BMW Advert - Seeing Music in colour

If you haven't seen it I just thought I'd share this advert with you courtesy of YouTube. It's basically just an advert showing off BMW's cars and how great they think they are, but the add really appeals to me in an artistic sense. First of all I love the piece of music (can anyone fill me in on it's name - Dan I'm looking in your direction) but i also love the colours and textures that go with it. I think that is how music should be, full of colour and life.

Media player visualisations go some of the way towards creating this effect, I remember once spending about an hour with friends when we projected visualisations onto the ceiling and lay on the floor listening to music and watching the ceiling being filled with colour and patterns, when we finally got up it took quite a while to adjust back to normal light!! But even these don't quite cut it as they follow a preset pattern and the colours are just random - this advert goes further, giving bursts of colour when the sound explodes and weaving patterns in the buildups.

Since I have a condition called Synaesthesia, which links various sensory areas of the brain, I do, to a very small degree, experience music in colour. There are some people with the condition that would probably see a piece of music in this fashion every time, it depends on which areas of the brain are affected. I see colours for different pitches, and that's only occasionally, and textures for sounds but I can definitely see a logic to having individual patterns and colours for pieces of music.

Anyway that's enough from me - basically I really like this piece!! I might blog about synaesthesia when I'm less busy.

If you're viewing this on facebook, you'll have to go to my actual blog to see the Youtube content

The Grind

Hello folk(s)

Since I'm done with lectures I am now in a strange place that I enter every term where I'm not in university, but instead am stuck at home ceaselessly working away at assignments etc. I think I've blogged about this previously so I won't go into it now, plus I do have work to do!! Anyway this will either mean that there won't be any communication from me as I beaver away or there'll be daily blogging as I seek to divert my mind from the crushing despair of deadlines and pressure!

So, see you soon...maybe!

I'd like to say a few more words

OK, I'm in a world of busyness at the moment (note the alternate spelling conveying a state of being busy rather than working for a corporation) so I won't have much to blog about. All I've got on at the moment is coursweork, trying to find work for next year and i'm gradually managing to improve my squash and table tennis skills - I'm now quite fluent at doing "proper serves" amongst other things.

Right apparently the power needs to be turned off so I'll finish this later

Bye

OK, after two power failures I'm back - here's a few more words, to keep things short I'll include only one definition and link to dicitonary.com for the rest if you desire to look at them

Concordance - noun

an alphabetical index of the principal words of a book, as of the Bible, with a reference to the passage in which each occurs.

Parenthesis - either or both of a pair of signs ( ) used in writing to mark off an interjected explanatory or qualifying remark, to indicate separate groupings of symbols in mathematics and symbolic logic, etc.

Peculiar - 5.belonging exclusively to some person, group, or thing: the peculiar properties of a drug.

Noun - noun

1.

any member of a class of words that are formally distinguished in many languages, as in English, typically by the plural and possessive endings and that can function as the main or only elements of subjects or objects, as cat, belief, writing, Ohio, darkness. Nouns are often thought of as referring to persons, places, things, states, or qualities.

Endlessness - adjective

1.	having or seeming to have no end, limit, or conclusion; boundless; infinite; interminable; incessant: an endless series of complaints; Time is endless.

That'll probably be enough for your meagre minds for now - more to come and possibly a bit of actual news ya never know

Last Day/ Trains again!!!

This week has been the most productive week I've had so far this term - which is pretty good considering it's my last week of University!!! In terms of decent advice and feedback this has been the only real "good week" I've had all term, which in terms of organisation has been quite dissapointing. However I've managed to get on ok with my work etc. so it can't be all bad, so here I am now,with a few weeks to scrabble over coursework and then I'm done, which is a scary thought indeed. What's kinda odd is that it doesn't feel like the last day, we finished the lecture and all walked out as if it was just another day, i wasn't too bothered at the time (I was hungry) but looking backit seems a bit weird that I can end three years of my life with "see ya"

Anyway - time for a good moan!! The trains this week were a double whammy of dissapointment - I had two horrendously complicated journeys home, though both of which managed to sort themselves out alright in the end.

First of all I get to Bidston (seriously the middle of nowhere) and get told that there's no train coming and I have to get a bus. After cautiously waiting, whilst keeping an eye on the train lines (I've learnt not to trust anything I hear on the train journey) the bus arrived a little after 10 minutes wait. This is good, it normally takes about an hour!!! The bus took us home, but I realised it was skipping stops so I had to get of at Shotton and get a lift from there.

The next day I arrive at Liverpool Central station to the sounds of alarms going off and shutters closing. The entrance to the platforms was completely sealed off and everyone was standing around wondering what had happened, except for one woman who was informing someone on the phone that the station had been bombed. With this as my only souce of information I decided to ask the only official presence nearby - two police community support officers who seemed a bit too nonchalant for a terrorist situation. As it happened it was a fire alarm that had been triggered that was causing the ruckuss so I managed to peg it up to Lime Street and catch the next train and get home ok, the only difference being that we didn't stop at Central.

So there we are, and end of an era and my first real experience of post 911 culture I s'pose.

I won't do any more word of the posts till I've compiled my old ones

Ciao

Word(s) of the Post

Hello Alan and the odd other person

I've decide to collect all my Word of the Post's into one post for you to review and well...mostly it's for me so I can remember which words I've already used. I like doing this word of the post thing as I love playing around with words, part of why I want to be a writer I guess. I've always loved words and sounds, even as a small child (according to my parents) are there are some words I just love. What I use the word of the post thing for is when I use a word in conversation or a piece of writing and think back and say "wow! that's a great word!!" then i want to record that word and show my enthusiasm for it. What I also like to do is to break words down into their components (I'm not clever enough to do latin roots or any of that lot, but I like to take apart the different sounds and see where words are derived from etc.) I have a fascination with particular types of words too - words that just sound impressive, words that sound like they should mean something else, long words with short meanings, words that have a much easier way of being said, words with unusual structures etc.

So here are a few of my faves and ones i came up with by looking around my room or flicking through the dictionary when i couldn't think of anything at the end of a blog post!! Definitions are courtesy of dictionary.com

Ambivalent – noun

1.	uncertainty or fluctuation, esp. when caused by inability to make a choice or by a simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or conflicting things.

2.	Psychology. the coexistence within an individual of positive and negative feelings toward the same person, object, or action, simultaneously drawing him or her in opposite directions.

Prective - has no meaning, but should have one - sounds great don't it?!!!

Ruddy - adjective

.

of or having a fresh, healthy red color: a ruddy complexion.

2.	red or reddish.

3.	British Slang. damned: a ruddy fool.

–adverb

4.	British Slang. damned: He'd ruddy well better be there.

Favourite -

adjective
1.	appealing to the general public; "a favorite tourist attraction" [syn: favorite]
2.	preferred above all others and treated with partiality; "the favored child" [syn: favored]
noun
1.	a competitor thought likely to win [syn: front-runner]
2.	a special loved one [syn: darling]
3.	something regarded with special favor or liking; "that book is one of my favorites"

Evidentialism - Evidentialism is a theory of justification according to which whether a belief is justified depends solely on what a person's evidence is. Technically, though belief is typically the primary object of concern, evidentialism can be applied to doxastic attitudes generally. Formulating evidentialism in terms of the doxastic attitude of belief its most-defended form comes from Conee and Feldman: Belief B toward proposition p is epistemically justified for S at t if and only if B fits the evidence S has at t.

Recapitulate -verb (used with object)

1.	to review by a brief summary, as at the end of a speech or discussion; summarize.

2.	Biology. (of an organism) to repeat (ancestral evolutionary stages) in its development.

3.	Music. to restate (the exposition) in a sonata-form movement.

–verb (used without object)

4.	to sum up statements or matters.

Axiom –noun

1.	a self-evident truth that requires no proof.

2.	a universally accepted principle or rule.

3.	Logic, Mathematics. a proposition that is assumed without proof for the sake of studying the consequences that follow from it.

Epistemology –noun a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge.

Precocious –adjective

1.	unusually advanced or mature in development, esp. mental development: a precocious child.

2.	prematurely developed, as the mind, faculties, etc.

3.	of or pertaining to premature development.

4.	Botany. a. flowering, fruiting, or ripening early, as plants or fruit. b. bearing blossoms before leaves, as plants. c. appearing before leaves, as flowers.

Deluxe –adjective

1.	of special elegance, sumptuousness, or fineness; high or highest in quality, luxury, etc.: a deluxe hotel; a deluxe edition of Shakespeare bound in leather.

–adverb

2.	in a luxurious or sumptuous manner: We always travel deluxe.

Well this has already gone on much longer than I thought so this will have to go on over a few weeks I'd imagine. For now I'll leave you with a word I was horrified to find I'd left out as it's pretty much my all time favourite word.

Generic – adjective

1.	of, applicable to, or referring to all the members of a genus, class, group, or kind; general.

2.	of, pertaining to, or noting a genus, esp. in biology.

3.	(of a word) applicable or referring to both men and women: a generic pronoun.

4.	not protected by trademark registration: “Cola” and “shuttle” are generic terms.

–noun

5.	a generic term.

6.	any product, as a type of food, drug, or cosmetic commonly marketed under a brand name, that is sold in a package without a brand.

7.	a wine made from two or more varieties of grapes, with no one grape constituting more than half the product (distinguished from varietal).

21 innit!

Hello you

Ahh yes, it had to happen sometime, and now it has come. I, my friends have reached that permanant age. From now one, whenever you ask me my age I shall snigger and say (for the moment truthfully) "I'm 21".

So let's get the cliches out of the way - no, I don't feel older, more responsible or particularly compelled to enter the dodgy London nightclubs my age permits me to. Yes, looking back I have had a good life with few regrets and all the rest of it and i probably wouldn't change anything. an finally yes, I do still plan on acting like a child for many years to come!!

The festivities were threepart, firstly the youth group which I'm gradually becoming a leader of held an end of term/birthday celebration with games, pizza and an awesome toffe fudge cake. We had a great time, though most of it was spend trying to hook up a PS2 to a digital projector!

Saturday was an indulgance in nerdiness as we went to a Star Wars weekend at a science museum near Liverpool. I briefly met the guy who played Darth Vader, as well as Boba Fett and the legend that is Warwick Davis (star of Willow and numerous other films and also played an Ewok in Episode 6) there was a previously unseen "behind the scenes" documentary/spoof as well as props from the set and loads of guys in costume. I also met Karen Traviss and got her to sign her latest book and chated to her about her work and the Legacy of the Force series as a whole. Then we got back just in time to catch the new Doctor Who series!!

Sunday was a day with the family as cousins from far and wide came over for the afternoon which we enjoyed, chatting away and eating a buffet that included the most delicious cake that I have ever eaten - it was at least 50% icing!!!

So yeah, I'm a grownup - sort of and I had a good birthday, catch ya later sista!

Word - ambivalent

Driving Force

Hello someone

I had a repeat experience of something I'd long forgotten today - a driving lesson! Today i practised steering correctly (as opposed to steering in a quicker, more efficient, but slightly unsafe method which I've adopted since falling out of practice) which was quite fun. Then there was turning in the road (or 3 point turn to some) which was a tad more difficult as I hadn't done many and I ended up colliding with the curb more often than not. As is often the case with learning to drive, the worst thing about failing in some way (stalling for example) is not the failure itself but the embarasment of being stuck in the middle of the road blocking a load of other drivers, which in turn makes it harder to think which then makes it harder to get yourself out of whatever jam you're in. Then I did a bit of bombing down dual carriegways, which is always enjoyable!

Well that's all I have to say

Ciao

Word of the post - prective, I came up with this whilst trying to type 'practice' and if it isn't a word then it should be!! Failing that I'll have "ruddy" as the word for this post.

P.S. I didn't make that many mistakes to be fair, and some of the above is taken from my collective driving experience, not from one lesson!!!

Writer's block aka Apathy

Hello everyone

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd at least stick something up so you know I'm still aware of your needs. I'm sorry for deserting my (dare I dream of it?) readership, but I've been finding it difficult to write about things...which is what I'm going to write about!

Laziness is something of a big factor here I'll admit, and part of why I can't come up with anything decent for my coursework piece is because I quite often can't be bothered, and when combined with other factors it can be a very big deterrant to creativity.

The second factor is distractions. I have a houseguest to entertain, tasks to complete as well as there being a wealth of entertaining TV out there (since our aquisition of E4, Smallville has become a regular element to my week day. Another distraction is blogging, which requires some creativity and effort, but does give the slight satisfaction of having written and published something.

The third factor is, for lack of a better word, depression. It's easy to get a bit disheartened with a piece when it's not progressing as you'd hoped and when you're very aware that deadlines are accelerating towards you. The (often quite poor) organisation of my course, coupled with external factors (mostly transport related) has meant that i have had much less tutor time than I need to properly develop my work which leaves me in dead space, not knoing where and how to progress. Also since both my main pieces are continuations of what I did last year it's hard to create the piece since i largely know what happens already, I just have to write it out and hope it comes out as I imagined it...which it won't!

The fourth factor is just plain old fashioned writer's block - i.e. I find it quite hard to actually come up with an idea and to develop it, due to the above factors and the internal force that tells me that I'm burned out and that there are no ideas left.

So there we are, that's me done for now- I'm going to go and attempt some writing of consequence, goodnight.

Word of the post - favourite

Keeping it out of the way

Hello

As I'm quite keen on various aspects of Science-Fiction, in particular large franchises such as Star Wars and the Matrix, it is easy for me to rant on about them incessantly. But I don't feel that this is the place for it, this is a place for me to pass on snippets of information you didn't really need to know, but are interesting enough to keep you reading...whoever you are. so babbling on about spaceships and yuuzhan vong and residual self image might alienate people from what is essentially a common day blog about me. Therefore I've set up a new blog for me and for those inclined to like Science Fiction and the like to rant on about it freely without alienating people who might be interested in us personally.

So if you're that way inclined you can find it here at www.bloggathehutt.blogspot.com

Enjoy

Word of the post - evidentialism

The words of Jim Friel

I just thought I'd pass on some words given by my lecturer today as I can't see any other context than an IW lecture, besides a crazy drug trip, that these words might be said. Jim has an excellent knack for showing you the weaker parts of your thoughts and writing whilst making you cry with laughter at the same time. This quote was one of his finer moments - I'll explain the context afterwards.

"Yeah, but she's having five babies..and one of them's a puppy!"

OK, the context was that we were debating about whether a character was in enough danger for us to care whether she lived or died. Someone said that they didn't really have any emotional tie to the character even if she was pregnant and in danger, the above was Jim's response to this.

Word - recapitulate

Mission accomplished

Well I set out a challenge for people to find what kind of weird and whacky blog there are out there and I've finally managed to come up with the four categories I chose. The rules are as follows, keep clicking "Next Blog" until you find all four types of blog earlier mentioned and see how many clicks it takes you. It took me 9 attempts to get all the blogs, see if you can beat me

1. A 'normal' blog - Unleash the freedom - a blog showing the daily dooings of someone who is apparently very chuffed that she isn't in love.

2. A topical blog - Acne Treatments Reviewed - a blog reviewing and testing the best treatments for acne sufferers

3. A foreign language blog - K-996-150 - no idea what this one's about but I think it's Russian

4. A green blog - Joanisms - Whilst not entirely green, it's definitely the primary colour there - the blog is a load of IM conversations with someone's aunt Joan.

Happy hunting folks, but be careful- there's some weird stuff out there!!

Word of the post - axiom

Disadvantages to long hair

1. You occasionally find Spiders in it!!

Most of those who know me will be aware that I have longer hair than most, which can just about be described as shoulder length. Now let's be clear first of all i do take (reasonably) good care of my hair, so I'm not some kind warlock sitting in a big chair with snakes crawling out of my mouth as i summon my evil horde. And this wasn't a tarantula or even a daddy longlegs scale creature I found. What i did find, whilst playing snooker, was that a tiny, millimeter long, blows about in the breeze, Charlotte's Web type baby spider hanging from a web atatched to one of the longer strands of my hair. I detatched the web, hanging it on the door handle and the spider seemed perfectly happy and I went back to me game and managed to fight off the urge to feel very itchy!!

Word of the post - epistemology - totally messed up the spelling on my first attempt, i got this from going to a debate between William Lane Craig and Mike Bogan on "Is God a delusion?" it was a very good debate, though a lot of the words flew past me!

Men of the world take note!

I recently came across a story that both chilled me and brought hope to me for days to come. This scenario could happen to anyone so learn from Mr Svboboda's experiences and prepare yourselves for something that could easily happen to you.

Read his account here: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30310

I know...I'm scared too!

Word of the post - precocious

Book paragraph game thingy

Hello all! This challenge thing has been floating it's way around the bloggosphere for a while so I thought I'd jump in too. I found it on Dan's blog and then linked back to a few others. The rules are as follows:

1. Grab the book closest to you.

2. Open to page 123; go down to the fourth sentence.

3. Post the text of the following three sentences.

4. Name the author and book title.

5. Tag three people to do the same.


"Men may seem detestable as joint stock-companies and nations; knaves, fools, and murderers there may be; men may have mean and meagre faces; but man, in the ideal, is so noble and sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any ignominious blemish in him all his fellow should run to cast their costliest robes. That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that it remains intact though all the outer character seem gone; bleeds with the keenest anguish at the undraped spectacle of a valour-ruined man. Nor can piety itself, at such a shameful sight, completely stifle her upbraidings against the permitting stars. But this august dignity I treat of, is not the dignity of kings and robes, but that abounding dignity which has no robed investiture."

Herman Mellville - Moby Dick

And since three people pretty much encompasses all my readership I thus tag you all - go forth and blindly grab at literature.

Should anyone take interest in my "next blog" game i think I shall formalise the rules so it resembles the more finely crafted game shown above. So my challenge to you all is, in the least amount of clicks possible to find

1. A "normal" blog - someone talking about what they do etc.

2. A themed blog - A particular musician, types of trees, etc.

3. A foreign language blog - It has to have at least 50% non-English content

4. A green blog - just the background, content can be anything

Post the links up on your blog and say how many clicks it took you, and drop me a comment so I can check it out. I'm on my sixth attempt and I still haven't found the first one!!!

Edits: I think I got the amount of sentences wrong but what the hey - also 50 bonus points if you happen to find a blog you already know of!!

"Next Blog"

Don't worry i'm not moving to another blog, though I do have some ideas about expanding my blog collection. Just now I decided to try clicking on the "next blog" icon at the top of the page, thinking it would send me to a blog that followed mine and that each blog is sequentially listed and that it would take me to the next blog in line - not true, this link simply takes you to a random blog!!

I found a Blog containing several pictures of Beyonce, a review of the best acme treatments, a Russian blog entitled k-995 or something to that effect, and the diaries of a lifelong knitter. And just now I thought I'd try again and see if i could find a more average blog, but no - I find a blog containing pictures of someone's online conversations with their Aunt Joan!!

You try it - see what you can come up with!!

Word of the post - deluxe

A good week

Hello

I've had a pretty good few days that I can be very grateful for, and I thought I'd share some of the goings on with you if I may.

Monday - I had a somewhat fruitless day at Uni, but I wasn't to bothered 'cause I needed to get home and do work. The upside was that when I got in i managed to recieve my transcript (marks) and found I'd averaged 69 for the first semester, which for those unfamiliar with university marking schemes is a good mark!! I even managed to wrangle a first for my novel chapter and I wasn't far off with my screenplay, which is my weakness. All this has brought my overall mark up quite high so I'm guessing that I'll finish 1 mark of a First at the end!!!

Tuesday - Tuesday was probably the best day for me as I passed my theory test. Unlike others my age I find the prospect of being able to drive a car quite boring and not something I need to do. I can drive from A to B perfectly well, but this is one step closer to getting the piece of paper that says I'm allowed to do so on my own - which will be handy I'm sure.

Wednesday and Thursday - I was working these days, which is a good thing for me as I haven't had any work for quite a while and could use some spare change. I work from time to time as a classroom assistant (the official title for 'muggins') in a special needs school, which is always a fun and interesting experience and i know most of the staff an pupils from working there over the years so i always feel welcome there.

Friday - Friday i spent the day at my friend's house playing on his Wii - the new interactive games console from Nintendo. The thing that makes this one special is that the game is controlled partly by your own arm and hand movements, as well as the button pressing traditional to games consoles. It gives you a bit of a workout while your eyes deteriorate and makes for a more fun experience - I haven't had such laugh out loud fun since Lego Star Wars!

Saturday and Sunday were average, but good average. Well that's it from me, see you soon

Word of the post - concordance

Opening lines

They say that the opening line of a book is one of the most important parts. so i thought i'd share some of the openings I've come across recently and see what grabs your attention if anything!

"Call me Ishmael." Moby Dick, Herman Melville!

"There is a wood, the canal, the river, and above the river the railway and the road." Untold Stories, Alan Bennet

"This much I know for sure:" The Affirmation, Christopher Priest. This one cam recommended to me and I've just started reading it. The opening is quite engaging as it sets up what's know as an unreliable narrator - because theres probably a lot he isn't sure of too.

"The words of the teacher, son of David King of Jerusalem: 'Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.' " Ecclesiastes, God. Despite this book's surprisingly Emo beginnings it does go on to offer insight into this world, and also hope and purpose unlike the many bands of today who'se lyrics don't go past the first line of this book.

"John Clark had more time in airplanes than most licensed pilots, and he knew the statistics as well as any of them, but he still didn't like the idea of crosing the ocean on a twin-engine airliner." Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy. I haven't actually read this one yet - but it sets up the character quite well I think.

That'll do pig

Word of the post - parenthesis (had to get a dictionary for this one, almost spelt it with 2 a's!)

Thought I'd share this!!

As I continue in my quest to find a way to upload photos I give you another experiment. My Dad sent me this picture, i don't know where he got it from, some time ago and it's been gathering virtual dust in my folder, but I dug it up as I experimented with phtot programs and I thought I'd pass it on. Enjoy!!



Word of the post - peculiar, reading old books I've come across an older meaning for the word, something closer to 'particular' than to 'unusual' which we usually use it for today

Speaking of snow...

It's chucking it down with the stuff!!! There's a good few centimetres of the white stuff laying about on the ground and there's plenty of those little flakes still floating their way down. I am in fact pretty busy at the moment, but if the snow's still thick on the ground tomorrow i'll find it hard to resist the allure of my sledge!!

One thing I noticed amidst winter's beauty was that weird white sky you get when it snows. Admittedly it's more of a murky gray stuff than a whitewash finish, but it's still quite bizzare and I'm susprised I'd never really noticed it before...probably to busy throwing snowballs I expect! But looking out of my window I can see it, a white haze where clouds and blue stuff used to be - like something out of a sci-fi film.

Enjoy it while you can folks!!

Word of the post - 'noun' it's one of a few words that actually are the thing they describe, other examples are 'word' and 'short' can you think of any?

P.S. You're going to have to content yourselves with a picture of my shoe for the time being. I think I will be trying out the Picasa program since it comes reccomended, but the newspaper I read has already been recycled, plus my shoe seems quite content there.

Ah, the wonders of YouTube!!

Well since my previous post is currently worthless I thought I'd set myself up for another disaster, and that is to try and embed a YouTube video into my blog post. This will likely require fiddling around with HTML, which I know very little of. But I managed to incorporate some music into it via the same route so I should be ok.

Well, keep it short they say so here is my first attempt at YouTube embedation. This is the Mighty Boosh explaining the effects of being alone in the Arctic Tundra...in song form!!



"I'm little Johnny Frostbite moving around. Freezing you up, freezing you down like an icicle" Gotta love it!

Well that seems to work, so that's enough from me

Check ya later homies

Word of the post - endless..ness!