Annoyance

I just wanted to say how ANNOYED i am at the fact that on Home and Away (i'm forced to watch it at tea time) there is a new "detective" that has come from the "outside world" and he is a BLATANT rip off of Agent Dale Cooper from David Lynch's Twin Peaks...And he's rubbish and ugly. At least Kyle Mclaughin  was good looking and could actually act...Even my brother noticed it and he doesn't really watch it.

Currently re-watching ALL of the Twilight Zone episodes. In heaven.

"How's Annie? I need to brush my teeth."

Babe.

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Listening to -Boys Noize - Jeffer...New album is fucking amazing.

Printing...

So most of you ken i want to go in to printing. We've got a printing week this week and had a full day in the studio's on Tuesday...AMAZING. So much fun. And it got me thinking about things, and what inks and dyes i could use.
We had a talk from designers in residence on Monday and Jo talked about her work and how she used ones that reacted to heat and sunlight which sound really interesting. Also the one that turns from black and white to colour when it gets wet. But it also got me thinking about natural dyes, like chilli powder and turmeric.
Might ask Norri about it tomorrow because I'm a Norri fan.

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Listening to - Claud VonStroke - December mix

Granny Naff.

I've been saying it for a while now, and it's time to remember how to knit. Going to do some knitting with Anne soon.

Stumbled across Sandra Bucklund who has fantastic pieces. Just going to whore out some of her pieces...

I absolutely love the bottom one. Really beautiful pieces and they are so delicate but tough looking. And obviously have had a lot of work put in to them, which shows.

Just so yummy.

You'll see me in borders knitting away soon.

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Listening to - Kitsune Udon mixed - Gildas & Masaya

in love

Listening to - Boys Noize - Transmission

Film

Just finished watching "The Cell" by Tarsem Singh, the same director as the fall.

Clare mentioned it and said that it was good. I have to admit i had seen it and thought it looked shit because Hennifer Lopez (Jennifer Lopez ) is in it. Thought it would be naff with awful acting. Again i take back my first thoughts. A visually stunning film, as expected from Singh.

Good plot line too...

"Catharine Deane is a psychotherapist who is part of a revolutionary new treatment which allows her mind to literally enter the mind of her patients. Her experience in this method takes an unexpected turn when an FBI agent comes to ask for a desperate favour. They had just tracked down a notorious serial killer, Carl Stargher, whose MO is to abduct women one at a time and place them in a secret area where they are kept for about 40 hours until they are slowly drowned. Unfortunately, the killer has fallen into an irreversible coma which means he cannot confess where he has taken his latest victim before she dies. Now, Catherine Deane must race against time to explore the twisted mind of the killer to get the information she needs, but Stargher's damaged personality poses dangers that threaten to overwhelm her.

Written by Kenneth Chisholm "

And, actually Jenny from the block was actually quite good. I'll forgive her for her crap music. There were a few art inspired scenes in this film , one where a horse is cut and divided up very similar to Damien Hirst's instillation "Some Comfort Gained from the Acceptance of the Inherent Lies in Everything"

And also a hauntingly creepy scene that is similar to Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum - Dawn

Very creepy picture where you expect the women to turn and stare at you...eee. So imagine (or watch!) it in "real life".

And another scene has taken it's inspiration from Swiss Surrealist H.R. Giger called Schacht.

So a visually stunning and art inspired film. Can't go wrong. Not even With Lopez.

Another brilliant film from Singh, I can't wait until War of Gods is released!

And the cell2? Well you can tell it was done by someone else...

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the root of all evil.

I hate sewing machines. They are meant to make your life easier. They just stress me out. They lure you in to a sense of triumph as they work away easily for you then BAM it messes up, and ruins what you are doing. EVIL.

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Priscilla

Firstly...

Maria Roman...Total BABE. Dunno what but there is something just so beautiful about her. Possibly the extra Y chromosome she was born with that I'm picking up on. Shock horror.

I just sat and watched "Tears Tiaras and Transsexuals" on 4OD whilst doing some work,

and Maria was in it. Sadly she only got in to the final 8 though :(

But wow! Isn't it just absolutely fascinating what the medical side of things can do now.

If not slightly terrifying! I have a slight obsession with drag queens and transsexual men.

One of my favourite films being Priscilla Queen of the Desert(yum Guy Pearce and

Terrance Stamp as a pre op!) It's definitely the glamour side of things, believe me!

It's all just a rather interesting subject to me.

Anyway because I love him so ( i don't care that he was a baddie in Superman...)

And because i mentioned Priscilla...

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Listening to - Claude VonStroke - Essential mix

Blu

Totally forgot about this piece of work by Blu until my friend Amandla popped it up.

Thought it might interest any graphicy animationy people.

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Listening to - Oliver Moldan - Pink Mist ( Jim Rivers Remix)

Stetch book work

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Listening to - TC - Where's my money (caspa remix) - Brodinski smokemachine f

I'm actually slowly becoming a computer wizz. Hurrah! I got delicatessen on the computer and luckily it already had the subtitles embedded

so i thought easy as pie! just press and play...Oh no, it had no audio.Grumble grumble. So i

left it for a bit and then decided i wanted to fix it, after trawling about for some help i eventually

got some, and downloaded various bits and pieces and hey presto i finally fixed it.

Can you tell i'm chuffed?!

Don't ask me to do it again, it was by sheer chance.

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Played about some more with that photoshop image and i quite like this one, if not more so.

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Listening to - Cristian Varela - currents

Ebay is BAD.

Oh dear... I can't stop trawling eBay for special finds.

I found this dress

It's so lovely. It's about £30 if i buy it now including p&p... Don't know if i want to bargain for it because it is so lovely and i don't want it to be stolen from right under my nose...I get paid on Friday so we will see how the funds go. Fingers crossed, it would look so nice with some modern twists.

What is it with me and "vintage" clothes just now. Am I really becoming a textiles student?...eep.

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Listening to - Adonis - Clap Me (Onionz Remix)

Uh oh.

Is it really Sunday night already?

I tried to upload some pictures of work but it wasn't working :(

Point of this post... My start up page is Apple and it has a bit for new films that are out in america or are coming out soon so i saw one with Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg and i thought "great, two great actors. How will this pan out?" The film is called "Anti-christ" uh oh.." A grieving couple (Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg ) are the subject of evil forces during a cabin getaway shortly after their son has died in this horror film from auteur Lars von Trier."

I'm going to watch this because i know it's going to be AWFUL but i want to be proven wrong because it's Dafoe and Gainsbourg together...

I'll tell you how it goes.

Edit...

So i did, and it was fucking weird. The swear word is needed just to purely emphasise how weird it is. Beautifully shot and some amazing scenes but just so strange! i found myself thinking "what the..." and "why?!"

The acting was superb, as expected. Some graphic sex scenes involved, which was made even more grittier by the fact that Dafoe and Gainsbourg are really just skin and bones anyway, so well chosen to play the roles.

It's essentially an updated version of King's Misery, only much much darker.

It is worth the watch, as I've said, it's beautifully shot and another interesting fact is that Trier only uses music in the prologue and the epilogue, which you don't actually notice until the epilogue. But i think he's done the right thing in not using music through out the film as it makes it so much more intense.

I take back the "awful" statement, a brilliant piece (if not screwed up) piece of art-house film.

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Listening to - soulwax - another excuse

Joni Mitchell - Woodstock

photoshop piece1

I've been ill for all of this week ( like we all ready didn't know) and we had a brief to do in our cad class, to do with using photoshop and the work we've done in class. Now I'm not one for using photoshop as, to me, working with a computer within textiles sort of takes out all the fun. Believe me, I've seen some amazing pieces that have come from a computer but it's just not for me. So, I've been working a little on this piece and I'm not sure i want to do much else with it as I'm one of those people who puts too much decoration on the cake.

I've looked at it and i like it. I might go back to it but i'm not sure yet...

I might do some more with the bottom of the piece as it looks a bit too straight... hmm.

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Listening to - school of seven bells - connjure

Coughing and science

Ever woken up and you've felt like your head's been in a vice grip all night? (Without substances)

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm very badly grinding my teeth at night these past few.

The headache is still here but the nausea i woke up with has disappeared, along with the vanished appetite. It's going well.

You would think they would have found a cure for the common cold by now, our only chance is "Vicks First Defence" What if you get it too late?

"Feed a cold. Starve a Fever." I've definitely not got a fever but no appetite to feed my cold...Boo Boo BOO.

Happy note, I won my first item on ebay, i got the red dress.

Which is good as that's the one i wanted more. Ended up having to fight for it but the chase was exciting, now i understand gamblers... Slightly. Got it for a small fee of £19.50 including p&p from america, think i did rather well as it would probably cost a tenner more in a "vintage shop" in town.

Just finished watching Gattaca. It was on a list of movies to watch from last year for the design pathway group and thought I'd give it a go. Pretty good, I enjoy a good film that makes you think about what could and possibly will happen in the future to do with science (just get the common cold sorted first!)

A constant strive for perfection. Pretty scary thought. Is there not some recently new film about genetically modified "perfect" people out just now? Or just been released? Can't remember. It is probably some Hollywood cack that i wont go and see. Or will if it's on sky movies and I've got nothing else to do...

Anyway, watch it if you're into that sort of stuff, watch it if you're not. You can oggle at Ethan Hawke, watch Uma's eyes move further and further apart as the film goes on, and laugh at Jude Laws funny posh accent.

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Listening to - Afghan Raiders - Admirals Doorbell

It's not just my thoughts.

Thought i'd better pop some of my "art work" (if you can call it that) up, incase you all think i'm a slacker...

This one is just something i stitched up quickly on the sewing machine on good old paper, dunno what i'm going to do next with it but it's definitely not finished.

This... well, i dunno if i should have put the colour in, and i don't like the black lines in the middle right "flower" might go back over it with new paper and start it again, can always rub the colour out or do something else. hmm.

This ane is missing a part but i quite like how it's been cut off. Think i'll leave the background as it is but work more in to the main part.

And just for laughs, i popped that quick drawing over a page and scanned it in...We'll see what happens.

Feeling bit Kevin Spacey, possibly due to the music and thoughts that go with it. Reminds me of a scratchy cover and a DJ.

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Listening to - Miss Kittin - Live at Sonar - The Difference It Makes (Superpitcher Remix)

Ideas...

I watched The Fall last night, a beautiful film and is definitely one to go in my film collection. It was visually stunning (with the help of Lee Pace) and really just so so so beautiful. Amazing locations and the story line wasn't a let down either. Only made me wish i was young and naive again.

Think I'll make a few people watch it next week at some point.

ANYWAY,before i write a whole review about it, it gave me a few ideas to do with my project at uni that I'm doing, which is always good. So we'll see where that leads too...

Until then, watch this, then watch it. Don't put it off, i meant to go and see it at the cinema and never and then kept meaning to buy it. Just get it and watch it, it's only about £5.

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Listening to - the knife - neverland

A Few Interesting Links

So "tremors" could be real?!

Awesome!Mmmm Kevin Bacon.

Also, I generally think Banksy is SHIT. His whole concept annoys me, he just plays up to it all and i hate the fact he's a total sell out. Urgh. But there is an even better guy who does it on bigger scales,who's work I actually like...Blu

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Listening to - Give Me a Kiss - Paradox LXXX

*cough cough* *hack hack*

So i've come down with this shit cold that's going about...Feel like death, not warmed up.

I've decided i think i was born in the wrong part of the world...GIVE ME HEAT.

So upon feeling sorry for myself I've just done my first bit of "bidding" on eBay, I'm usually just "Buy It Now" style as i can't be bothered with the wait and suspense of seeing if I've won it or not ( I used to have a "boyfriend" (HATE that word) who would do that for me.). And end up hating the person that won over me.

SO... As i love revival i went with "Vintage" gear...

Oh lush, it's beautious. Although i don't like when clothes are on mannequins...Looks sort of tacky,but bad tacky.

An old tennis dress :) and i like the way it has long sleeves, can be worn with some wooly tights in this here winter.

Much rather get the top one but well see.

And i can blog about this...I'm a textiles student...Hoho.

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Listening to - Junior Boys - Dull to Pause

P.S. does anyone actually know what eBay means?!

What i feel like doing...

Tipping Point.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - It's on our reading list for university and we had to make mind maps out of the full book then in depth for one of the chapters.

My mind isn't fully functioning today...Stay with me. It was really interesting, but I found it hard to get in to. Which is strange, there is a lot to take in with each page let alone each chapter but the feeling of vast amounts of knowledge about the world flowing into your brain is always good.

Mind Map for the whole book.

The Stickiness Factor mind map.

And my references for the stickiness factor were...(drum roll)

• Daniel Anderson and Elizabeth Lorch, "Looking at Television: Action or Reaction ?"
• Barbara Flagg "Formative Evaluation of Sesame Street Using Eye Movement Photography".
• Jim Henson, The Works, The Art, the Magic, the Imagination.
• Gerald Lesser, Children and Television: Lessons from Sesame Street.
• Howard Leventhal, Robert Singer and Susan Jones, "Effects on Fear and Specificity of Recommendation Upon Attitudes and Behaviour".
• Ellen Markman, Categorization and Naming in Children.
• Nelson, Katherine, Narratives from the Crib.
• "Effects of Early Childhood Media Use on Adolescent Achievement" by "Recontact" Project of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of Kansas.
• Lester Wunderman, Being Direct: Making Advertising Pay. chapters 10 and 11.

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Listening to - Herve - essential mix 21/2/09

just because...

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Listening to -

I don't understand how people can get high off of cough medicine, yes i know it's to do with the chemicals in it but it tastes rank. How can people drink a whole bottle of it without throwing up.And rotting their teeth...

I'll post my mind maps later on, just sorting out my scanner.

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Guilty Pleasures...

"When i grow up, i want a French bull dog."

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Minimal Time piece.

I honestly couldn't tell you how i came across the site trend hunter but i seem to spend hours trawling the site looking at the amazing and weird things that go on in the world. I came across a Minimalist Timepiece on the front page that someone had written about and i find it fascinating...

It's called Target Clock and it's been designed by Simon Lumb and uses graphics instead of numbers.

You'd need to watch the video below to understand how to actually tell the time on it! It's still a pretty cool wall piece, even if you do find it difficult to tell the time!

Trends via TrendHunter.com.

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Listening to -

An Umbrella That Changes COLOUR!

I found out about an umbrella that changes colour when it rains!(Thanks to Jo who's a designer in residence at uni) The picture on the umbrella is printed using hydrochromic ink, which means that when it's dry it's colourless and so when it rains it becomes coloured. Cool eh?

And they are pretty cheap at only £21.99 from lazybone .

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Listening to - the shins - phantom limb

The news and the "majorities" opinions.

I picked up a copy of the Metro today to read while i was on the bus home and the first thing i noticed today was this...

And next to it it stated this was "The Winchester Alien...It walks like a penguin and dresses like a ballerina."

THANKFULLY my brain didn't die yet, as i saw something A LOT more important underneath it( don't worry I'll get back to alien ballerina later)

Apparently "Half of us back the death penalty." Really? Or is that just a toll taken by the readers of "The Sun" ? I sat there in disbelief as i read this article that stated that:

"Many even believe the death penalty should be extended beyond murderers to rapists and drug traffickers."

For Christ's sake people. I find it an "effing" joke that people are even discussing this. It shouldn't be an option to bring back. A simple "No" will do. We would just be playing murderers at their own game. And as for the rapists and drug traffickers...

Who is to say that the convicted rapist actually did the said crime? Sadly there is an increasing number in women/girls shouting rape nowadays because they have either been so drunk and have thrown themselves at some poor horny boy and then have woken up in the morning and realised " Shit, did we use a condom?Am i pregnant? Who is this guy?" (possibly in this order) and then decide to shout rape as they can't remember what happened. The set in stone saying "Someone must be blamed, as long as it's not me." screams in their head.

We could be killing an innocent person, it's not like we've got the science to bring back people from the dead (yet) and say " Oh sorry we killed you for a bit there, we didn't have enough evidence for you and thought we would do right by the "victim". "

And the drug traffickers...well it's not like I've offended some of you already...So my opinion is... LEGALISE DRUGS. Then there could be "safe" amounts and it controlled. So to say. It's a tricky subject. The government just don't want us to have fun. But i hardly think the death penalty is an option for the traffickers, after all, they are only doing their job!?

Apparently the calls for the death penalty have risen since the "Baby P" and the nursery child abuse cases. The metro then states that:

"The strongest supports comes from the older generations,49 percent of 25 to 34 years old and 37 percent of those aged 16 to 24 support executions.

Of those in favour, 94 percent want it for murder,68 percent for war crimes and 62 percent for child abuse.

But 29 percent believe it should be extended to major drug dealers and 45 percent say it should be used for rapists and those involved in gun crime."

I really don't see, how bringing back the death penalty will solve these problems. If someone wants to molest a child, they will. If someone wants to shoot someone, they'll pick up a gun and shoot. If someone wants to force another in to sex, they'll pull their pants down and get on with it. There is always the "what if no one finds out?" thrill that runs through them just before. I would guess logical thinking isn't an option at that point in time.

I don't think killing off these people will benefit Britain, we are just playing them at their own game. They should be made to sit out their prison sentence fully and be made to think about what they have done for the rest of their lives, not the 5 seconds before the syringe in pushed, or are we going to flick the switch and put them on the electric chair? Come on, we may as well go the whole hog...

I'll move on from this subject because it could be come too "controversial" if it hasn't already.

Now for this "alien"...I have my thoughts on aliens, it would be very ignorant of us to think that we are the only "intelligent" life in the whole universe, but i also think that the "aliens" or whatever is out there are a lot more intelligent than what's here on earth.

Adrian Hicks stated that he saw this alien in Winchester High Street one busy Saturday afternoon.

"She had very large oval eyes and was twirling her hands in a circular motion. She was laughing and seemed to be enjoying herself."

A couple of thoughts;

Maybe she was a normal human being, off her face on drugs, hence the "very large oval eyes", I've seen some states of people that look a bit "off this planet" and David Mitchell looks like a fish on e's all the time anyway... So nothing alien there.

The waving of her hands..She was probably just over heated.

And finally...the laughing part? If it was an alien, earth (or should i say Britain) is probably like Disney land to them, only a thick version. If that's possible.

Maybe Mr Hicks had taken a tab of LSD by accident...

Also, this happened FIVE YEARS AGO. He had a fear he would jeopardise his chances of winning a council seat. Hopefully they've now taken that off him.

Oh, and he is a Lib Dem.

I will say nothing more.

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Listening to - Bobmo - Freak Me <<< how fitting.

Alvaro Barcala

I've come across Alvaro Barcala's work a few times but i just thought I'd pass it on if you've never heard of him. His stuff has provoked a few "urgh weird" statements from a few friends of mine when I've shown them his work but i really love it.

I like Art that makes your prudish side slightly recoil inside.

I, personally, don't find his stuff shocking, as it's only human genitals after all. Almost childlike illustrations, and even then they are only in some of his drawings.

I am doing well aren't i?!

ANYWAY an great fine artist with amazing detailing. I also really like where he pulls his inspiration from, like his "invisible friend" drawings..."...exposes the innate predisposition children have for being communicated with the invisible and with the magico-religious beliefs. The same predisposition the societies had in Ancient Times."

I love the glowing effect he has produced in these drawings.

Alvaro Barcala has also done some book illustrations which are so so beautifully delicate.

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Listening to - peep show in the background

Reading List

I found an old reading list I had written up years ago, I think at the end of 6^th year, so 3/4 years ago…

I read a fair bit but I always have books to read and so never get new ones and read them. A new uni year, new things to keep to.

Here we go…

• Emotionally Weird – Kate Atkinson.
• A Clockwork Orange – Antony Burgess ( interested to see how it reads rather than how it looks )
• In Cold Blood Truman Capote
• The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
• Sophie’s World – Jostein Gaardener
• The Old Man and The Sea – Ernest Hemmingway
• The Turn of The Screw – Henry James (this is one I have, just haven’t gotten round to reading it…)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest – Ken Kesey (I’ve been fortunate enough to have never seen the movie so my imagination wont be ruined when I read it.)
• The Comfort of Strangers – Ian McEwan
• The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath (an obvious one, but out of pure interest.)
• Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger (again an obvious read but surely a must read?)
• Oranges are Not the Only Fruit – Janette Winterson
• The Shrine Of Jeffery Dahmer – Brian Masters
• Selected Tales – Edgar Alan Poe
• Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu
• Lolita –Valdimir Naboko
• Story of the Eye - George Bataille

Well I’m sure there are loads more that I just haven’t written down and can’t think of, but I’m sure I’ll write them down here at some point. But then again your “Reading List” is pretty much never ending.

So book tokens for Christmas then?!

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Listening to - Kate Bush - Feel It

Massive cupcake

My dream is to have a tea and cake shop, with my friend Rachel selling her paintings and sculptures in the shop. I have just stumbled across this on firebox...

It's a massive cupcake tin! It's pretty pricey at £30 but could be an investment...At least i know it's out there.

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Listening to - brodinski - MAPOD for le mouv'