lot of dubstep is. To me, the difference between full-on *‘wob-wob-wob-wob’* dubstep and the more relaxed flavours is that while the former assaults your senses with sound, the latter has some spaces in the music for your thoughts and lets you experience the music better as you aren’t trying to fight off waves of sensory overload. ...

I have a whole bunch of things to share this time around. I’ve been largely ignoring this blog, except as a glorified link dump. Which has worked surprisingly well, actually! So today, I have not only music, but awesome miscellanea to share with the Internets. The first thing is Welder’s new track: https://youtu.be/pbRm5gis2nY It’s pretty relaxed and takes a while to wind up to full speed, but it’s wonderful to listen to. ...

relationships are weird sometimesA friend of mine linked this article on Facebook. I read it and lo, I beheld that it was wise and good. More than that, it mirrored the changes that took place in my own head over the last 3-4 years. I’m equal parts happy that this advice is out there and sad that nobody ever told me this shit. It took a good few months of depression and some serious conversations with my friend who became my ‘girlfriend’* to get me over the depression and show me all the stuff that this piece talks about. ...

I heard this tune at about 9am at Burning Man across from our camp. It drew me out of my yurt and got me spinning my poi and the guy playing it was kind enough to restart it when I asked him what it was! CocoRosie – Werewolf (Omega Remix) Mastered FREE 320 by OmegaDubstep

Someone at work plugged this bad boy into the sound system and it’s sublime! Röyksopp never fails to make more awesome. The buildup in this tune is spectacular but doesn’t leave you waiting as much as some tunes do, for which I have massive respect. Also, it strikes me as a badass tribal bellydance tune! Listen, enjoy, comment, share!

I haven’t done a music blog post in a while – mostly I’ve been busy doing work things and scrambling around catching up with people and so forth. I came across this tune being played at work over our Spotify account and it’s wonderfully catchy. Not exactly the reinvention of the wheel in musical terms and the vocals are pretty standard fare, but it’s put together nicely and is great listening nonetheless! ...

I came across a piece on TheNextWeb about how the UK government is partly blaming Twitter and RIM’s Blackberry Messenger software for the riots in London and other UK cities. Cameron opened his address with: “Mr Speaker, everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. ...

I’ve had this conversation with a few people now and the overwhelming consensus is towards agreement. In the UK, the police operate on the basis of *policing by consent.* That doesn’t mean that the police can only arrest you if you *agree* to your arrest – that would be ludicrous. It means that the police force’s effectiveness and even its existence is dictated by the people’s agreement that they represent the rule of law. ...

I’ve been loosely keeping my finger on the pulse of what’s been going on over the last few days. So far I’ve seen some interesting facets of society emerge during the London riots: The mindless fuckwits who are intent on burning/smashing/looting everything under the sun because they’vebeen granted crowd anonymity. The awesome humanitarian/community projects that have arisen as a result like the glorious #riotcleanup and Operation Cup of Tea movement. ...

Despite all the somewhat crazy stuff happening in London, it’s awesome to see people being kind to their fellow humans.   © Licensed to London News Pictures. 07/08/2011. London, UK. As looters and rioters smashed up shops, looted and fought with police in Camden Town, Philippa Morgan-Walker, 25 and her husband, Jonny Walker, 31, made tea for the police who were protecting their street. Some of the officers had been on duty for more than 30 hours. ...

So North London exploded in rioting and fires and all sorts and this has been going on for the best part of 3 days now. While there are folks out there better qualified than I to report on the whys and wherefores of the situation, the one thing that’s struck me when watching the news coverage of what’s going on is the wording and general feel of the reporting. To me, it feels like the media is trying as hard as it can to distance those carrying out the looting, rioting, etc from the populace. ...

My friend Katelyn played me In My Mind by Amanda Palmer on her guitar and it stuck. So now I’ve managed to track down the tabs and lyrics and am going to start learning it! The lyrics are a great reminder to live in the present instead of constantly planning and thinking about how things are going to pan out in the future. Hippy-esque rant over! Enjoy the tune! That and Amanda Palmer’s CD cover looks quite amusing! ...

It’s been an age since I got a clip of myself just jamming with my poi, but we managed to get one when I went north to Arbroath to visit a friend. It was an amazing day and there was nobody around for miles so we had ourselves a play session! While it’s not hugely varied, it serves as a nice reminder for me to mix things up some and to remember long-forgotten or little-used moves and patterns as at the moment, I need reminding that variety is the spice of life! ...

Came across this on Beatport – it’s a track on Simplify Records and it’s a lovely dark, moody, yet chilled dubstep-ish sort of noise. Well worth a listen to. It’s a great mix between the almost grimy side of dubstep and delicious acoustic sounds without assaulting your senses! Grab it on Beatport if you want to support the artist! Honestly, do it. It’ll make you a better human being, somehow! ...

I was at a friend’s house over the weekend and since my new EOS 60D arrived last week, I spent a large chunk of time playing with it and getting to grips with its various quirks and foibles. There aren’t many, thankfully. I also wound up shooting lots of macro shots of bits of plants and I must say, I’m very impressed with the performance overall!  More Dried Leaves