Photo's posted on Blip

Well I have managed to get a good couple of shots on my course over the past few weeks and I have gotten round to posting them up on Blipfoto.  

It would be cool if folks wanted to have a look and give me some feedback on the images.  The journal is called Random Musings and can be accessed by clicking this link

I am not sure that they will be to everyones taste but hey it is good to get the images out there and see what people think.

Thats alright because I like the way you burn......

I have decied that I really like the track Love the Way You Lie off of the Recovery album by Eminem.  It seems that Mr Mathers has gone back to the things that worked after the off album that was Encoure and being involved with D12.

It is very much in the flavour of Stan, and not just because it is a duet with a female vocalist (though that does help).  For me the contrast between the spoken and sung word is tremendous and really work to great effect, stopping you from being overwhelmed by the spoken elements.  While I am not usually a fan of Rhianna her slightly haunting tone in this track is an excellent counterpoint to Mathers bitten off lyrics.

The thing that always surprises me about Eminem and the tracks that he puts out, is that the voice just does not match the man.  If you look at him (a slim 5ft 8" bloke) you would not expect the deep toned, loud and angry voice to come from someone, who is relatively innocuous looking.  Were you to pass him on the street Ido not think that you would match the face to the vocals.

While there have often been some odd videos to accompany his work this one really takes the biscuit.  The standing in a corn field is a bit on the odd side and I dod not expect to see a hobbit and Megan Fox acting out parts in it either.  All that being said it is still a cool video with some very impressive effects that make it surprisingly moving,  

Photography - Week 3

So we are now on week 3 of my photography course and you know what - I have really been enjoying it and more to the point as well as learning some technical tricks I now know a lot more about my camera just from playing about with it.

The notion of a course that I would have to go into university to study was somewhat daunting.  I left university in 1999 and even though I have completed some OU courses there is something a bit more real about having to go into class with other students. 

While I found I settled back in to having lectures fairly easily I will say that it is taking me a bit longer to get used to the notion that other people will get to look at and indeed critique my work.  While I use Flickr to store and display my photo's it is somewhat more impersonal when compared to having 15 other people  provide feedback on the images you put up.  It also does not help when one of them is a professional photographer.

In the long run though I am there to learn so hopefully I will become better at something that I already enjoy.  In a bit to become more comfortable with with others looking at my work I have signed up for a Blip photo account where with any luck I will pluck up the courage to post something soon.

On my right wrist

On my write wrist I ware a bracelet - well to be fare I have a number of bracelets, but this is on in particular.  It is a 1cm wide leather band and I ware it most every day and have done for about 5 years now.  We bought it when we first went to NY city mostly because I liked it, but now it means something more.

The band on my wrist shows a phrase that I am trying to live up to.  It says "Make every day your masterpiece". It sounds twee and perhaps a little staid but it is something to try and live up to.  Not everything needs to be perfect every day - this is not some kind of fair story after all - but I should make an effort in everything I do - to make sure I do it to the best of my ability and try to take joy in it.  This phrase is one of the 3 things that I have felt inspired to have permanently engrained on my person, but I have refrained (on all 3 counts) as Rob does not like tattoos, but maybe one day.  It is something that I have tried, and at time failed, to live up to, but it is my goal.  It is not always easy to be positive when not having a good day but I have made the decision that there has to be good in everything.  While it is hard work at times it really does work. 

An couple of examples........

The weekend, just passed we went to the Scottish Deer Centre and spent the day feeding deer, stroking ferrets (which are very cool) and watching wolves.  It was relaxing and I took the time just to enjoy the company and what we were seeing, before grabbing supper and having a lovely drive home.  It was a splendid day and a lovely way to spend the first weekend of my holiday.

As a part of todays effort I spent the day doing stuff that was just for me.  I have 2 week off and wanted to make sure I took the time to try and enjoy myself, so I had a hair cut, got a manacure and went to the pictures.  It was not an exciting day but it was fun and relaxing. 

In a week or so's time I start on my two new courses - Digital Photography and Forensic Science and I am looking forward to them.  They both look like they will stretch me - which is a good thing and een if theya re difficult I will make the effort and remember that this is not a bad thing.

So there is a challenge - how to make sure that each day is my masterpiece.

Next Course Selected

So there is still another month until my last set of OU results are available, but I have decided that it is time to have a go at another course and this time round it is Elements of Forensic Science.  It is an interesting looking course, though I will admit that it is no where near as cool as dinosaurs (because lets face it - dino's are just cool).  

This time the course is more aligned to Chemistry and Biology and it has been a while since I have studied any heavy science areas so we will need to see whether or not the basics come back - I have to hope that they do, because I would guess it will be a bit of a slog if it does not.

Fingers crossed that I will enjoy this as much as the last one