PEACE OUT LOL
Wednesday 17 February 2010
skag's up is fuckin dead
Just to say that I've officially joined Cakebomb and have my own blog on there now - http://www.cakebomb.co.uk/bown/ - so this blog is pretty much dead now. Thanks to the like 4 people that followed as well as Liam Brocklehurst for designing the pretty banner that more people should have got to see.
Wednesday 23 December 2009
My Top 10 Songs of the 00s. Sort of.
Hello, friends! My good pal Jack Bzowski over at Alien Blogato recently made a list of his top 10 songs of the last ten years. This made me think about mine. However, I then realised this was a near-impossible task, so I instead made a list of some of my favourite bands from this decade and then picked one of my favourite songs by each. It's a very subjective list, hence the ton of pop-punk, but enjoy anyway!
10. Hit The Lights - Make A Run For It
Hit The Lights aren't exactly original, but they're very good at what they do. This track, the final on their first (and best cos then the original singer left and his voice was pretty distinctive) album, has everything that's great about them; a killer opening riff, heading into the energetic verse, before heading into the frantic "cut, cut, cut to the chase" pre-chorus and then a singalong, anthemic chorus; something every pop-punk strives for but many fail. They're an incredibly tight band and this song was a fantastic way to end their album.
Other Recommendations: Talk Us Down, Bodybag, Speakers Blown
9. Say Anything - Eloise
Say Anything's album "In Defense of the Genre" dominated my speakers in 2008, with its awesome blend of different styles. This, the self-titled follow-up, has a more catchy, pop style, but that helps it for some songs, such as this one, the typical "you're bad for me and we're breaking up, bitch" song taken to an extreme. Singer/songwriter Max Bemis pours everything into his vocals and lyrics, and it shows. The piano motif that occurs throughout this song is very nice etc, and..I dunno you just feel the emotion. UH-OH RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS ALREADY THIS IS GONNA GO WELL
Other Recommendations: Plea, Died a Jew, In Defense of the Genre
8. You Me At Six - Take Off Your Colours
You Me At Six are another mostly unoriginal band, but once again they're so good at what they do I have to forgive it. They're also British, so representin'. This song, the title track on their first album, is one of my favourites because...well, I'll try not to sound like a bitch, but it's one of the ones where the lyrics speak to me, or at least remind me or certain situations. It also has that aggressive style I love.
Other Recommendations: Gossip, Always Attract, The Rumour
7. Panic! at the Disco - Camisado
Panic's blend of emo pop-punk and dance/vaudevillian stuff ignited the scene back in 2005, when their debut album was released. Many hate it, and I can definitely see why, but it's definitely my thing. This song particularly impresses me because...well, it's about guitarist Ryan Ross's father, who was dying of cancer at the time. Ross gets out his daddy issues as harshly as possible with the lyrics ("You're a regular decorated emergency"), and the music is a nice mix of energetic pop-punk and the whole synth thing (the second verse and its use of glitchy electronica stuff is the highlight IMO).
Other Recommendations: The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage, Build God Then We'll Talk, Folkin' Around
6. Drivemouth - Corrosion
Had to represent my homeboy somewhere in this thing. Drivemouth's The Imperfectionist isn't exactly a well-known album, yet it's one of the best of the last year. Telling the story of (without spoiling it too much) a blissfully tortured artist, it mixes dreamlike acoustic tracks with harder rock songs. I've picked this track as my highlight because it's incredibly peaceful, genuinely lovely, and has hilariously awesome use of a xylophone. This guy deserves to go places.
Other Recommendations: This Kid, The Imperfectionist 2, Enduring During
5. Brand New - You Won't Know
Brand New started off as an above-average pop-punk band, but over 8 years and 4 albums have proved themselves to be one of the defining alternative rock bands of this generation. This album, their third, is arguably their opus, and I've picked this song because it has everything that makes it so great; a slow, atmospheric buildup that culminates just over a minute and a half in with an epic outburst of emotion. The lyrics are great - "They say in heaven there's no husbands and wives", Jesse Lacey sings in the bridge, and it has a morose mood to it - like if Morrissey screamed more and stuff.
Other Recommendations: Seventy Times 7, Guernica, Sink
4. The Decemberists - Eli The Barrow Boy
Fuck, that really is a terrible album cover. ANYWAY, The Decemberists are probably the best of the "Pitchfork acts", mixing folk-rock with what Wikipedia tells me is called "baroque pop", using many classical instruments in their music. Singer Colin Meloy is possibly the nerdiest entertainer in the world, writing lyrics about old-style sailors and maidens and whatever, yet when you see him live you get the feeling this is what he was made for. I chose this song as it's short yet displays everything the band are about. It's also one of their most evocative songs, and depressing as hell.
Other Recommendations: Sixteen Military Wives, The Mariner's Revenge Song, The Rake's Song
3. Frank Turner - The Ballad Of Me And My Friends
Getting this out of the way now; Sleep Is For The Week is Frank's worst album. Start with Love, Ire & Song, and then if you like that check out Poetry of the Deed. Frank Turner is on his way to starting a revolution among British teenagers, his underground folk-punk music speaking to enough people to get him signed to Epitaph Records worldwide. I can always count on him to inspire me.
I picked this song, despite the album it's from, because of its message, which is absolutely perfect. It brilliantly encapsulates being a teenager in the UK, playing open mic nights and drinking and just celebrating fucking living. "If you're all about the destination, then take a fucking flight", Turner sings, and it's enough to get any kid to call someone up and do something.
(Actually a live version, but the version on the album is live anyway, and it just makes the song all the more powerful.)
Other Recomendations: Try This At Home, I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous, Dan's Song
2. The Gaslight Anthem - Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?
Another bad cover. I swear these guys is TRYING to make me look bad but anyway The Gaslight Anthem are fucking fantastic. They mix influences from the sort of Social Distortion/Cheap Trick old-school punk style with Bruce Springsteen, and it's an amazing blend. They sound like a band who have everything thrown at them but still made it through just to write and perform these songs. They're amazing. This song is from their 2008 EP, Senor and the Queen, which is my favourite thing they've done - each of the four tracks is sublime - although I would recommend starting with their second full-length, The '59 Sound. I chose it because it's just...well, fuckin badass. This is one of those songs I find it really difficult to describe how I like, but just...listen to the pre-chorus, with the "ba ba" stuff in the background, and the way it goes into this aggressive, world-weary chorus. It's fantastic, and these guys deserve every success.
Other Recommendations: Casanova, Baby!, High Lonesome, Meet Me By The River's Edge
1. Fall Out Boy - Hum Hallelujah
Might as well get this over with; I think Fall Out Boy are the best band in the world. I have no idea why. Every note they play, every line sung, just makes me feel something no other band can manage. The music, the lyrics, the production is exactly how I like music, down to the last detail. It's sort of embarrassing, but I'm gonna just pretend like my taste in movies makes up for it and move on.
I picked this song because it's fantastic, but also because it has a lot of their best qualities. You see Pete Wentz's penchant for idiotic lyrics "We're a bull, your ears are just a china shop" as well as effectively emotional ones "I thought I loved you, it was just how you looked in the light". Patrick Stump belts out lines with his distinctive voice that so many hate but that I can't get enough of. Boy's awesome. It's not one of their more experimental songs, musically, but it has the brilliant melodies they're known for. So yeah, Fall Out Boy are my favourite band of the last ten years, and this is one of my favourite songs of the last ten years. DEAL WITH IT LOL at least it wasn't Coldplay.
Other Recommendations: Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today, Sophomore Slump Or Comeback Of The Year, "From Now On, We Are Enemies"
So that's the end of the list! I hope you all enjoyed it and that at least one person was influenced in some way. Thanks for reading.
Monday 20 July 2009
Standoffish
This update has been a long time coming, but with Cakebomb back up I feel it's about time I made it.
Back in April famous internet man TomSka, who I've mentioned before in this blog, mentioned an idea for a film he had, but also that he was having trouble writing a script for it as he wasn't a big screenplay person. I was also mentioning at the time how I wanted to get more into writing. Amy, who was with us at the time, put two and two together and before I knew it I was writing the script for Standoffish. After numerous drafts where characters were added, then taken out, and the plot was completely overhauled, we were ready for shooting.
It was a fun, grueling day, full of shooting the exact same scenes many times from different angles. Again and again and again....and again. Luckily it was really fun and other than having to hide when police cars drove past outside, it went off without a hitch. We left happy with our work. And then realised we'd forgotten to film the very last shot.
This is what I look like when I'm sitting down and the camera's behind me and also a shotgun.Overall, I'm incredibly proud of the finished product. We also entered it into the Virgin Media Shorts competition, and you can watch on and vote for it on their website by clicking here. You have to sign up, but you guys all love me so much that it shouldn't be a problem, right?
In other news, Projectorheads now has a full website! It's being regularly updated with news and reviews. I recently saw Lars von Trier's controversial Antichrist and wrote a review for it there. Be sure to check it out as it's something we all would really like to get attention.
Not much on the horizon at the moment, unfortunately, as it's the summer. Come September, I'll be back at Uni and Bing/TomSka will be here so things are more likely to happen. It's entirely possibly that a sitcom based on the Standoffish flat is on its way...BUT I DIDN'T TELL YOU THAT SHH
Thanks for reading!
Standoffish pics from here
TomSka's blog about Standoffish on Cakebomb
Guns were supplied by these guys. They are cool cats.
Saturday 23 May 2009
Live Things That Were Live
Two of my final three modules involved doing something live. For the Radio module, we had to make a 12-15 minute-long radio package, involving an interview and such, and then perform it live. Me and Bing were the presenters, and we used the idea of a fictional robot uprising during a (different, also fictional) radio show we were doing to talk about the future of technology. We got some great voxpops from people as well as an interview with a robotics professor at the Uni. The original one also had the full soundscape we made earlier, but we cut it out for length.
Go go DJ Spock.
For the other assessment, the TV one, our entire group of 17 people had to make a 15 minute kid's TV show about a certain country. We picked China, and spent a ton of time researching and scripting and making sets and costumes and oh god we all nearly went insane.
It went like this:
Gareth as a panda is the best.
It went good. However, had we handed in this version I have no doubt we could have increased our marks tenfold:
Oh, Bing.
COMING SOON TO SKAG'S UP!: Guns and frisbees. Watch this space.
Go go DJ Spock.
For the other assessment, the TV one, our entire group of 17 people had to make a 15 minute kid's TV show about a certain country. We picked China, and spent a ton of time researching and scripting and making sets and costumes and oh god we all nearly went insane.
It went like this:
Gareth as a panda is the best.
It went good. However, had we handed in this version I have no doubt we could have increased our marks tenfold:
Oh, Bing.
COMING SOON TO SKAG'S UP!: Guns and frisbees. Watch this space.
Saturday 16 May 2009
Mandatory "it's been ages since i updated" blog title
I want to make a website but I don't do enough stuff to make having a website worth it. It's probably pretty bad that watching Nathan Barley was what made me want to do this, as that's a giant satire on how retards with no talent think they're important cos they have websites and such. Someone shoot me before I ever become a New Media wanker.
Anyway, I'm still waiting on a lot of things to update with, but here's a short one. For my final design piece, I chose to create a press pack for a film. I had assumed it had to be a fictional film, but apparently you could have had real ones as well, as the new DVD cover for Schindler's List I saw at one point proved to me. Anyway, I took some inspiration from Harmony Korine and the Dogme 95 movement and came up with a fictional movie:
Francis and the Gang
Francis, a young adult with severe autism, wanders the streets of the city at night searching for self-meaning. Down a back alley, he meets a gang of people with similar mental disorders, who live their lives together, stealing what they need and drinking all night, staying together in an abandoned house nobody else ever visits. Francis soon joins them, and becomes part of a whirlwind life filled with criminal activity and danger.
Also inspired by the fact that pictures of my friends on nights out are hilarious. The first thing I made for the press pack was a poster:
I should at this point thank my friend and fellow bandmember Ben Wilson for just pulling the most fantastic faces ever. I also decided to make some little fact sheet things for the characters, in a card form. Yeah I dunno just have a look at a couple of em and you'll get the gist:
I also took part in the writing and filming of a 15 minute live kid's TV show all about China and pandas and stuff, and made a radio package about robots. While I don't like to blame other people for things, the reason none of these are up is entirely Bing's fault.
In the meantime, have some funny YouTube videos, as well as an awesome short film by Cakebomb's TomSka starring that dude who plays Percy in the Harry Potter Films:
Anyway, I'm still waiting on a lot of things to update with, but here's a short one. For my final design piece, I chose to create a press pack for a film. I had assumed it had to be a fictional film, but apparently you could have had real ones as well, as the new DVD cover for Schindler's List I saw at one point proved to me. Anyway, I took some inspiration from Harmony Korine and the Dogme 95 movement and came up with a fictional movie:
Francis and the Gang
Francis, a young adult with severe autism, wanders the streets of the city at night searching for self-meaning. Down a back alley, he meets a gang of people with similar mental disorders, who live their lives together, stealing what they need and drinking all night, staying together in an abandoned house nobody else ever visits. Francis soon joins them, and becomes part of a whirlwind life filled with criminal activity and danger.
Also inspired by the fact that pictures of my friends on nights out are hilarious. The first thing I made for the press pack was a poster:
I should at this point thank my friend and fellow bandmember Ben Wilson for just pulling the most fantastic faces ever. I also decided to make some little fact sheet things for the characters, in a card form. Yeah I dunno just have a look at a couple of em and you'll get the gist:
I also took part in the writing and filming of a 15 minute live kid's TV show all about China and pandas and stuff, and made a radio package about robots. While I don't like to blame other people for things, the reason none of these are up is entirely Bing's fault.
In the meantime, have some funny YouTube videos, as well as an awesome short film by Cakebomb's TomSka starring that dude who plays Percy in the Harry Potter Films:
Monday 2 March 2009
Drowning In The Flood: It's A Soundscape!
Short update today, but here we have Drowning In The Flood, the experimental soundscape I helped make for my Radio module.
Click here to listen to it, yo.
The aims for it were fairly simple; we set out to create a narrative of a protagonist rejecting the cacophony of above-ground and finding a harmony beneath the waves. We wanted to show the contrast between the two worlds, as well as see if a narrative could be established using just ambient sounds.
The group - consisting of me, Jason Baster, Luke Clarke, and this one cunt called Bing, recorded a ton of different things for the soundscape. The most fun part was the first thing we did, where we got a big plastic box, filled it with water, and recorded our heads being dunked into it, as well as coming out and gasping for air. We made a mess and Bing's flatmates loved us for it. We also recorded heavy breathing as well as random banging and ambient background conversation sounds and stuff, a lot of which made it in. Most of the distortion you hear throughout the piece was done with Luke's awesomely fun amp and a guitar and a whammy bar. Some of the music you hear was done by putting Luke's headphones on the pickups of the guitar, so it came out of the amp and created the really sweet effect of almost making it seem like it's coming from a broken radio.
After recording, Bing edited the whole thing together into what you hear there, with the rest of us offering ideas and generally hanging around and being cool. You know, my usual MO. We then got to write the paperwork and made ourselves sound mega pretentious when describing the piece. It was fun!
Not much else to report on as we've just had a week off, but there's stuff coming up soon with Mute and Production Planning and all that. Be sure to look for more updates!
Click here to listen to it, yo.
The aims for it were fairly simple; we set out to create a narrative of a protagonist rejecting the cacophony of above-ground and finding a harmony beneath the waves. We wanted to show the contrast between the two worlds, as well as see if a narrative could be established using just ambient sounds.
The group - consisting of me, Jason Baster, Luke Clarke, and this one cunt called Bing, recorded a ton of different things for the soundscape. The most fun part was the first thing we did, where we got a big plastic box, filled it with water, and recorded our heads being dunked into it, as well as coming out and gasping for air. We made a mess and Bing's flatmates loved us for it. We also recorded heavy breathing as well as random banging and ambient background conversation sounds and stuff, a lot of which made it in. Most of the distortion you hear throughout the piece was done with Luke's awesomely fun amp and a guitar and a whammy bar. Some of the music you hear was done by putting Luke's headphones on the pickups of the guitar, so it came out of the amp and created the really sweet effect of almost making it seem like it's coming from a broken radio.
After recording, Bing edited the whole thing together into what you hear there, with the rest of us offering ideas and generally hanging around and being cool. You know, my usual MO. We then got to write the paperwork and made ourselves sound mega pretentious when describing the piece. It was fun!
Not much else to report on as we've just had a week off, but there's stuff coming up soon with Mute and Production Planning and all that. Be sure to look for more updates!
Sunday 22 February 2009
Oh wow it's been nearly 3 months
I apologise for the lack of updates! First there was nothing to update for ages, then there was lots and it was just like "OH GOD"
Anyway, the first semester ended, and with it, we said goodbye to the Digital Media, Photography, and Script, Screenwriting & Realisation modules. Choices was filmed, edited, finished, and handed in. When they've finished the marking, we'll get the tape back and I'll be able to put it on the internet and show you lovely people. I also handed in my projects for the other two modules, but to be honest they were nothing really amazing or worth showing. My original idea for Photography fell through so I had to do this whole guitar playing thing, and I wasn't very happy with it. Digital Media I was pleased with, but the photos I took of my house were definitely the coolest/best things about it, before I drew all over them and ruined it, haha. I'm pretty sure I got a good mark for that one.
So now we're doing three new modules, and for the most part they're incredibly fun. First up is Production Planning, which is pretty much just another way of saying TV. We get to use the small TV studio (Students who carry it on next year get to use the large studio, which is one of the biggest in the country) and the final assessment is for the entire group to work together on a children's TV show based on a certain geographical area. Despite the deadline not being for weeks, our group's getting a head start. We've already chosen China for the topic of the programme, and everyone has their parts. I will be assisting in the scriptwriting, as well as one of the three cameraman for the final piece. So far in the workshops we've all done different jobs for certain things, swapping round each week. I've been the sound guy, a cameraman, director (It was a catastrophic failure) and last time around I acted, which was incredibly fun as it was the first week we got to improvise something and not just work from a script we were given.
The second new module is Design & Visual Communication, which is really just what the title says. Our first assignment was to make something that we thought described us. While a lot of people made collages or cartoons or something, I booked out the photo studio and went a more slightly traditional route:
I was pretty happy with it, and people seemed to like it, so yay! The final assignment is to make a press packet/poster for a film or CD or various other things. I would do the Mute album but Ben already did that when he did the module last semester (more on that later), so maybe I'll just make up a fake Dogme film as an excuse not to put much effort into it. LOL!
Then there's the final module, Radio & Sound. I'll admit to not being massively interested in radio as a whole, but I've enjoyed this so far. I'm in a group with Bing, Jason, and Luke, and our first project has been to make a soundscape. Bing came up with the idea of making one that gives off the feeling of being underwater, and a sort of harmony that can be found there compared to above ground. This should be finished within the next couple of days, and then I'll post it up here. After that, we have to make a 15 minute radio show and present it live. It'll be interesting.
That's about it for Uni, but there's more to report on. I've recently started writing for Projectorheads, a movie blog, along with some of my friends from Ugmo. It contains reviews, features, and occasional videos. I'm currently writing a segment on my top 10 directors for it, so be sure to keep checking it out.
In January, I discovered Xtranormal, an odd site where you write a script and little robot people act it out. No good for making movies or animations you want people to take seriously, but the idea is comedy gold, so I used it to make a short web series called Excellent Jim. You can watch all the episodes by clicking on these links:
1 2 3 4 5
I stopped after episode 5 because, well, once you start to make jokes about ejaculating in Madeline McCann's eye, you've taken things as far as you can in the "tasteless" category, really. Some of my friends have made other videos though, which are pretty damn fantastic.
I guess the final thing to update you guys on is Mute. We've played a few gigs, and have a couple more videos up on youtube:
The Escape - Live at The Black Market 10th December 2008
Pennyword - Live at The Black Market 10th December 2008
We also have some new videos from our latest gig, but they're not up yet. The next couple of gigs we have lined up are with some fairly big local bands, so I'm quite excited for them.
Oh yeah, we also finished the CD.
Catch you guys later.
Anyway, the first semester ended, and with it, we said goodbye to the Digital Media, Photography, and Script, Screenwriting & Realisation modules. Choices was filmed, edited, finished, and handed in. When they've finished the marking, we'll get the tape back and I'll be able to put it on the internet and show you lovely people. I also handed in my projects for the other two modules, but to be honest they were nothing really amazing or worth showing. My original idea for Photography fell through so I had to do this whole guitar playing thing, and I wasn't very happy with it. Digital Media I was pleased with, but the photos I took of my house were definitely the coolest/best things about it, before I drew all over them and ruined it, haha. I'm pretty sure I got a good mark for that one.
So now we're doing three new modules, and for the most part they're incredibly fun. First up is Production Planning, which is pretty much just another way of saying TV. We get to use the small TV studio (Students who carry it on next year get to use the large studio, which is one of the biggest in the country) and the final assessment is for the entire group to work together on a children's TV show based on a certain geographical area. Despite the deadline not being for weeks, our group's getting a head start. We've already chosen China for the topic of the programme, and everyone has their parts. I will be assisting in the scriptwriting, as well as one of the three cameraman for the final piece. So far in the workshops we've all done different jobs for certain things, swapping round each week. I've been the sound guy, a cameraman, director (It was a catastrophic failure) and last time around I acted, which was incredibly fun as it was the first week we got to improvise something and not just work from a script we were given.
The second new module is Design & Visual Communication, which is really just what the title says. Our first assignment was to make something that we thought described us. While a lot of people made collages or cartoons or something, I booked out the photo studio and went a more slightly traditional route:
I was pretty happy with it, and people seemed to like it, so yay! The final assignment is to make a press packet/poster for a film or CD or various other things. I would do the Mute album but Ben already did that when he did the module last semester (more on that later), so maybe I'll just make up a fake Dogme film as an excuse not to put much effort into it. LOL!
Then there's the final module, Radio & Sound. I'll admit to not being massively interested in radio as a whole, but I've enjoyed this so far. I'm in a group with Bing, Jason, and Luke, and our first project has been to make a soundscape. Bing came up with the idea of making one that gives off the feeling of being underwater, and a sort of harmony that can be found there compared to above ground. This should be finished within the next couple of days, and then I'll post it up here. After that, we have to make a 15 minute radio show and present it live. It'll be interesting.
That's about it for Uni, but there's more to report on. I've recently started writing for Projectorheads, a movie blog, along with some of my friends from Ugmo. It contains reviews, features, and occasional videos. I'm currently writing a segment on my top 10 directors for it, so be sure to keep checking it out.
In January, I discovered Xtranormal, an odd site where you write a script and little robot people act it out. No good for making movies or animations you want people to take seriously, but the idea is comedy gold, so I used it to make a short web series called Excellent Jim. You can watch all the episodes by clicking on these links:
1 2 3 4 5
I stopped after episode 5 because, well, once you start to make jokes about ejaculating in Madeline McCann's eye, you've taken things as far as you can in the "tasteless" category, really. Some of my friends have made other videos though, which are pretty damn fantastic.
I guess the final thing to update you guys on is Mute. We've played a few gigs, and have a couple more videos up on youtube:
The Escape - Live at The Black Market 10th December 2008
Pennyword - Live at The Black Market 10th December 2008
We also have some new videos from our latest gig, but they're not up yet. The next couple of gigs we have lined up are with some fairly big local bands, so I'm quite excited for them.
Oh yeah, we also finished the CD.
Catch you guys later.
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