A Friend of Mine Just Found My Old Youtube Channel.

August 24, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

The Youtube channel I can no longer access, due to some reason or other. Basically I did loads of vlogs and videos and it’s now closed off. I tried to fix it, but it was easier to start a new channel. So I did.

But the old channel and it’s videos are still up, and someone I went to school with found it, and emailed me about it. I wish what she said was complimentary. But she effectively told me to step away from a computer and not make vlogs because it indicates I have ‘no friends or a life’. It was nice.

I am fairly tolerant to people who smirk when I say I like to post vlogs. All I think is ‘well, they don’t know what they’re talking about’. Which is true. To make a valid comment on a particular subject, you do need to have at least some experience on the subject. So, I didn’t take it too seriously.

Then I realised I know noone else who posts videos on youtube, and that made me feel special. The kind of special I feel may be different, depending on how you look at people who make Vlogs and express a lot on the internet. And when I say express, I don’t mean that you post a daily status update on Facebook. So I do put a lot of myself into making videos, running forums and obviously blogging. And because of this, they are all very personal to me. And to have someone who I have not spoken to for YEARS, berate what I love did hurt.

Anyways. My new Youtube channel can be found here. I have today uploaded 2 videos from Rebellion Festival, which I went to at the start of August. The videos are of two bands, Septic Psychos and Strawberry Blondes. I had no camera for the rest of the festival, because my battery died on my first day.

Stuck In My Head

August 23, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Usually when something irritates me, or I want to ‘talk it out’, I post a blog on it. It allows me the freedom to say what I need to say, and then people can comment on it. It seems really methodical to me. It’s like, ‘I say what I say, and you can say what you think about what I said’. It is one of the few outlets where a person can express things without interruption. And doing it on something like a blog, enables people to read through your varying opinions, and get a good idea of what you are like as a person.

However, what happens when you don’t know how to say what is on your mind? If everything you type up becomes just a ‘hash-bash’ collection of words and, ill thought out, phrases. That is something I have been going through at the moment. There is no slow down of the thought processes and opinions, I just don’t seem to be able to write things the way I intend to. Which is irritating.

Over time, I have learnt that the best way to deal with any creative block, is to ride it out. Is to keep to returning to what you are struggling with, and eventually you will get progress. This is what I am doing now. Everything I have written lately seemed so bad. I just haven’t been able to put what is in my head, into words. And when you lose that ability, it becomes almost a burden, even moreso when you use it as a method of expression. It is like someone has locked you in a room, and have given you the wrong key to get out.You start off, with so much hope, but you just stall to a stop, when it doesn’t work.

I suppose that is something that anyone experiences. It can happen with work, with school, with anything. You just hit some kind of mental brick wall, and you can’t get any further. I guess, the thing to remember is that every brick must fall, someday. So keep on trying, and you will get there. Just don’t get to disheartened.

If I had a million dollars…

August 19, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Would it change me?

Someone asked me this over Formspring, and I thought I would take to my blog to comment about it. Mostly because I would like to go into the matter in a lot more detail than Formspring allows.

I think getting that kind of money would change my life, no doubting it, and as a result it will probably have an effect on me. So it probably would change me. I would like to hope it would be, in that I would be happier because it would irradiate any money problems I currently have. I would quite my work, and do a solid push of making my websites and things take off. I could focus on my portfolio and take classes help me do this.

I would also buy my own house. A house that would have a studio so I could work on things. *sigh* I would be able to pay off all my debt, and I think that would have the biggest effect. Knowing that I wouldn’t have anything else to hold me back, and the relief that would bring would make me so much happier.

I hope it wouldn’t change how I treat people, because I like to treat people the way I expect to be treated. And I would hope that I wouldn’t change this just because I had money. But I guess that anything on that would be guesswork, cause I can’t even imagine being in that kind of scenario. Especially seeing as I don’t play the lottery, nor do I have any rich elderly relatives. -.-

Oh well, I can dream.

Any readers out there? What would you do if you came into a large amount of money?

Return To Normality

August 16, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

This is where I am going to pretend that I have had a life away from the computer, long enough to get behind on blogs and everything… but it would be lies. Well, not complete lies, but maybe more an exaggeration. I have spent my time off work concentrating on myself, and just off-lining a bit. I say a bit, because I was on Tumblr and Twitter still, I just didn’t update everything.

Which is unusual for me, I usually at least keep my blogs updated, but I just haven’t been on top of things. Mostly because I haven’t been wanting to write anything substantial. So I can post bits and bobs on my Tumblr, and the other blog sites get ignored. Which is not my intention.

Anyway, I am back at work tonight, so that means that I am trying to get myself back into some sort of routine, where I can update things again and such. I am always so re-energised after a holiday, so I am making the best of it, by motivating myself to do things. And those things include hitting property and job websites. I need a full time job, and a place to live. Or at least I can keep an eye on price from afar. Which leads to some progress in the situation, which makes me happy. So as long as I keep momentum up, things may be a-changing soon.

Musical Tuneage: A Playlist

August 12, 2011August 12, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

A lot of people I know use Spotify a lot. If you don’t know, Spotify is a music streaming service. It is great if you want to listen to an artist before you buy any of their work. It is also good for building playlists to share with friends.

Building playlists always reminds me of making mix-tapes, like I did when I was younger. Where you would copy a selection of your favourite music for friends, and you would swap tapes. It was great, and was always a good way to get new music. Anyway, I have spent today thinking up of a playlist to share, so here it is.

1)Tori Amos- Professional Widow

One of my favourite singer/ songwriters, this song is one that became very popular during my school days. It was the song that got me interested in Tori Amos, and it is forever known as her biggest hit. Released in 1996, the song was remixed by Armin Van Helden and found it’s way to the clubs, and became on of the most successful dance remixes of the 90s.

2)Bad Brains- I Against I

Reggae infused hardcore. A brilliant band, one of the pioneers of hardcore punk, this band’s big success came in the late 80s. I Against I, was the album where Bad Brains became popular, and is also the title of my favourite song by them. The influence of many current rock bands, and they are aiming to release an eagerly awaited new album in 2011.

3)Belle & Sebastian- Expectations

A Glaswegian indie band, started in the mid 90s. Expectations is mostly recognised for being on the highly praised soundtrack for the motion picture, Juno, starring Ellen Page. The music is very light in sound, but has a strong lyrical content. The lyrics are very emotive, which gives them the chance to be depressive or humorous, depending on the mood of the song. Regularly voted as one of the most influential Scottish bands in music, something well deserved.

4)Black Flag- Padded Cell

Another highly influential punk band, also noted as helping start the genre of hardcore punk. Padded Cell features on the album, Damaged, the first Black Flag album I owned. I was given it at school on cassette by some random. And at the time, I knew I loved music, but I hadn’t ventured out of the mainstream, pop market. But the tape was going to get thrown out, so I took it, as I had this funny attachment to tapes and things getting thrown out. I remember listening to it on my walkman, and it blew me away and began to open me up to more music. I wish I could remember who was throwing the tape away so I could thank them for letting that album into my life. Padded Cell has always been my favourite song of Damaged.

5)Care Bears on Fire- Barbie Eat A Sandwich

Cute pop-rock fun. Three American teenagers who write and record all their music themselves. Reminds me of early Avril Lavigne, where it has serious bounce, as well as some good technical aspects. It is very similar to a lot of the Disney singer which release cute pop rock, like Demi Lovato. Whilst I am sure many readers will squirm at the mention of the Camp Rock star, I know a lot of kids listen to her, and that is who would love Care Bears on Fire. Bright, harmless and written by teenagers for teenagers. If you like your music fun, light and very poppy, you will love singing into your hairbrush with this.

6) Moral Majority- Circle Jerks

80s hardcore punk is a bit of a soft spot for me, and here is another band who kicked it all off in the 80s. Circle Jerks’ was created by original Black Flag singer, Keith Morris. Wild in the Streets was an album I bought about 10 years ago on CD. It was in a charity shop, and cost me £1, and was never opened. Well worth the money, and helped steer me further towards punk rock, and the passion that this band have is immense. Really brilliant band.

7) The Creepshow- Rue Morgue Radio

This band is a more recent find, and I started listening to them with in the last few years ago. This Canadian band play psychobilly that packs one hell of a punch. Influence by horror movies, and a style of a bygone era, like many similar bands, they are frequently on the road, and have been reccently playing a lot of festivals in Europe.

8 ) Melanie C- Northern Star

Like many girls of a certain age, I was a Spice Girls fan. I became obsessed with the voice of, Sporty Spice, Mel C. Her voice seemed really unique, and when she started releasing solo material, it was a chance to listen to her sing, without the other 4 Spice Girls intruding. Because of her unique voice, Mel’s voice has a tendency to divide opinion. Some people love her sound, others hate it. I think people with unique sounds should be praised, which is why Northern Star is here. The song used to always make me cry when I first bought the album.

9) Dead Kennedys- Kill The Poor

Who likes heavy music and doesn’t rate the Dead Kennedys? Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is one of the best albums EVER, in my opinion. Widely accepted as being parody, on the American political shift of the 80s to the right, where the rich were looked after, and the poor were left to rot. It hit the nail on the head, and became one of DK’s most popular songs.

10)Fat Boy Slim- Gangsta Trippin

The 90s were a period where dance music had depth, and wasn’t all about girating half naked women. I was a bit of a Fat Boy Slim fan in the late 90s. It was music I could draw and paint to, and that is something that is still important to me. It’s music I remember dancing to at school discos, although I couldn’t dance at all. It has happy memories, because it was on all the compilation albums, that were on the rage. I think I had 2 or 3 compilation CDs with this song on it. Great for parties, even if it is just for the memories.

11) Lady Sovereign- Love Me or Hate Me

There is something really honest about Sov. The self-dubbed ‘biggest midget in the game’, is a rapper who sings about what she knows. A lot of her songs talk about issues facing her growing up in an East London Council estate, and it is her honesty within her songs, which has seen her get a huge following on both sides of the Atlantic. Sov is a rapper who always seems to have had a strong sense of self, and is not afraid to speak her mind. This was the first of her songs I heard on the radio, and I was not disappointed when it lead to purchasing in her albums.

12) Manic Street Preachers- A Design For Life

A Welsh band who enjoyed popularity in the late 90s/ early 2000s. I think I first saw the Manics on BBCs Top of the Pops, which was on every Friday night. It was the way I found a lot of music at the time, as I never saw MTV at all. So it was music magazines and Top of the Pops/ the Offical top 40 on Radio 1. This song became a number 2 hit in 1996, and was acknowledged for its lyrical content. It is about the time where I did start to listen to lyrics more, so it appeared to be a very deep song to me.

13) Melody Gardot- Baby I’m A Fool

A jazz singer/ songwriter. Melody turned to music after being severely hurt, after being knocked off her bicycle by a Jeep in 2003. She was bed-ridden for a year, and was left with neural problems leading to her being hypersensitive to light, which leads her to wearing sun glasses all the time. A doctor treating Melody advised that music could be a way to help aid her recovery. Humming or singing music, is thought to help repaired neural pathways, which helped Melody recovery. She frequently visits universities talking about music as therapy, and is a successful recording artist. I found her through Last.fm, and was astounded by her voice. A truly inspirational artist.

14) Nirvana- Rape Me

Nirvana is widely accepted as one of the best rock bands of all time. Kurt Cobain, the frontman for Nirvana, is a fantastic lyricist, and you can feel his pain. The lyrics are so wonderfully written, and, on their own, can make someone feel uncomfortable. This is good writing. This honesty and emotion, is what helped Nirvana become so successful, and become the band for a generation of disaffected teenagers.

15) NOFX- Hobophobic (scared of bums)

NOFX are a band that rose to popularity in the 90s with other bands such as The Offspring, Rancid, Green Day and Blink 182. Their music always has a strong sense of humour, and they are a band who don’t take themselves too seriously. They frequently mock their peers, and seem to seek out to be as troublesome as they can be. A brilliant band, and this is them at their hilarious best.

16) Rancid- Ruby Soho

Rancid are the band responsible for my music taste. It was 1997 when I first heard …And Out Come The Wolves, and it blew my mind. It’s punk sensibilities with aspects of ska, and the lyrics. A fantastic album, and Ruby Soho is one of the many highlights. Good for a drunken sing-a-long. I do hold Rancid responsible as being the band who introduced me to punk rock, and I love them for that. Always will be a favourite song, by my favourite band.

If you would like to listen to this playlist, it is available on Spotify here

Riot! Riot!

August 10, 2011August 10, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Spending another morning watching the news, feeling greatful that I live in a small town in Scotland. The riots that have gripped various parts of England. These are riots, which don’t have the expected mood of ‘normal’ riots. By this, I mean rather than protesting and shouting at police, they are burning down shops and looting on a level never seen in the UK.

The people doing the looting, are described as being young people (teenagers/ early 20s). People who seem to show a complete disregard for their surroundings. What makes people want to torch their own community, and destroy lives? The protests originally started because a young guy was shot by police in Tottenham in London. The peaceful protest that occured afterwards, was to march to the local police station. As with many peaceful protests, others appear to have hijacked the cause, and started to riot.

I don’t claim to know the ins and outs of this, but I feel the need to show my own thoughts on the situation. First off, no matter what the reasoning is behind the disturbances, they are wrong, and should never, ever be tolerated. People’s lives have been destroyed, and now people are being killed to protect their own property. I feel for the people affected, and is it mindless. The shops being targeted have ‘high value products’, like phone shops or sportswear shops. The shops are being destroyed, and some have been set fire too. With people losing businesses generations old within a matter of hours.
I do think there is a lot of issues obviously needing tackled. Yes, the government do appear to have failed to help certain areas in the UK, but is there really any reason to react in such a way, that people are scared to live in their own home. I think that there is a distinct lack of respect in communities. The problems started in my generation, where kids rights were deemed more important than the law. You couldn’t keep kids after school, because they’d miss their bus. Parents who punished their kids, could be threatened of cruelty. The boundaries that people had became blurred, as no big sense of authority was present. Police are now scared to lose their job, if they act harshly. They are the LAW INFORCERS. If you break the law, the police have every right to smack you with a baton if you act like you are endangering others.

But arresting the people responsible isn’t going to fix what are underlying issues. Over the last 10-15 years, the destruction of Youth Centres to build supermarkets and private housing has destroyed what community was left. It is happening in every city in the UK, hearts of communities teared out so that the big corporations and richer commuters move in. Why should everything representive of the people who have intruded on these communities not be destroyed? When you think about your own community, the towns and cities near you, you know of old factories, apartment blocks, community centres being flattened for new housing and supermarkets. You can understand why people are getting upset and annoyed. The poorer classes are moved out the way so that people with more money can move into their Identi-kit houses.

The housing developers are circling, to build their new estates around my town. It leaves other local things in question, as sport fields, parks and community centres look to be the site for the new developments. I can see the areas I spent my childhood being taken from the people who have lived here for generations. The local people, are being shunned for the council to make money selling of land for houses. That makes my blood boil. And this is happening on a large degree in almost every town in the UK. When you look at this way, you can maybe understand why people feel helpless. Why they want to make those who have money and what they don’t, suffer.

I in no way condone the looting, just saying that they are no different from anyone else. But if people are feeling like they are giving the people who are destroying the communities, grief, maybe it make more join in. These riots have been a long-time coming, and people are shocked at the damage being done, but not too shocked at there are disturbances occuring.

Help the people affected, make the offenders see who they have hurt, make them apologise. But, don’t mark every youth in poorer areas the same. Don’t start a class (race) war of ‘them and us’. Don’t think that this will simply go away in a few nights.

Please look after each other out there.

Rebellion Fest– See You Soon Blackpool

August 2, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

So, tonight is ‘get ready’ night, because tomorrow I am away down to Blackpool until Monday night. Which is great, I need some time away.
I am away down to Rebellion Festival, a punk festival held at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens. It is the highlight of my year, and there is always some amazing bands there. Bands going that I want to see include:
*The Exploited
*GBH
*The Restarts
*The Guilty Pleasures
*Middle Finger Salute
*The Creepshow
*Anti-Nowhere League
*Cock Sparrer
*The Business
*Sonic Boom Six
*The Damned
*The Beat
*999
*The Bouncing Souls
*Goldblade
*Pennywse
*The Dickies
*The Vibrators
*The Varukers
*Street Dogs
*Old Firm Casuals (feat Lars from Rancid)
*Infa Riot
*The Meteors
*Slaughter & The Dogs

Just ckecked the timing, and I may have to make a choice between one band and another.
Going to be so good though.

Kopa Real? (The Lion King Controversy )

July 26, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

So, after another immense and long discussion on the nature of Kopa, I decided I needed to say a few things about it. Kopa is a character who has become connect with Disney’s The Lion King.

Why? Well in November 1994 Grolier Enterprises, Inc. released a series of books which were a spin off from the original Lion King movie, called Six New Adventures. As you can probably gather, they were six picture/ story books which had new stories, taken from the Lion King universe. All sounds very happy. But these books conclude that the cub born at the end of the first movie, was a boy called Kopa. And Kopa is at the centre of many of the stories in the books. However, when the second movie (Simba’s Pride) kicks off, the cub born, Simba and Nala’s ONLY cub is a girl called Kiara.

These inconsistances has lead to some conspiracy theories that Kopa was killed or he went rogue and left the Pride. The inconsistances which occured with the crossover in animation between TLK and SP, has also broken any sense of continuance that was intended. For example, the end of TLK the cub is ‘shown’ at dusk, at the start of SP the cub is ‘shown’ at dawn. These inconsistances, are what have lead people to believe that there was a passing of considerable time between TLK and SP. So another cub could exist.

Why the controversy? Well a lot of Pride Landers (including myself) do not accept Kopa as part of TLK saga. Mostly because these additional characters (Kopa) were created by individual authors and were not actually produced by Walt Disney. Also, the Six New Adventures series WAS NOT sold outside of America. The reasoning behind this, is because the company that made the books were not believed to sell the trademarks outside the USA.

This is where it gets complicated.

The suspected process of the books were this, some stories were outlined by a group of authors. Grolier, the company making the books, contacted Disney to get permission to use a variety of trademarks, including characters, logos, etc. Disney would have green-lighted that Grolier could use so many trademarks. And because of this, and the rules, to get a character they could fully shape, Grolier and the authors decided to create an original character, called Kopa. They had more freedom of the stories including Kopa, and could get the storylines the wanted, whereas there would have been stricter regulations if it was cub Simba the stories where about. One of the rules on allowing a company to use some trademarks is that the agreement would be purely domestic, which means that the books could not be marketed anywhere outside the US.

This means that whilst Disney gave Grolier permission to use a number of trademarks, the actual stories were not authorised by Disney. It sounds strange, and more than a little muddy. But the stories themselves were not created by Disney, and have been denied as part of the saga by the makers of both TLK and SP movies. This leads you to believe that Kopa is not a recognised character, and therefore is non-canon, as he has no direct relation to the original material.

The inconsistency in animation are still there between TLK and SP, but this is more because of the change in budget and the people working on the films. To say that another cub had been born, had all these adventures, and just vanished makes no sense. So sorry. Kopa is a non-starter as far as I’m concerned.

So Much Work…

July 25, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

If someone looked at all the sites I update, I am pretty sure they would think I do it as a job. Because, I don’t think any sane person would spend this much time online, if they weren’t getting paid for doing so. :S

I think it is one of these things where you do it because you enjoy it. I mean, I have already talked about people who blog for money, realise it isn’t as easy as they thought, and they give up. A big thing on the internet, is that for you to be deemed ‘successful’ you need to have a lot of people following you on various sites. I am one of the ‘old school’ internet users, where to get any access I had to go to my local library, so any time I had online I spent constructively. When I say that, I mean, I was productive on sites, rather than playing follow the leader. Mostly because I didn’t know when I’d next have an internet connection, so I ended up putting in content and that’s it.

The thing is, I started using the internet properly, when I got my own connection (about 4 years ago), and I found myself going on more sites. And I kept up the same ideal as always, and I would spend time on sites updating various things, and trying to communicate to others, who had similar interests to me. The only issue is, that now I have got A LOT of sites which I need to update regular, and if I don’t it takes me a LONG TIME to catch up. The main culprits for stacking up of work are deviantArt and YouTube. I love them both, which is why I spend so much time on them, but sometimes I take a few days away and my inbox is filled to the brim, and I get annoyed with how much I have to catch up on.

I hear you now, with your ‘why do you do it then, it’s not like they pay you’. -.- This is where I say, these sites are my hobbies. I like viewing other people’s creative output, and think that it is THE best thing about the internet. So, although I may moan, I love that I can chat to people, and they respect my opinion. That is the most wonderful feeling in the world, that someone respects what you think.

It’s ok. I know I am strange.

These Days Spent A’Ramblin’.

July 22, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Don’t have a lot to say right now.

I have the urge to update though. All my utterances I have online, are pretty much on twitter and tumblr. Mostly because they are not anything substantial, it is just a few sentences or a comment I need to say. Nothing that has enough ‘stuff’ for a blog post. Which is depressing, because I usually have so much to say.

So I have been sitting around, listening to Charlie Parker and chilling out. I find jazz one of the most relaxing kinds of music. The sound just manages to lift what ever mood I am in, and to me, that’s what music is good for. It is something that you can turn to, if you need it, it is there. And depending on the person, different kinds of music can do that. For me, it is always jazz, reggae and ska that cheer me up, regardless as to why I am not happy.

Music is strange, because it is using someone else’s art, to relate to and help express your feelings. That is how I feel about music, it is art. Even if something is not to someone’s taste, they shouldn’t ‘hate’ it. I mean hate, is you dismissing another artist complete, and is a strong word for something that isn’t to your taste. I try to give most kinds of music a go, but I know there are particular artist’s I can’t stand (Justin Beiber, Take That, etc). But, I would never say these are crap artists. Regardless of my view on their music, they are out there making music, music which will effect someone. So kudos for them, for doing something I could only dream of. So you insult an artist, you insult the people who can relate to their music. You insult people you have never met. And if you do that, it says more about you, than the actual person you berate.