2day I feel like ive been hit by a bus!

I had a job interview today for a dance teacher and it went really well. I don't really have time for another job, but as they approached me quite randomly i thought 'what the hell!' The dance job is teaching kids for parties, and teaching adults for street dance and also for hen parties. The sort of thing id be really good at. And the hours are as and when. So they ask if you’re free and if you are then you do it. If not then you say no. I don’t know the pay but they will tell me next week if im through to the next round.

Oh by the way - this is a photo of my christmas tree! I spent ages putting it together but i think it looks really pretty :0)

Im feeling so rough today! My whole face is bruised now and ive got a black eye :( Im really sore and its so so hard to eat that im really hungry and thirsty all the time! Im seeing one of my best friends Anna tonight to take my mind off of feeling like crap. Anna is awesome by the way (just so you know!)

I went to see my boyfriend Wes play at the end of term bimm gig last night. He was really good. But I didn’t like being there. Bought back loads of rubbish memories from when i used to go to bimm. And I got really frustrated that there were tons of people on stage who could not perform, and I know im loads better than them but not getting anywhere! Im a bit upset this week to be honest cos my best guitarist has quit the band as hes moving to another country all of a sudden. So im not feeling my happiest.

Good news this week is that im doing well with my Christmas shopping and am super organized and ahead of schedule :0) Not hugely interesting but i had to find something positive to say! Oh, and Wes gave me these flowers as a get well soon present which i thought was really sweet :0) So thought id share them! And i do apologise about the rant...sometimes you just gota get stuff out when there is no-one to talk to, and blogs are the best way of doing it!



Oh yeah, i found this photo earlier and i just thought it was really cool, so wanted to share it with you guys :0)

The Quay Brothers Exhibition

Rehearsal for extinct Anatomies - "They think they're alone"
Aesthetic and emotional symbolism. Glass panels distort and make it creepy. ..freedom into the aesthetic of the puppet. The dark, creepy style is further enhanced as it is being warped by the glass. You have to bend to view it which adds to the way you view it - It's awkward.

It is also voyaristic --> You are watching them but they can't see you. It is like we are spying on them.

The eyes are pointing to the womans crotch which is exposed. The ball held by the man is in line with ehr vagina. Something about this piece of the artwork seems somewhat pornogrpahic to me.


Piano Tuner of Earthquakes : Doll Furniture
A prism shaped room. A lit ceiling. A door to the left with solor objectts on it. A broken spiral staircase. A lot of barch inside (bits of trees). Bringing the outdoors more indoors, or vice versa. Looks like an earthquake has hit which refers to the title, but I don't understand where the piano tuner comes in? The opposite door has been burst open and destroyed. This is parallel to the solar door.
This counteracts the imagination into a dolls world...the doors are routes into different worlds. The room feels like it's underground, with light from the top pouring in (from the real outside world)
Doll furniture = Being very small. Piano tuner = going inside, behind the world and exploring and adjusting it? Fine ttuning it to your own liking?



The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer - Prague's Alchemis of film.

This does not have a specific meaning on it's own, but in context with te film it would. The symbold and signs are to mean something (use of semiotics) but in this case they are unclear. They mean nothing to me, and do not necesserally have a deap and great meaningwithout watching the film it is based on.
There are 3 versions of the same photo, but they are distorted. The main robot man in the centre looks very similar to the photos.
It seems to me that this has little to do with the film in the scene.
There are lots of '10' and '01' all over the scenery...I can not work out why. This is clearly a form of semiotics but it means nothing to me.


THE FILM ROOM
Distortion of perception looking through the projector at th set and scenery.




Name unknown

Reference to religion with the cross. In my opinion, the woodchopper looks very feminine but is clearly a man (he almost looks as though is is gay in terms of his stance and features) He is chopping off is own leg which may well refer back to religion. It is also a possible reference to extreme rightiousness.
There are 3 chopped trees in the background - Possible reference to the trinity. 3 is a strong reference in religion.
The woodchopper is making a literal point from religion when Jesus once said. " it would be better to chop off your hand than to let it lead you into temptation". He looks like a character obsessed with perfection.

Still Nacht 1 : The lining of sleep

Interesting visual use of magnatism. I like how the magnetismn does look like a lining, and how it clings to certain objects.

Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies : The Inscriber of Forger. It looks to me like a living compas crossed with a robot, and a dead centapeid! I do not like this enough to ontinue searching for a deaper meaning!


Piano Tuner of Earthquakes : Lacnimi Christi
Face off a man with thorns round his head. A reference to christianity. Jesus had thorns around his head when he was on the cross. The man has blod dripping from the thorns.THis is going all over his face and the organ.

The organ --> This instrument is always seen in church. Another reference to religion.

The mans hands are tied with rope. This is another reference to religion as Jusus had his hands tied with rope when he was arrested, on his way to the cross.

The fingers playing the organ are very odd! They are broken off...there are only bits of fingers. There is no way those two hands coul actually play an organ!

All in all and quite simply, this is just a cabinet with an organ. The face looks like a cabenit door that can open.

Moliere's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme - From the set design for this ballet.

Very intricate and delicate. Very different from the rest of the artwork in the gallery. Basic use of colors - white and navy blue. Shapes of the lines draw your eye around the scene. This is asthetically pleasing on the eye.

Wanna see something discustingly weird!?

Well i believe i accidentally turned off my alarm clock in my sleep this morning, and woke up feeling somewhat sore (cos of the operation) So rather than going into uni late ive decided to stay home and do tons of work here. So im going to write up my notes on that interesting art gallery we saw last week and add some photos.

But 1st i gota use this blog as a blog...cos it is a blog so im going to actually BLOG.

Ok, so i had a tooth implant on Tuesday. And it was meant to be a couple of hours long. But there were complications and i was in the dentist chair for just over 3 hours and omg my neck hurt in that time! I had the injections to make me all numb, but tthey wore off after a bit so then i could actually feel them drilling inside my mouth. At whihc i went "aghhhh!" and then quicly pumped me up with more injections. So apparently my origonal tooth had broken into 15 pieces and they were a nightmare to detach. So ive got a really yuky looking lip which has allowed everyone to tell me that, "people pay a lot of money to have lips like you've got now!" But i have to then tell them that these people will generally have both lips done; not just the one! So for pure yuk factor, i think i shall share my discusting lip with you, cos how often do you get a massive purple lip? Well not often! Its gota be blogged!

Ok, so i know its totaly discusting...but i feel the need to share this anyway! And omg, im going to a massive gig tonight filled with people i used to know and i look like this! Nooo! Im definitely wearing my big scarf and dressing up as a bandit tonight!

(on 2nd thoughts, i will do the art stuff in my next blog...)

Design ideas so far...

Right, well i woke up feeling really rough today and still feel groggy. So i decided id stay home and work on my uni work here rather than go out in the cold and then spread my germs to all of you!
I've got more done at home than i would have done in the lesson so that is good. But i need some input! Im doing Street Talk which is to design something for a phone box. So today ive been makinf various designs for the top section of the phone box...my eyes hurt from staring at a screan too long and I no longer know what I think of anything so i really need to go take a break! Can you tell me what you think, any constructive critisism, or things you like.... All welcome :0)

Oh, to those of you who don't know, im doing an anti bulling campaign! And the bottom section will have all the info about it on (logo and slogan thingy)

Charity Gig I've Arranged!

PLEASE COME! THIS MONDAY. AT COALITION. IT WOULD MEAN THE WORLD TO ME IF YOU CAME AND BOUGHT TONS OF PEOPLE! ALL PROFITS GO TO CHARITY!!!!!!

BANDS PERFORMING ARE:

Bad Sandwich:
HYPERSEXADELICDIRTYFUNKAROCKINDISCOCIRCUS
www.myspace.com/badsandwichuk

The Crave:
Fresh from their third US tour, The Crave return to their home town to promote their debut album 'Anywhere to Everywhere'
www.myspace.com/thecraveband

Indie Killers:
The UK's Best Indie/Rock tribute band
www.indiekillers.com

Drink Promos all night

Entry is £4 & every penny of profit goes to ABC Fund (a local charity to help disadvantaged children)

Come and help make a difference by having an amazing night

Date:	24 November 2008
Time:	19:30 - 23:00
Location:	Coalition
Street:	171-181 Kings Road Arches
Town/City:	Brighton, United Kingdom

Well look at us!

Here we all are...well, half of us (the half that decided to come out to the Pav Tav last night. I knew quite a lot of people there (purely cos ive lived here 3 years and most of my friends hang out there) so it was hard to socialise propperly with everyone. But what's with all of us splitting up so soon? Grrrr! Not to sound all moany (though ive had a rough day so you'll have to excuse me) but it would have been really awesome to have everyone all stuck together for a while longer to just hang out and chat and be all social...cos then we went off to seperate places (seeing as we all have varied tastes in music and clubs). And i followed those of you who went to Audio (which i personally thought sucked as a club that night!) It was just...full of kids that looked 10 years old getting wrecked and dancing in a wierd way to indie music ive never heard of (im not particually eclectic with music...but i like it that way!) So i didn't stay very long. Thanks to Matt though for offering to pay for my entrance. I know Wes payed for me, but thank you for offering :0)


Anyways, rant over. Im just angry cos 1 of the places i work for is really messing me around and it's really stressed me out! Im working in Skegness from Friday to Sunday. Going round all the clubs and what not in a Butlins place and selling them. Its for a company called Picture Pal who I used 2 work for. I quit but they asked their top 4 sales people to go do an even in Skeggy and I need the dollah (its commission based you see) So I shall be selling my ass off for 3 days to drunk chavs. Me and 1 of the other girls have bought glow sticks and we are gunna sell them along with the photos to make some extra cash and bribe the chavs to buy more photos :D

Hmm, should I be talking about uni work...ok - im doing Street Talk. Doing an anti bulling campaign for it. Ive got some cool ideas mainly involving photography. I may well find myself some proper models and a makeup artist to really get it right...still coming up with concepts, but im really excited about it!

And lastly, here is a photo we took in class. We were bored and it was fun! xXx

What makes a successful website?

Another question from Julie...here we go!

It has to be easy to navigate around. So many websites are so confusing. They have such long winded ways of getting to where you want to be and it is often very poorly communicated to the general user. I think that web designers need to keep in mind the fact that so many people are not hugely 'computer literate' and don't know a huge amount about the web and computers in general. A successful website will cater for people of all levels and be very simple and easy in terms of navigation and communication.

Layout is very important for so many reasons. A website that is full of text upon text is not appealing to most people, and therefore would not make for a successful website. The average time people spend on a website before deciding if they are going to move on is 7 seconds. If someone saw a huge amount of text and no pictures to intersperse it then they would more thank likely hit the 'back' button and look elsewhere. Most people need visuals, which is why I believe that photos and images are a great way of making a website more user friendly and therefore more successful.

The color scheme is also very important. If the colors clash badly then it hurts peoples eyes and they will not want to continue looking at it. Similarly, if the background is very 'busy' and therefore makes the text very hard to read, then the user will not want to strain their eyes to try and read it. This also goes for the type of font used. If the font is too small, too 'busy' or blends in too much with the background then this is not a good way to keep the user interested on the site.

There are so many different types of websites and they all need different things to be successful. For example, e-commerce websites need to sell, sell, sell. Therefore they need clear front page summarising what they sell. They need a good mix of images and text which is clear and obvious to the user about what is being sold. Special offers and sale items in eye catching text at the top is always very successful. A site like this would need an easy to understand navigation bar so that the user is able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily, without getting lost, bored or confused.

I know that there are far more components that go into creating a successful website, but I think that these are the basic things that need sorting out first and forehand. So to summarise: Easy navigation, Simple and eye catching layout and text. And a well thought out color scheme.


(I dont think I have a favorite website to show as an example...i will go have a look!)

It's Done! Woop di woop!

Oh hell yeah - the 1st assignment is done! Im gunna hand it in tomorrow. But im well impressed cos i had it all packed and ready to take in by 6pm. And I did naf all in lessons all week cos i finished my sketchbook and design at home by Tuesday. So here we go, here is my final design of neo-retro awesomeness :0)



Sooo, this week haas been really tiring so far, and next week is set to be much more so. Basically ive been doing the uni work. And working at my normal job (receptionist) and doing photo editing for a freelance job which is draining! I had my meeting today for that photogrpahy job i rambled about in my last blog. It went really well. I was in a big board room and met a mega pro photographer and here was the boss of the modeling agency telling this pro guy that my photos are great and he should see my new work...i was just thinking "Oh My God! Im well out of my depth here!" But hey ho, I did what i always do...totaly blagged it, talked some rubbish which sounded vagually professional and impressive. Read through my contract and had my 1st shoot booked! I'll be photogrpahing between 2 and 13 models a day. £25 per model and I have to edit 8 photos per model to magasine quality. So when this takes off the ground i will be pretty swamped. But its a wikid opportunity and great for my portfolio and CV. I was thinking that once we have got our qualificatios in 2 or 3 years from you, and ive got a couple of years experience as the head photogrpaher for an agency, well it shouldn't be too hard to get a decent job in London or something that pays better and is more creative. Well fingers crossed anyways :0)

Hmm, what esle has happened...oh I met a few guitarists this week about my band. Im auditioning them this weekend and next week. Then hopfully I will have my band sorted and we can start rehearsing propperly and get gigging after that which is mega exciting cos I sooo miss the stage! There is no place I feel more comfortable :D

Oh I went to the Pav Tav on Tuesday, and the Tuesday before that. I went with my boyfriend Wes and i met his friends from uni (he goes to bimm, the music college i used 2 go to) And they are all so nice I was thinking that our class should go there next Tuesday evening and hang out together. And I can itroduce you guys to some new peeps. I only realised last night that we have not ALL got together 1 night and hit the town. So I'll text everyone on Monxday or summit and see if anyone wants to come out.




Anyhoo, ive been up for a long time now so I should go get ready for bed soon cos im knackered and got lots of work on tomorrow :-s

Peace Out xXx

A question of originality...

Q. Does originality exist? Or is it only possible to rework things that have been done before? Has anything new been invented since 1950?


A. Wow, what a debate...and a lot of big words. I'm not going to try and argue a case or use all these fancy big words. I'll just let my thoughts flow as they come. I do think it's a pretty interesting debate purely because everyone has their own opinions on this, and I like reading how people think so differently about these things.

Personally I think that origonality does and can still exist, but it is very rare! In general I believe that work tends to get rehashed and recycled and then creates something new.

I have talked to a couple of people about this and got 2 totally different thoughts back...

My brother (who is doing a course like this one at uni but in 2nd year) has always said to me that he doesn't think anything is original anymore. He says that everyone's rips someone off and steals ideas. I am very inclined to agree with this. But I do think that just because you get your inspiration from other work, well it can still be original in a sense because you have not copied work. You have just used old work as creative inspiration.

My friend thinks that originality still exists.She says that new things still appear every now and then. We talked about it from a more philosophy point of view. We said that whilst people and the world is always changing (as it always does) then our way of thinking and working will change. Therefore ideas, concepts and work will always change with the times and create new and original things.

I think this is quite a hopeful and positive way of thinking about it. It would be very sad to say that originality no longer exists I think.

In terms of things being created since the 50's...well id say hell yeah! After much research into 1950's design and style I would say that we have come a hell of a long way since then! So so much has been created that hadn't before. And this is mainly because of the software now available on the computer. And im sure that at some point there will be a new program or version of something out and suddenly we will all be able to create new things we didn't realise we could before...and all of a sudden there is scope to do something new and fresh and someone, somewhere out there will create something original.

This week has been pretty full on so far!

I should really be asleep in bed cos i am exhausted (it's 2am)...but im a bit wound up to be honest...and writing (rambling tends to help) I can't be bothered to write about the lessons this week. As i tend to say now, just read Chris's blog and you'll get good gist of the lessons! lol. My main thing was that i finally made progress on my work this week (thanks to Chris for a big nudge in the right direction!) Oh I know what else happened - student rep meeting! Very boring affair I must say! But i put the points across to the board that you guys had talked to me about. AND I came up with a great idea to make uni life better for us. me and Chris are gunna start work on it Monday! It's a secret for now...but we'll have it ready for you guys soon!


Ive not had any chance to do any of my work though since uni which is really frustrating...I had some paid photography work on Tuesday which was sooo hard. And ive got loads of editing to do still. And ive been working over time to get some extra money...Im £500 in debt cos i got scammed In London recently so im having to work extra hard now to afford to live. A bit suckey but hey ho...money can be re earnt and life goes on.


Oh yeah what else, i got offered a photography job this week. A Brighton modeling agency are doing a new project and need a photographer to take photos of their potential models for portfolios. It's gunna be once every fortnight at 1st, but get more work as it gets better known. And not bad pay. But that is cool cos will be really good experience and good for my portfolio too :0) Oh and extra money is always great!


I'm in the process of creating a new band at the mo as well...music is my life if i'm honest...i love art and design and all that jazz but I cant live without doing music and its my main ambition. So im driving hard with that. Im auditioning 2 guitarists this weekend so fingers crossed. ive got myself a drummer which is great, and my boyfriend is my bassist. And he is more fantastic than I ever hoped to find in a bassist to be honest. But now im worried cos he's been found by some major labels and has auditions this weekend for a signed band and he'll have to put uni and Brighton life on hold if he gets it cos of the touring. So from a girlfriend point of view im very supportive...but from a band point of view im silently freaking out cos bassists and writers like him are soooo hard to come by! And I know I sound really selfish which makes me angry at myself...but i cant tell anyone so im blogging it to get it out! Don't judge me! Blogs are just a good way to let of steam! And at the most I'll get Chris, Kat and Julie reading this...and you dont know my boyfriend so I think Im safe!


On a final note, I saw High School Musical 3 this week. I dont care if you have now lost all respect for me...It was amazing! I cant stop listening to the soundtrack! lol. Sounds so sad but im so in love with it! So HSM3 is my pick of the week! lol. Sooo not like the other 2. Very well filmed and choreographed (and cos i was a performing arts student before I moved to brighton I appreciate stuff like that!)

Anyhoo, I better go to bed. Im gunna be editing photos from the shoot in the morning, then im at work in the eve. And then out for a friends birthday...so im gunna have to put uni work on hold again and work my ass off in lesson on Monday :-s

Muchos Love xXx

Wanna see a great Brighton comedian?

Ok, so I went to a comedy show tonight which was awsome (with my ex which was not quite the icing on the cake but hey ho, i dealt with it) It was a guy called Steven Grant and I highly recommend him! He performs at the Komedia all the time and he's amazing!!!! He is so clever...but not too clever so your brain doesn't hurt. But im very fussy with comedians and he always blows me away! I will buy his DVDs when i can afford them and you can all come round and watch them :0)

Anyhoo, it was a show all about coming 2nd (not 1st) And it was really interesting to hear cos I realised that I am 1 of those people who is always the runner up and never quite comes 1st in anything (except student rep apparentlty - woop!) And it was so refreshing to listen to cos although what he was saying was hilarious, it had a great message that if you dont quite come 1st then it makes you an even stronger person and it improves you. And just cos you dont come 1st doesn't mean you are a loser...and personally I am a perfectionist and an overachiever which I am told is to do with low self esteem. Actually I love myself a bit too much, but i never think I am quite good enough and so I always try and be better and im not satisfied if I dont win... which is really sad actually isn't it. So yeah, the show really opened my eyes and made me realise that it's ok to not always be the best. Its much better to be the best I can be and accept myself for me and learn and grow from everything I do achieve and more importantly, don't quite achieve. So perhaps this is pointless rambling (cos it is 2:20am!) But i felt like sharing my thoughts with at least 3 people (chears for always reading you guys!)

But yeah - Steven Grant! Look him up and maybe one day we can all save out pennies and go to th Komedia as a class trip. Its like, £10 on a Sunday and you get 3 comedians, and Steven imbetween each one.




Thought id end with a funny little pic I found on an art website...I am the super cool black blob on the left ;0)

Student Reppin' ... and lack of communicatin!?!

Righty then, well Chris and I have been elected student reps! Which i think is awesome and I think we will work well together :0) Ben made us a little picture which is damn cool and has put it on our facebook group. I have added a discussion on there so everyone can say what they do and dont like about uni and the course. That way me and Chris can work together to get everyone's opinions together and voice them appropriately.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=580350007&ref=profile#/topic.php?uid=28973701763&topic=6482


I get the impression that a handful of us are getting frustrated...and this sort of frustration will no doubt lead to anxiety and the total lack of desire to want to go into uni every lesson.

It feels to me like the tutors are not communicating very well, if at all to each other. Because as much as we all think that the teachers are great, its annoying that each one expects something different from the same project. We have all had a rant together about Mondays lesson where we were asked to show our ideas to Julie and then got told we could/should maybe do another idea that relates in no way to our current idea...but we are meant to be working on our final piece now...so why are we being told to do new ideas? (If anyone heard Joes' mega rant about a politician then you will know what im talking about)

Then on Wedneasday (and this is my favorite lesson generally) we were expecting to present our work to class for some feedback. And I (and others) love this idea...you can get feedback from about 17 other creative minds and it can really inspire you and spur you on. But this did not happen. Instead, half the class got great feedback from Yuki, whilst the other half (my half of the room!) were forgotton about. So many of us felt uninspired and were not sure where to go next with the designs becuase we really need some creative input at the stages we are now at.


I was not prepared to leave without any feedback...so I got some feedback from Yuki in the end, but i had to stay behind 20 minutes for it...where as most people got their feedback in class and got to go home. I'm not saying this is a terrible thing cos im really glad that Yuki had time to stay and help. But It did make me run late for the next thing I was doing that day and it seems unfair that we were not given the time we deserved in the lesson. So perhaps on this occassion time managment is the issue and we should all buy Yuki a watch for christmas...

So, to continue back to this lack of communication...I think many of us are agreed that the tempo is all wrong. And when we go in on Monday im fairly sure Julie will be expecting to see something amazing and developed...not more research and rubbishy mock ups and me saying "well im waiting for Yuki to develop my ideas with me cos im stuck! And she told me to wait till I next see her before I start re developing"

Anyways, I do feel better having got that out my system...and I hear people maoning about the same things each lesson but not blogging it...so I figure I would blog it just so someone has voiced an overall opinion!

p.s. 3 of the photos are sort of relevent to the blog...the last one is just really funny so I thought id wack it in!

Peach out xxx

Class Spirit - Woop!

After a very unproductive lesson (please see previous blog, or better still, read Chris' blog cos it better describes the lesson!) I have come home and decided to take a break from trying to design...

I have realised that I have a bunch of photos of some of our class on facebook from my birthday night the other week...so i will post them on here and show class spirit or whatever! lol I think it would be really great for our class to go out together more often...i find it quite hard being my normal sociable self when im in class cos im frying my brain at a computer trying to develop design concepts...but i've never been in a class where I actually like every single person so I think that is awesome and im really happy about it.

Anyhoo, below are a handful of photos from the night i turned 22. Thanks to everyone who came for making it a really fun night! xXx