Pumpkins and Food

Last ever seminar on media and food was un-ironically supplemented with some snacks which went down a treat. Mostly we discussed essays and theories relating to food so overall it was a really chill way to start a morning, especially after trudging through the rain to get there. My girlfriend called me up a bit later asking if I could carve a pumpkin for her housemate. Now as some of you may know, I love to carve me a pumpkin, it is easily one of my favourite things to do this time of year, plus I recently bought a carving kit which I was very eager to put to good use. Never actually carved one from scratch though as Mum used to prize herself on making the lids but all things considered mine came out quite well! In hindsight I should have gotten a photo but I'm headed over there tomorrow for a Nerf war so I'll try to get a snap then.

Animal Man?

I was called in a few days ago to assist the filming of another groups project in the TV studio as a presenter on a kids show. Their theme was about pets alongside arts and crafts, two realms I have little to no experience in. Regardless I did manage to pull off a 'how to make a bird feeder' segment alright and next time I get to handle a hedgehog! Very excited about that!

Also my latest article got published online again. If you like video games and moderately interested in feminism in pop cultre then it might be a good read for you.

Look like Death

Felt like absolute death while I was walking in, and oddly enough, that payed off really nicely today. While walking in I bumped into a coursemate and housemate of my girlfriend who noticed I looked awful and offered to appear on our TV show this morning. This was immeasurably helpful since we had zero contributors for the show. A bit before we broadcast another one of our guests dropped out last minute so we called up my girlfriend to see if she was available. She was. We rejoiced since our show went from most probable train wreck to something salvageable.

Leicester Square Premiere

Back from my long weekend down in London and the screening of our war film 'The Journal'. While I went along to show my support, it was really great to see all our hard work and effort finally paying off with a premiere at Leicester Square in a pretty swish venue. Just got home tonight after spending a very long time in London traffic and my homecoming felt comparable to the final scenes of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I've had a terrific weekend but I sure am glad to be home once again.

Mailman

Eagerly awaited the postman this morning. In his little satchel I was expecting my navy waistcoat for the film premiere of The Journal I'll be attending tomorrow, my burgundy shirt for my Halloween costume, a pumpkin carving kit and most importantly, Bayonetta 1&2. Must have spent a good half an hour on the Youtube channel for Bizarre ER just to kill time but since it's arrival I have just been hooked solid. In the downtime I also tried on both my shirt and waistcoat and they fit like a dream. Mailman delivered in more ways than one today. 

Creative Rush

Had another one of my patented Dr Frankenstein moments last night. Well technically this morning. I promised my girlfriend (also my editor) that I would have her next article by yesterday. Feeling somewhat guilty I stayed up past midnight to finish it. It came out really well but I didn't want to stop there, I needed a picture to go with the words. I combed Google images for a copyright free picture I could use and ended up wanting to make my own.

I got my two photos and started editing on paint. Never a good idea. Ended up downloading a free, trial version of Photoshop and reminded myself how to use it in order to make something perfect. I was laughing like a madman when I finished as it got around to 2:30 before I finally got to bed but I didn't care. I had a creative rush!

This rush continued throughout the following morning as we nailed an idea for our next studio show for kids; we are doing a magic show and I am pumped for it. I even had a great brainstorming session this evening with my mate Simon, together we made an excellent team and came up with 3 entire episodes for our webseries in just over an hour. New record for me! 

'Bring on the Pomegranate!'

TV studio came around swiftly this morning, rudely waking me from a very pleasant dream. Glad that our three weeks of planning finally got put into fruition though, especially our work on sound. Mum even came down to star in the show since we struggled to find any other contestants willing to turn up (in fairness she was more of a plan B than a plan Z) but her appearance was hugely appreciated by all. Despite a few hiccups we managed to pull it all out the bag. In one instance our presenter gave away the answer to the blindfold taste test question literally saying:

'You will be handed a bowl with a food in it and by taste alone you must tell us what it is.'
*turns to camera*
'Bring on the pomegranate!'

Blimey, we were in stitches over that one.

Mum took me out to a nice Italian restaurant after the show and I had a really pukka pizza, as much as I love Lidl's frozen ones, this was on another level for a student. Now I am unwinding a little bit with our 'Home, Homework Club' where we collectively get on with our uni stuff in our living room while listening to 2000's hip-hop songs.

Also, the new Wildseed blog post has been put up, written by yours truly. Check it!

Food Porn

Rolled out of bed to do some work. Which is seriously unlike me actually and I am still in disbelief I actually did that. Before breakfast, before coffee, before even putting on a shirt I was hard at work splicing clips which could be deemed as 'food porn' together for my seminar on Wednesday. Editing on Windows Movie Maker did make me internally vomit a little bit but for my basic purposes it got the job done.

Shopping came next after I poured out my cereal to find no milk in the house. Weary and hungry I walked to Lidl for nourishment and even treated myself to a muffin and a cheap bottle of Amaretto which is quickly becoming a favourite liqueur of mine. Currently writing my student mag article which is coming very slowly since she is such a prevalent figure and it very difficult to not sound too opinionated about her. People who defend her are often seen as naive and people who criticize are deemed misogynistic. The woes of amateur journalism.

Also please check out yesterdays blog post, I did write one but apparently forgot to hit the little 'Publish' button!  

Comedy all round

 An afternoon comedy writing session with a course-mate and a film evening were the two parts of my day that I was looking forward to. Both got cancelled though since both parties were ill so my day plan was shattered. At least I got a chance to catch up on my writing, I did a small article for Wildseed on some tips for being a production runner (naturally I shall link it here as soon as Stoph puts it up) and begun my second mini-feature article for Nerve magazine about a very influential feminist in video games - stay tuned for that one.

Just got a phonecall from some chums who want me to star in their comedy sketch about mind readers in a news agents. I am playing the shop owner so I've just googled what they typically wear and have thrown together a small outfit to try and look the part.    

Uncharitable

Rounded up all of my video game gear, squeezed it into my rucksack and headed to my girlfriends house. Mario Kart has become a fast favourite in what is now effectively my second home, all her housemates are slowly accepting me as one of their own. I also had a brief trek back into our highstreet to try and take care of a little business by finding volunteers to star in our assessed quiz show. Charity shops were an obvious choice, but out of the 11 we visited 11 said no. Drowned out my sorrows with some Waitrose tiramisu - so good...  

PvZ

My roam around charity shops got cancelled so instead I spent the day with my girlfriend. As un-romantic as this sounds we did have a nice lunch in Subway as she mentioned to me recently about her sudden craving for a customizable sandwich. I then introduced her to Plants vs Zombies where she proceeded to blitz through half the game in a single sitting. I've always said that one was addictive.

Later on I was invited to a course-mates house party. I felt really privileged to receive the invite as I was one of the few to be asked to attend. And again I tried my best to arrive as fashionably late as time permits without seeming rude and once again I was the first one to attend. Fortunately the host shared my hatred for being fashionably late so I was in the clear, we then drank while watching horrendous music videos from the past.

Roller Disco

Went on down to the club this evening but not for a typical night out. Some other Bournemouth students and myself were asked to record a promotional event there, again for Mint hairdressers. They really splashed out for a massive ad campaign by hosting a roller-disco event in our local converted church nightclub. Best part was, since we arrived 2 hours before opening, we got to try out our skills with some rollerskates for free. Naturally, I was atrocious but it was jolly good fun. Filming itself went just fine, I was bought along as hired help for the camera people since we went in pairs so no-one would gang up on anyone with a camera. I got a little chance to record shots being poured and 80's dressed teenagers run up a spiral staircase; especially pleased with that last one. 

2 Films, 2 Disappointments

After darting into uni to learn about 'the dark side of food,' which basically boiled down to watching clips from Hannibal and The Fly I came home to watch two admittedly disappointing movies. Traffic was first up, for a film about America's war on drugs and the Mexican cartels I thought I was in for a real treat. Instead I was presented with a long winded and occasionally irksome movie, especially in regard to its gimmicky colouring and shakey camera. Fundamentally I think the film is actually quite dated despite its release only 14 years ago. Breaking Bad has really spoiled a generation of viewers with is portrayal of Traffic's themes but it a much more interesting manner. Which was a shame because I really wanted to like Traffic but an hour in all I could think about was when it would end.

I also hosted an Evil Dead film night with the neighbours to finally get around to seeing the remake of my beloved horror classic. It would be more fair to consider this an adaptation of the original rather than a remake, and while the collection of shotguns and chainsaws were present, it only had a fragment of the heart of the classic. But it was clearly made for a more modern horror audience since the gore and bloodshed was pretty intense but there was certainly a bigger effort made to gross-out viewers rather than properly scare them.

Disappointments

Return of the Net

Ah... Feels so good to be using a keyboard again! I can actually write things with some speed and punch now. Blimey, our house needed internet to survive. Without Netflix we didn't have much to watch or do so tonight we binged on Planet Earth and Peep Show while having a nice quiet night in which is just what I've been needing recently. Left quite late to pick up my girlfriend from town so she wouldn't have to walk back alone in the dark or pay for a taxi fare and we had a really nice time making fun of all the drunk people during our hike back to Winton.

3G once again

Back in the TV studio to work my typical sound magic. I got paired with a really fun guy this time around so it was a real pleasure to work with him, especially over a 9 hour day.

3G part 2

Discoved that or house internet has died so I'm having to blog with my phone for the second time - internet will return on tuesday. Just did some prop buying today and got my first ever Sharpie! Mark would be proud.

Demo = Pre-Order

Turned on my Wii-U for my weekly check of the E-Shop to discover a little slice of heaven through the Bayonetta 2 demo. Even though it was only 20 minutes long it kicked some major ass, like, a lot more than I even possibly expect. Immediate pre-order.

Most of my evening was spent with my head housemate who was trying to coax Freddie out of his bed despite my protests since he was technically sleeping. At the first smell of my dinner though he came running out so everyone was happy. He's currently running around in his little wheel and has apparently been out and cuddled while I was away at Weatherspoons, he's officially the 7th housemate. Which is good because we needed another guy in the house.

Random ain't my Word

As much as I hate to use the word since it's recent association with emo teenage girls, my day has been random. But in the best possible way. Bright and early I attended my first Media and Food seminar which I actually really enjoyed. I took more notes in that single session than I have the entire rest of the year, oddly interesting and easily applicable to any essay! A group meeting followed which I expected to take 30 minutes but instead I over ran for 4 hours. That final hour was hella-productive though.

Our next TV Studio session we have tasked ourselves in creating a TV quiz show which we based around crosswords. Naturally we needed a big sparkly quiz show board type thing so I opted to stick around and print off and glue down 97 individual letter to construct this holyness:

We are all proud of this. It's like our little baby.

Speaking of babies, we now have a hampster in our home. Ran on down to Pets at Home with another housemate who was spearheading the operation and found a cute little fella to take home with us. His name is Freddie to the girls but I call him Franklyn Von Strauss.

Franklyn Von Strauss, Esquire

Luckily he's a fair few feet away from my room so I doubt he will keep me up at night, but he will be sure to greet me after I stumble back from a coursemates Birthday party later this evening.

And as one additional little treat, my article has now been added to the student magazine website! Give it a looksie here.

Phew, lot happened in one day!

Bad Throats and Good Food

Popped into our local coffee shop to meet my girlfriend who is feeling a bit under the weather. Recently she's been comparing her voice to a man, in reality she just sounds a bit grizzled. Best thing for her we decided was a cuppa brew. Ultimatly that wasn't enough so I made her a hot chocolate topped with vanilla ice-cream and I think that did the trick. That and Lemsip, always Lemsip.

Just finished asking around about moving media theory unit, seems that Adaptation is all booked up, however there is still a slot left in 'Media and Food.' I am mighty tempted to take that as my option since last weeks homework was to watch British Bake-off. Should be fun!

Nerve

Made it back into Bournemouth in record time, with 30 minutes to spare at home before wandering into uni. Faced again with a mini TV studio session in prep for some of our next projects, I tried my hand at being a PA or time-keeper. I was super psyched to try this role out because I am generally quite good with watches and time in general. It was going rather well until they wanted me to do the autoque as well. Basically rendered me useless at two jobs so I felt twice as humiliated when everything fell apart on my behalf.

On the plus side I finished up writing my student magazine article, I'll be posting a link to where you can read it after it's been uploaded to the Nerve website. Hopefully I can worm my way into being a regular on there.

Happy 4th Birthday to 'The Blog!'

So after spending a lovely day with the usual suspects for Chris' belated Birthday and having a massive Nando's I have wound up once again at my keyboard and by golly-goodness, is it that time of year again? Four years of blogging? Four years since I wrote that fateful post that would change the course of my evening plans for eternity. Well, it really isn't as epic as I make it out to be but I still think it's rather cool. Fun Fact: this blog is only a few months younger than David Cameron term as Prime Minister so far. I'm not even very political and that fact impresses me!

Seriously however, it is an absolute pleasure to write a quick post before my bedtime nearly every night. It's become a small part of my routine alongside with brushing my teeth and frankly I just plain enjoy doing it. And if reading a single post has ever made you chuckle then I can rest easy knowing that I made someone's day a little bit brighter. At the end of the day, that's what I love doing in life.

Thanks everyone for reading over the years, I hope I'm still fun(ish) to read about, my life isn't admittedly the most interesting but for long-time readers, it's almost like you've been living it with me.

Here's to another year of blogging!

To-be Journalist

Coffee mornings are odd things. Typically I need a cup of coffee at home before I am ready enough to walk outside in order to socialise and get more coffee. Nevertheless I walked for the first time in months through the rain to get into town for a Twin Town coffee morning to which very few people attended. Right now I'm working on my first article for the university magazine, I unofficially signed myself up to write a gaming column for their website. I reckon this will be really good for me since I always kinda fancied being an unprofessional games journalist... even though its currently trendy to treat games journalists like absolute crap due to the rift between gamer and writer. But hey! That's an article for the future. 

A Real Meal

Made it back home to Newbury after tagging along with one of my new housemates so that saved me a train fare and a long journey to and from the station with a big old suitcase. Dinner was also the first real meal I had all day since breakfast consisted of 4 fried eggs and lunch was a bowl of ice cream with some biscuits crumbled in for some crunch; this is probably a sign that I need to go and do some shopping when I get back.

Now if you excuse me, I have some more BoJack Horseman to watch...

Argyle Problems

Brought the argyle jumper out of retirement today which garnered an interesting reaction from my coursemates. One of them probed me for being a golf enthusiast to which I replied: no. I have only been on a driving range. The same person then got really pumped at the idea of going to a local driving range as a kind of team bonding exercise - I think he was only half joking... Doubt I'll even be any good at it since it's been about 9 years since I last went, and another 3 since I at least did crazy golf.

Open Mind

I generally consider myself to be a pretty open minded guy. I've been brought up to try and find the good in most things and give stuff a try before knocking it and with the exception of a forced outing to a local activity camp I have enjoyed everything I mustered the courage to go to.

With that said, I really had to drag myself out to go into town for a coursemate's Birthday party. At first I was exceptionally reluctant to go, memories of sticky floors, sweaty rooms and smokey ques filled my mind like a balloon. I'd not been into a club since going back to uni (which startled a few people on my course) but I thought I could give it one more try last night (again, I'm an open minded guy).

And of course, I had a really good time. The people I were with were a lot of fun despite me only meeting them a few hours beforehand. I even had a nice chat with the Birthday boy who was really genuinely happy I turned up to celebrate with him and in turn that made my evening feel worthwhile.

Crashed into bed and rolled out for uni today. Still brimming with optimism from last night I went in to tackle my new unit specific seminar entitled 'Media and Conflict.' It wasn't my first choice of unit but I figured I could go along for it and try it out (once more, I am open minded).

And you know what, I absolutely hated those two hours. The prospect of writing an essay on how the Iraq War was covered by the media makes me want to french kiss a shotgun. I'm currently drafting an email requesting a transfer since I really am just not going to find the enthusiasm to enjoy or do well in the essay, here's hoping that it all goes well.