Finally the new pink and silver acrylic pieces are up for sale in the shop!
Continuing the introspective theme from yesterday, here is my 2010 in photos.
January
Photographing Ok Go at the Shepherds Bush Empire
112nd
Jan
Jan
1010th
Dec
Dec
I got my final results back from my first Open University module today, and I passed with 94%! I’m pretty pleased to say the least. I’m already part of the way through my next module and I have a Maths one starting at the end of January, so it’s all going very well so far. Let’s hope that trend continues.
In-between all my gigs in the past week, I finalised the new acrylic designs and sent them off. They should be arriving sometime before Christmas, although I’m not sure if I will have time to get them up on the site until my holidays start. More Christmas orders have been coming in which is exciting. I’ve been very busy in my workshop making everything. The Star Trek necklaces especially seem to be a hit, so look out early next year as there should be the science, medical and engineering ones coming in.
My new lens has arrived, and it is massive! (In comparison to my kit lens anyway) It looks a bit ridiculous on my small 450D body, which leads me to think I should invest in an upgrade next year.. I’ll be testing it out this weekend at my friends party, so expect a few choice ridiculous photos.
Finally, I have caved in to internet peer pressure and got myself a Tumblr. It’s mostly going to be full of photos of Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine, but if you are that way inclined feel free to add me: Tumblr
108th
Nov
Nov
Hey kids, it’s blog time again. I’ve been super busy since Halloween so I haven’t even gotten my photos off my camera yet, but I will say that it was an awesome party and the cakes turned out well. Have a strange photo to tide you over for now:
My brother (left) and his best friend (right)
Halloween night saw the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster gig at Heaven, and I actually half considered not going as I was so tired from the previous night. The support acts were a strange motley crew of bands, with the first band Arrows of Love being pretty good but only playing to about 3 people, the second I can’t even remember their name and the third was a surprisingly dire Robots In Disguise. If you know me at all, you will know that Robots are one of my favourite bands, but their whole set just felt very lacklustre and I couldn’t even be bothered to sing along. I’m not sure if it was my own tiredness, the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm or a rubbish performance but either way I was disappointed.
Luckily Eighties Matchbox put in a stellar performance which woke me up and had me thrashing away on the barrier with the rest of the crowd. It was such a sweaty, intense atmosphere that the bands facepaint had melted away halfway through the first song. The security guard in front of me looked like he was having the time of his life, and kept saying “You’re all mental, it’s brilliant” as he hauled crowdsurfer after crowdsurfer over the barrier. The setlist was a mishmash of older and newer tracks, although I was disappointed that In The Garden got overlooked. Another brilliant night with Eighties Matchbox, and I even had Guy hand me his setlist!
On Tuesday I finally had the fortune of attending a recording of Never Mind The Buzzcocks. I had figured out that the guest hosts remaining for the final three episodes were Tim Westwood, Frankie Boyle and Robert Webb and we were praying to every deity that it wouldn’t be Tim. How unlucky we were! I don’t think I have ever seen a more unfunny person in my life. Luckily the guests were vaguely funny, and Phil and Noel more than made up for it. I’m curious to see how it ends up being edited together, as it seemed so patchy and not very cohesive. It was still a good free night though, even with the tube strike starting and having to battle buses to get home.
Other than that, nothing much has been going on in my life. I have become slightly obsessed with Bearbricks though. I never liked them much (not keen on the shape and I prefer the artist based designs of Qees) but I’ve been on a quest to get the Spock Bearbrick from Series 19, and have ended up with quite a few others, including the awesome Iron Man one! May do some photos of them soon.
1023rd
Oct
Oct
On Thursday I went to the Garage for the Relentless Energy Sessions. Chrome Hoof, Does It Offend You Yeah? and The Sounds were all playing, and I got the tickets from my PureHMV account so I thought it would be a nice free night. It turned out to be a bit weird, because when we got inside it was only about half full and stayed that way for the rest of the night. Most of the crowd were just confused by Chrome Hoof, and although a section at the front livened up for Does It Offend You Yeah?, they quickly left after they had finished. By the time The Sounds took to the stage at around 10pm the room was about a third full and looked like a school disco gone wrong. It just made me feel uncomfortable really and I couldn’t get into the music, so we ended up leaving after about 5 songs. I don’t know if it was lack of advertising, or if people just weren’t interested, but it seemed really strange to me. We enjoyed Does It Offend You Yeah? anyway so the night wasn’t a total loss. They are supporting Linkin Park in November so hopefully I’ll see them with a bit of a better crowd next time.
On Friday afternoon I got an exciting email come through. After roughly 4 years of trying, I have finally got tickets to a recording of Never Mind The Buzzcocks! It’s for 2nd November and my boss has agreed to let me leave at 3pm so we can go and queue and guarantee our seats. I’m so excited, I hope they have good guests!
Today I went shopping to find some bits to finish off my Halloween outfit. Can you guess what I’m going to be? 😉
I also took a look in the 99p store (as I usually do, to see if they have any good bargains), and they had the Star Trek glasses that the American Burger Kings were giving away last year. I got the Spock and Kirk ones as we don’t have much room in our cupboards, but they all looked awesome.
This week I have lots of gigs coming up. Carl Barat on Wednesday at the Scala, Manic Street Preachers on Friday at Brixton Academy and The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Robots In Disguise on Sunday at Heaven. I also have a Halloween party to go to on Saturday so it’s a very busy week for once. Luckily I get paid soon!
1017th
Oct
Oct
On Friday I went to see Crystal Castles at the Roundhouse, which is always one of my favourite venues. It feels quite big when you get inside, but you still get a great view no matter where you stand. I arrived a bit late just as HEALTH were supposed to take the stage and got quite confused for a moment before I realised that Team Ghost were still playing. I don’t have much to say about them as they were unfortunately not very memorable. HEALTH on the other hand were totally amazing. The last time I saw them at Reading Festival, I came away feeling very underwhelmed. But they really blew me away this time and I think they won many many fans judging by the large mosh pit that formed! I would even go so far as to suggest they were better than Crystal Castles.
Crystal Castles were still brilliant though, they were after all the band that everyone had come to see. Everyone was dancing all the way to edges of the room and the sound was so loud I had ringing in my ears the whole way home. They came on late so they only had an hour to play but they cherry-picked the best songs from both albums to keep the good mood going, wisely foregoing the slower songs in favour of more upbeat ones. Alice Glass was ever the insane front woman and spent about 90% of her time in the audience. The other 10% saw her flinging herself around like a woman possessed and carting a strobe light around the stage. The crowd left sweaty and covered in beer, but all grinning with smiles on their faces.
This weekend I have been taking it easy and watching the Star Trek marathon on FilmFour, Grindhouse, Sherlock and making spicy carrot and lentil soup. I am making full use of my new blender!
Photo by Mike Hughes