Every now and again, I get bitten by a “project” bug and nothing can get distract me from coding my current interest. Well this weekend has had me bitten twice, one surprisingly for a newsletter template at work and the second is a small development project for my good friends in the Manchester Death Metal outfit, Foetal Juice. Having a massive interest in digital and music, I often have ideas or read things online about different methods of reaching audiences online. Being a failed musician myself, I can only experiment with these opportunities with my [...]
In the words of depress superstars of yesterday, Staind – “it’s been a while”… A hell of a lot has happened since my last post. Needless to say I didn’t quit drinking, but I’m happy to report that I’ve not had any incidents of the previously blogged “cloud of shame” either. I suppose the biggest news since my last post is that I’ve graduated! Not only that, but I’ve managed to earn myself a 1st class degree. A massive part of my degree success was my final project, PayFaceValue.co.uk – an ethical ticket trading website [...]
Last night was the Leeds Universities Summer Ball and I may have overdone it just a little bit. Drinking Rosé wine instead of my usual tipple of cider or lager (prices were ridiculous) I got drunk very quickly, which resulted in my friend finding me in the welfare tent with suspicious pulp on my face. Following hearing my night relayed to me in bits of second hand information – it’s safe to say I had a bit of a nightmare and may have made a massive bosom of myself. By most accounts, I’m a pretty [...]
Just 10 minutes ago, my body filled with an irritated rage at the the sounds of Metallica’s Fade to Black emerging from my housemate’s bedroom. Not because I dislike Metallica, but because HE was listening to them. How pathetic? Now hear me out, I’m not an unreasonable fella. Nor am I about to crucify eclecticism… but the manure I’ve had to suffer spewing from this particular gentleman’s vocal chords regarding the tunelessness of my beloved heavy metal is the reason I’m currently blasting Slayer at top volume and writing this blog. It’s a problem that [...]
I’ve entered myself into the domain of public scrutiny in an attempt to become the next presenter of the Download Festival Lowdown. In order to win £1000, a video camera and VIP access at the festival, I need my faithful friends and readers (all 2 of you) to head to this link and like the video for “Will, 21 from Lancashire” (posted on 30th April 2010 at about 10am). I’m quite happy with my video. Don’t quite know what happened with the layout of my 5 Download Festival photos (it’s supposed to be balanced/symmetrical) and [...]
Following another successful Download Festival announcement, it angered me to see it referred to as “a wee bit gash”. There’s always going to be people moaning and I know that you can’t please everybody – at least not with the full lineup. However you can please everyone if people step back and realise that YOU DON’T HAVE TO WATCH EVERY BAND! No-one’s going to tie you to a chair and force you to watch Jared Leto and his gang of clahns whilst Rage Against the Machine annihilate the main stage. Just like the foolish people [...]
1. Porcupine Tree I’m currently Spotifying the bejesus out of Porcupine Tree’s “The Incident” and endeavour to purchase this masterpiece when my bank account becomes a little greener (or slightly less red…). I’ve been aware of Porcupine Tree for some time, reading nothing but positive things about their live performances, but I never seemed to “get” their music. Looking for some decent music to work to, I decided to try them out again – and this time something just clicked. The reason I feel I have gotten into this band too late is that I’ve [...]
I’ve had a couple of spurts of creativity this weekend, both of which are ideas I’ve had for a while, but haven’t bothered to produce. Well, even with some very important deadlines looming, I found myself clahning around on Photoshop. The first came from my (mentally and physically) unhealthy love of Mr Colonel Sander’s finest fast food establishments (particularly when consuming the Wicked Zinger Tower meal, with gravy and a large diet coke…). It could be neater, but it’s only for a bit of fun. Would probably have been better to do this as a [...]
As a Megadeth fan, I’ve had to become accustomed to change. Through my teens up to now, I’ve seen one lineup of Megadeth split up (“The World Needs a Hero” lineup of Dave Mustaine, David Ellefson, Jimmy Degrasso and Al Pitrelli), another record an album (“The System Has Failed” lineup of session musicians Jimmy Sloas, Vinnie Colaiuta and guest soloist Chris Poland – with Dave Mustaine of course), another tour (“Blackmail the Universe” tour lineup of Dave Mustaine, James MacDonough, Glen Drover and Shawn Drover – with a brief tease of a Nick Menza return [...]
Currently in my degree module, “New Media Strategies and Futures” we’re delving deep into the world of web accessibility. Whilst doing some of the course reading, I just had a quick thought that I wanted to chuck into a short blog. The fundamental idea of making the whole web accessible for all people of differing abilities – both mental and physical, is a fantastic idea and a no brainer. Why wouldn’t you want your website to reach as many people as possible? Hell, if it were easy, I imagine most websites would have different languages [...]
