Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Filler Post #3: The Fallow Field

At the start of the year I received an email from a final year student doing my course asking for volunteers to help his record some Foley for this film he was sound producer for. Of course I accepted.

Foley is the sound you hear in a film that adds to the perceived realism of what you are seeing. Basically, if you take out all of the music and special effects in a film, you would be left with the Foley. It is the sound of footsteps, chains rattling, tea being drunk, a lighter, a car door opening, wind chimes and all those little things that you expect to hear, but don’t really think about.

There we’re two of us that did the main bulk of recording. It involved us looking at the film footage and making sounds of things we could see. It could be a chair creaking, or clothes being thrown, but we had to replicate the sounds. The more interesting sounds we’re the stabbings (it’s a horror film) because we got to punch lettuces :) I think my favourite noises are the “shing” of a knife being picked up, such a satisfying noise. I even put my cheek on the line for a scene where the main character gets slapped in the face! And when he got hit on the back! Good times… I still can’t chew my food properly :)

Why am I bringing this up now? because tonight I’ve been invited to the cast and crew screening at the Odeon cinema in Guildford. Can’t wait to see the whole thing with all the sounds in for the first time!

Written: Thursday 13th August 2009

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Filler Post #2: Barry’s birthday party

I’m looking forward to this. I always really enjoy spending time with my sister and unfortunately it’s not nearly as often as I’d like nowadays. But that means when we do see each other, it’s even more special because we make the most of it. This time, while I didn’t really get to spend a lot of time with Becky, I knew that in a week they’d be coming on the boat for 4 days so it wouldn’t be long before we see each other again.

Off to the boat today when me and my university mates are starting our week long trip. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I came up with the idea in March!

Speak to you soon!

Written: Thursday 13th August 2009

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Filler Post #1: The way this is going to work…

To avoid what happened on the last boat trip, when I was having so much fun I didn’t have time to write in my blog, I’ve engineered a solution.

I have written a series of “filler posts” that are set to appear automatically on the blog at a certain time. They are pre-written from before I left for the boat trip.

The idea is that these posts are relevant to what I will be doing on that day (but of course I’m only guessing…) and might give you an insight to what I might be thinking. You’ll have to read them bearing in mind I’m only guessing what I would be writing, kind of pre-cognitive.

Still don’t follow? Come back and read the first one to see what I mean.

Written: Thursday 13th August 2009

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Blog updates

So I’ve had a little clean up of the blog recently and here’s the lowdown:

  • There is no more Flickr. I know, it’s a tragic loss, but in reality I was having to upload all my picture to Facebook and Flickr and it was becoming too much hassle.
  • Instead of Flickr, I now have a direct link to all my Facebook pictures on the right hand side under “Facebook Photos”. Just click on the name of the album you want to view and voila! all the pictures for you to peruse at your leisure.
  • Just below the Facebook photos links there is another new section called “YouTube Videos”. That has a link to my most recent video uploads to YouTube. There’s a good one from when the boat was on the river Thames which you should check out.
  • The last update is right near the bottom of the page on the right hand side and it’s called “YouTube Favourites”. These are the last 5 videos I looked at on YouTube and thought were good enough to share. This is updated quite often so something you might want to keep an eye on.

Hopefully you find these changes interesting, I’m trying to make this blog a lot more of a home-from-home in terms of it being a place to find anything I might want people to find :p

As for the last few days, I’ve got lots of things sorted and been organising the boat trip and my return to university a lot. Today I went climbing with Lauren, which is becoming more and more of a way for us to chat and catch up than actually go climbing, but I like that.

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2.5 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Pasta and leftover bolognaise (unless you count two slices of Jane’s home-made carrot cake, which my calorie count doesn’t :p)
  • Song of the day. PendulumBlood Sugar
  • Thought for the day. I need more power for my computer…
  • What I’m Doing Now. Looking forward to seeing Avenue Q, Lauren, Heather, Becky, Barry, Jordan & Alastair on Friday! And seeing Ben, Kevin & Murat tomorrow!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Thick silver lining

No matter how small the cloud, it always has a silver lining. And the cloud I’m on at the moment is over 90% lining. I love it.

After a perfect weekend doing nothing particularly special, I feel really great.

On Saturday I worked at Ascot. It was a very, very busy day and I was £15 short at the end of the day. My boss had a little go at me for being short, but that didn’t bother me too much because I always try my best. I have a good record and I’ll make sure I’m more careful next time, what more can I say?

On Sunday I went shopping with Sophie on Oxford Street. Bought lots of new clothes and had a fantastic time. I’m not one to like shopping, in fact the thought of shopping has such negative connotations in my mind that I haven’t been shopping in ages, and even then I didn’t buy much. Needless to say my wardrobe was getting very worn (excuse the pun).

I bought things I wouldn’t usually buy and learnt a lot about where to shop and what goes well together. It was a valuable lesson. It makes me slightly sad how much what you wear matters in this day and age, but wotcha’ gonna do?

Usually I can pick out a few things that made a day special, but Sunday was genuinely a great day through and through. No hidden agendas, no awkward moments, just really good fun. I’m going to stop there because I have nothing else to say :)

  • Happiness. 9 out of 10 (if everyone else was as happy as I am, we might be able to bring this to a 10. Why so down ppl?)
  • Tiredness. 0 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Tuna mayo and baked potato
  • Song of the day. Beyoncé – Sweet Dreams
  • Thought for the day. Learn from the past, plan for the future and live for the here and now! (thanx Becky, love u xxxx)
  • What I’m Doing Now. Smiling, why? I don’t know lol

PS I can assure you I am not under the influence of any herbal infusions or other.. stuff.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Let the countdown begin…

Had a good time working yesterday. I left after only 2 songs from Boyzone because, as I should have guessed, they were rubbish. I also got a lift back to the station to avoid having a shower with my clothes on, for which I am very grateful :)

Today I have managed to make progress on a few pressing items on my to do list. Yes, I have a to do list, and yes I know it’s a very woman thing to do, but live with it.

As every day goes by it becomes ever more apparent how soon I will be back at university. I decided today I would return some time around the 21st September, which gives me about 44 days left!!!

  • Happiness. 6 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2.5 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Chicken Kiev and chips
  • Song of the day. Akon - Beautiful
  • Thought for the day. You've got to fight for every dream (thank you Westlife)
  • What I’m Doing Now. Just watched The Breakfast Club, can’t say it was brilliant, but it was alright.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

This, that and the river…

AKA “Making the most of it”

I can’t say that I’m thrilled to be home, but it’s been good to kick back and let life catch me up. Before I left for the boat trip these two weeks between trips looked like they we’re going to be a slog. With nothing planned and most of my friends working, busy or away, it could have dragged on like a snail race. But I quickly realised that there was plenty to keep me occupied even without going out. In fact, it could prove an invaluable time to get all those things done I was going to do over summer, but just haven’t had the time to. As it turns out, that is not the case. Like any week I seem to have free at the moment, it quickly fills up with this and that, then before I know it it’s Friday and despite having a great time, I still haven’t done any of those things I really should do.

But here’s the thing. If I’m invited somewhere or see something I want to do, I’ll do it. It’s part of the new me who tries to seize as many opportunities as he can. However, it means that those things I know can “wait until next week”, will. But, I know myself well enough to know that if it needs to be done, it will; so I’m not to worried about them not being done. I would much prefer to get to October and know that I had the best summer I could, than come October be wondering why it was I spent another summer sitting in my room working really hard on things that didn’t really matter. This is the last chance I’ll have in a long time to just kick back, relax and enjoy being who I want to be. And I’m not going to let my workaholic self take that away from me.

So I’ve been busy since my last post. Me and James have finally managed to spend some time together, so we went down to Battersea Park on Sunday for a walk and a catch up on life. We also went swimming on Monday morning and I realised that I don’t have the stamina I used to. But then, that’s got to be the problem with climbing, it focuses on core strength more than stamina.

On Tuesday I met up with the old gang, all of them, for the first time in almost a year. We went to see “Taking of Pelham 123” in the cinema and bumped into an old friend from sixth form, which was a great surprise.

Yesterday I was on the boat, again, this time for the adventure to top them all: Going along the River Thames. The last time the boat came down was 13 years ago when I was only six years old. All I remember is being horrified of the boat sinking, but this time I could enjoy all of the sights of London from the Thames. It’s something amazing to take in all the greatest landmarks in the space of only a couple hours, and it makes you appreciate just how tightly packed London really is. I can’t really describe it in all the detail it deserves, but that’s why I took plenty of pictures.

Looking forward, I can see a couple days working this week, and then going shopping on Sunday which I’m trying not to get too excited about. And then strangely enough next week has already got pretty full; with Becky coming down for the weekend, Barry’s birthday and a trip to the Theatre, all looks set to be another fun week :D

  • Happiness. 7.5 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 1.5 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Frosted flakes for breakfast, just about to have lunch
  • Song of the day. Al Green – Let's Stay Together (from some film I can’t remember the name of… not Pulp Fiction)
  • Thought for the day. The only way I’d go to a Boyzone concert is if I was paid to attend… so here I go!
  • What I’m Doing Now. Going to have lunch, then get ready for another day working for the Tote.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Back from the boat

I think that just about wraps it up…

Today (well technically yesterday, but who’s counting anyway?) I got back from the boat. The last few days we’re really good, lots of locks, but that’s what you get for going into London.

Once we hit Uxbridge last night we went out for a pizza at Pizza Express and then made brownies!

I’m glad to be back home and have spent most of the day just catching up on all the various blogs I read and getting the news on everything I’m interested in. Still got stuff to read, but I’ve made a sufficient dent in it for now…

The next two weeks look to be filling up nicely. I was kinda hoping to get some things done that I’ve been putting off for ages (see the list I made several posts ago), but things have come up. This is what I’m in for at the moment:

  • Sunday. Say hey to people at church. Finish washing everything from the boat trip
  • Monday. Swimming with James in the morning
  • Tuesday. Going to the cinema to see “Taking Of Pelham 1,2,3” with Ben, Kevin & Murat
  • Wednesday. Back on the boat for the fun part down the river Thames
  • Thursday. Working with Tote at Sandown racecourse
  • Saturday. Working with Tote at Ascot racecourse
  • Following Friday. Seeing “Avenue Q” at the theatre
  • Following Saturday. Clothes shopping. Barry’s birthday party.
  • Following Sunday. Back to the boat for boat trip 2!

I’m gonna also try and get as much done from this list:

  1. Produce centenary video for St Stephen’s Church
  2. Continue to build website for Quondam girls society
  3. See my neighbour
  4. Get a monitor sorted for Victoria
  5. Copy Olu’s tapes to DVD
  6. Plan my birthday party
  7. Get contents insurance for my stuff
  8. Further plan boat trip two
  9. Do some stuff for MadTV (hard to explain)

There’s nothing quite like being home :-)

  • Happiness. 7 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 4.5 out of 5
  • Last Meal. Samosa’s with tuna, egg and rice (A James original dish – and very nice too)
  • Song of the day. Chris Brown - Forever
  • Thought for the day. Sitting down…there’s nothing quite like it
  • What I’m Doing Now. Just finished writing his 3rd poem in 4 months, and now off to bed. A proper bed at that.

PS Check out pictures from the boat trip

PPS There might be some pictures you haven’t seen here as well