Ok, so I seem to be going through the "Life is shit" stage....
Yeah there are some good things in my life that I wouldn't trade for the world! My boyfriend and my best friends!
HOWEVER!
There are a few things which absolutely SUCK right now.....allow me to begin.
1. Money!
Yes, that's right. I am low on money, and my stupid job won't give me extra hours when I desperately need them! There are people there who don't want the hours they have, I will happily take them! I feel like I can't do anything because of my lack of money. Rent and Bills seem to be all I can afford at the moment.
I really want to go on holiday but I can't cos I hardly have any money....I want a mac, but I can't cos I hardly have any money. It's crap!
2. University!
Uni is not that good this year either....my friends seem to have distanced themselves from me, whether that is intentional or not, I am starting to feel alone....especially during lessons. I'm also lumbered with the task of Producing again which, isn't that bad a job, I'd rather be doing something like Editing or Directing. But never mind....maybe next year eh....
Thats all of the complaints I have atm, if there are any more I will be sure to post them
In 1998, a new point and click adventure was released on Windows 95/98. A sci-fi adventure on board the largest, most luxurious cruise liner in the whole of the Universe...it's name...The Starship Titanic!
I managed to get this amazing game working on Windows 7 (I had to download and replace a couple of files to do it) and as a Point and Click adventure, it still lives up to the more recent ones that are around today. The graphics, although Pre-rendered, look stunning. The Starship comes to life with high resolution Art Deco worlds, and quirky humor, written by Douglas Adams himself, comes the the array of Robotic characters.
From left to right we have, Marcinta. She is the Desk Bot who checks you in when you first board the ship. She is very rude and extremely unhelpful, that is until you find a way to change her settings.
Next we have Fortillian, the Bar Bot. He is an Irish robot who works in Titanic's 2nd class bar. Unfortunately he is stuck in a loop, and it's up to you to help him get out of it.
Next up is the Canal Bot, fixed to the gondolas in the 1st Class Canal, he sings to you as he sails you down the canal to the Arberitum....or at least that's what he's supposed to do, instead he sings when you lave the gondola, and stops when you get in.
Then we have Kraige. He is the Bell Bot. He is there to carry your luggage and show you to your room, but since you don't have any bags, and are only in Super Galactic Traveler class, he doesn't really care, and decides to take time off.
And then there is Fentible, the Door Bot. He acts as the purser and also is a good point of call when you need some information...that is if he is not suffering from memory failure.
There are also a couple of other characters such as the Suck-U-Bus, a pneumatic tube system which allows passengers to send things around the ship, the Lift Bot who operates the lift while dousing you with war stories. And lastly there is the Parrot voiced by the amazing Terry Jones (Monty Python). The arrogant, rude chicken loving parrot who really is just there to annoy you!
The goal of this game is to put the Titanic's central intelligence back together, the humanoid computer Titania who has been sabotaged by the ship's builder and financier, Scralliontis and Brobostigan. Because of this, the ship has undergone SMEF (Spontaneous Mass Existence Failure) and is now flying out of control through space. It is also the reason why the robots aren't working properly.
(Above: A 1st Class Stateroom)
This game is packed full of fun! You can type anything you want to say to the Robots and they will respond accordingly, and I mean you can type ANYTHING! Try Swearing at the robots, some shout back, others get upset. I've never see any other game that has this feature, it really immerses you into the game!
If you can, check it out. It's a fantastic game! And if the game is not enough, why not check out the Novel by Terry Jones! It's a great read.
So I don't know if you have already heard of these guys, you probably have, but I heard this song for the first time the other day and I absolutely love it!
It's called Fireflies by Owl City and it's such a nice song! The video is pretty awesome too.
I just love it. It's one of those songs that make you feel uplifted and happy, and it's always good to have one of those.
This other song by them called "Hello Seattle" is a really nice one too. It sounds similar to "Fireflies" but it is still really nice :D Check it out.
I think I'm gonna get their album cos it's really nice :D Hope you guys feel the same way.
I have just got a shitload of Sigur Ros songs and put them all onto my iPod, and they are very atmospheric and always hit a chord within me. Some songs make me sad, others make me happy, and some just make me think back on my life. That's pretty good for a band to do that.
But I was listening to them today when I was waiting for the metro, and a song called Tiki came on. It was just music, had simple chords but was very nice, and all of a sudden, a film Idea came to me.
I can't find the song on YouTube which is a shame cos I wanted to let you hear it, but never mind.
I have decided to make a short film which includes this track. I think it will be shot at night as everything looks more cold and lonely at night. That is the look I am going for, yet the film shouldn't have that feel about it. I want it to follow a person on the metro at night and it will just be him observing things, people sat on the metro, things outside...pretty much what I do when I'm on the metro. I'm a people watcher so I think it will be a nice idea to do that...
I'll plan it some more then get someone to help. Should be pretty cool if it's done right.
The above song isn't the one I was talking about but it's a good example of their nice atmospheric and really spiritual songs.
It has occurred to me that vest tops are quite underrated. I mean, they are comfortable, they keep you cool in the summer (and in overheated houses like this one) and for those of us who work out, they are a good way to show off your muscles. This picture just shows how stylish they can be...well I say stylish in the sense that they look good. Casual, relaxed and just good :D
However, vest tops do have the connection to the Stella drinking wife beaters like this guy:
Ok so that maybe stereotyping, but it is true. So maybe we can say that if you are fat, don't wear vest tops....but thin people are wife beaters too....Ok so I don't know what I am trying to say anymore, but I am not a wife beater, and I am in no way suggesting that everyone who wears vest tops are wife beaters but you get where I'm going with this.
Ok, So vest tops do look good. Granted! On thin people that is, and muscular people too but not fat people...and if you drink stella and own a vest top, then try and take some calms! Lol
So I am very supportive of vest tops and I am very glad that Top Shop sell them for cheap, cos I certainly could do with another one :D
So I have decided that I want a new hair style....well I actually can't decide if I do because I like how mine is, but it takes so much work and some days I either don't have time to style it or I just can't be bothered, like today!
As I am always on the lookout for new hairstyles, I tend to notice many styles that people have, and one of the styles I like is what the character Mark St. James from Ugly Betty has in this Mode After Hours episode.
It's short and dons the classic side swept fringe, which I used to have and kinda wish I didn't lose. However my fringe was stupidly long while Marc's is nice and short and looks pretty dam good.
Marc has always had some pretty cool hair styles over the 4 series of Ugly Betty, for example:
This picture shows Marc with a side fringe and brushed over hair, however his fringe has a curl in it, I would keep mine straightened like in the above video.
Marc also has a great sense of style too with his amazing shirts, ties and jackets, although some of his outfits are questionable.
I think I will just leave my hair to grow longer so I can have more control over it when I come to get it cut.
For those of you who play the Silent Hill games will know this name very well.
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
She is a fantastic vocalist and actress who has sung on a number of Silent Hill tracks. I just wanted to take this opportunity to sit back and appreciate Mary's beautiful voice in a couple of tracks below.
This one is called "Room of Angel" from Silent Hill 4: The Room...Music by Akira Yamaoka and Joe Romersa. The song is very soft and gentle, yet it's depressing lyrics give the song a sort of eerie feel to it.
The next song I want to share with you is from Silent Hill: Origins called "Shot Down In Flames". it's a sort of heavyish Rock song, and Mary's vocals are strong and powerful giving the song a solid edge.
The last song I want to share with you is probably the most known Silent Hill song of hers, it's the main song from Silent Hill 3 called "You're Not Here" and it is also my alarm tone to wake me up in the morning. It has strong lyrics and a great guitar riff at the start. Also this one comes with it's own music video :D
I will leave you to take in these tracks. There are loads more on youtube. Also check out Akira Yamaoka, he composed all the music for the Silent Hill games, some are amazing pieces of music. Very atmospheric...so check them out!
So Bioshock 2 is coming out on Tuesday and I am very excited about it, so I thought I would take the time to write a quick blog about the first Bioshock game which I played back in November.
In 2007, a new first person shooter was released on PS3, PC and Xbox 360 by 2K games. This game promised to bring First Person Shooters to a new level, and my god it did! Plasmids, Weapons, a vast undersea city and of course...the big daddy!
Lets break the game down into sections, first off the Story.
You start off by being the only survivor of a plane crash, all you see beforehand is a package with a note and a photograph of a family...then, the plane begins to shake and all goes black. We hear screaming, explosions and a huge splash. When the scene fades back, we are in the middle of the sea surrounded by fire and wreckage. In the distance, the tail end of the plane slowly sinks.
And this is where this amazing game begins. You find yourself swimming towards a lighthouse which is the entrance to the underwater city of Rapture where the entire game takes place. You climb into a submarine-like machine called the Bathosphere. This takes you down to Rapture. You get a beautiful sweeping scene of the city as the bathosphere approaches it's docking station. Octopi, whales and fish swim by the window of the bathosphere adding to the beauty of this undersea cityscape. We soon come to realise that all is not right with Rapture...
Rapture is decorated in the Art Deco style which gives the game a unique atmosphere as everything is in decay and chaos. Rapture's inhabitants still wear the masquerade outfits of the 1959 New year's party. It turns out that Plasmids and ADAM have destroyed the minds of the people and have turned them into savage crazy people.
Plasmids change your DNA which enable you to do many things such as shoot fire bolts, electrodes and even hornets from the palm of your hand!
All of this is pretty cool to gameplay. Makes it more exciting than just using standard weapons. It's also fun to see how the inhabitants react to the plasmids.
You eventually discover the civil war that raged though rapture and also find out just what caused the inhabitants to turn crazy with the misuse of ADAM and the Plasmids.
The scariest part of the game has to be the encounters with the Big Daddy.
He is the protector of the little girls sent to harvest ADAM, and they are some tough machines! They take a hell of a lot to kill and they are very relentless, however they are good to get on your side with the right plasmid. Having them protect you by mercilessly killing the city's inhabitants to protect you is sickly satisfying.
Graphically the game is very good! The environments are superbly detailed and the lighting of them is eerily fantastic too! Sticking to the Art Deco style and 50's music gave the game a unique character too which made playing it all the more satisfying and also contributed to it winning Game of the Year!
Now on 9th February 2010, Bioshock 2 comes out, and I can't wait to play it!
So I've been having a discussion with a few people and I raised the question, what would you do if you woke up and you just had hooves for hands? Your feet would be fine, just your hands...
Personally I would be a) Very confused, b) Slightly excited at the fact that I could hoof people if I didn't like them and c) wonder how the hell I could work a computer or a tin-opener!
It would be quite the experience I must say. And since I thought of this question, maybe the answer is in sight after all! I found these little gems online!
How genious are these!? With these gloves one could experience what it would be like to have hooves for hands! I assume they will be floating around ebay or somewhere if you really wanted to try them.
It's strange how a place which cures sick people and helps thousands of people all the time is such a scary place to visit!!! All those needles and pain and nasty smells and just the thought of people dying in there terrifys me. So it doesn't help that I gotta go back today at 12 to have two things done! 1. A blood test! I am terrified of Needles and every time they say "it won't hurt" or "You will just feel a small scratch", they really mean it's gonna hurt like hell! And that fact that I panic at the thought of needles doesn't help either. The second thing I am getting done is a skin scraping test... Now I've just quickly read up on this and it sounds horrible! They use a scalpel to scrape a layer of skin off! My arm is twitching and I'm cringing at just the thought of this! I just know it's gonna hurt and be sore afterwards! Seriously, what is whith painful procedures to help! It doesn't make sense :(
On a lighter note I get to see my best mate again for the first time in ages. So he is gonna keep me company and we can have a catch up.
I'm gonna post something decent and more exciting later tonight.
I'm feeling better today so I went into uni. I needed to go in anyway and really wanted to go in as we are dealing with Homosexuality in British TV, and being a fellow homo myself I thought it would be interesting to look at how gay men and women are represented on TV.
It all started in the 70's with shows like Are You Being Served with the character of Mr. Humphries.
Mr. Humphries, played by John Inman, was a very flamboyant and camp character who was obviously a Homosexual, yet it was never explicitly mentioned except for a few subtle innuendos.
Gay characters, mainly gay male characters, were represented as being very camp and mince a lot.
Being the 1970's Homosexuality was not accepted in society as well as it is today. Shame they are taking so bloody long but what can you do. It was considered a taboo area and was never fully explored or mentioned in positive light.
Many programmes have been made since involving gay characters and plots. Take Tipping the Velvet for example. This is an adaption of a novel and centers around Nancy, who falls in love with actress Kitty.
It deals with the struggle of living as a homosexual female in victorian times, however it shows the darker side of Lesbian activity where the mistress claims ownership of Nan after her breakup with Kitty. For a BBC2 drama, it is rather graphic in it's sex scenes involving a leather dildo...rather disturbing if you ask me.
It's reviews were positive and no one mentioned the fact that the characters were lesbian probably because it was still taboo back in 2000.
Next came the highly controversial, but excellent drama in 1999, Queer as Folk. Now this is the original British drama, not the American version which, from what I understand, has been toned down a lot. Queer as Folk deals with 3 main characters, Stuart, a man whore, Vince, the best friend who does anything for Stewart, and Nathan, the 15 year old one night stand that won't go away.
It doesn't deal with the issue of being gay, but rather just explores the life of these 3 guys who just happen to be homosexual.
You can look at it as just a real life drama rather than a gay drama. It depicts scenes of explicit man on man sex which for the time caused a lot of controversy! But then this is what Channel 4 is best known for. Diverse and different programming.
As the 00's went on, Homosexual representation on TV has become much more acceptable and less stereotyping. Soaps feature more homosexual characters and stories, yet they show them as being complicated and secretive rather than open and out there, with the exception of Sean from Coronation Street (Who also appeared in Queer as Folk).
Anyway, leaving this subject for now, Gay representation on Tv has come a long way, and it is not going to go away. It is becoming more acceptable in society to be gay now which is great...soon two guys will be able to hold hands without being shouted at....
So, Film theory is a very big topic within film scholars and the academics that accompany it. There are many film theorists and theories out there, such as Laura Mulevy and her theories on Feminism and the Male Gaze, Which can be explored in her article Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. It's floating around online somewhere.
Other theorists such as Slavoj Žižek, who makes very deep and somewhat perverted theories on film, check out the film The Pervert's Guide to Cinema in which he covers films such as The Birds where he talks about the main characters sexual desires.
There are countless books and articles in libraries all over the place full of theories on films and other texts. And here we come to my point.
We, as film scholars, attempt to understand film and the meanings and themes that they suggest. I think this can be fun at times. I like to look for meaning in things, but mainly things that interest me.
When I'm faced with documentary theory or feminist theory or whatever, it tends to become very dull and dry. For example, I was reading an article for my seminar yesterday...it was talking about Masculinity in the TV show The Professionals
It went on to talk about Doyle's haircut and how that represented his masculinity. I mean fair enough it does express how the idea of masculinity has changed over the years (baring in mind this is a show from the 70's) but It is not something I would get lost in.
Another thing I would like to express is how we are limited as to how much of our own theories we are allowed to put in without constantly referring back to what someone else has said. To me that doesn't seem like it is encouraging us to look at films in our way, but rather look at them in someone else's mindset. This completely bricks up or minds to open thought. It's like they want us to accept other peoples theories as fact...yes they get problematized a lot, yet I always feel myself constantly being pressured into comparing and referring back to a theory which I don't think is right.
Maybe I'm being biased...maybe I'm not but at present, this is how I feel on the matter.
Queer as Folk deals with 3 main characters, Stuart, a man whore, Vince, the best friend who does anything for Stewart, and Nathan, the 15 year old one night stand that won't go away.