Thursday, August 30, 2012

Remember Me

So, I finally got around to watching Breaking Dawn Part One yesterday and the acting is actually worse than I remember the first three films being and don't get me started on the CGI. But I was thinking, yes Kristen Stewart is BAD (I mean, the girl can't pull an expression to save herself) but the rest were only really pulled down by the material (not that I didn't enjoy the books). Robert Pattinson was brilliant in Water For Elephants for example (great film and NaNoWriMo novel!) and I remembered that I had seen another of his films, Remember Me, for 99p in the google play store. So I bought it and watched it tonight.

The tears are still streaming down my face as I type this. This would be a really great film even without the ending, but. That. Ending! You never see it coming, at least I didn't. I kind of felt that everything would come crashing down (atmospheric music maybe?) but never in a million years would I have guessed it would be like that. As soon as it showed the blackboard there was a moment of shock and then a constant stream of "Oh shit"s.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Wow.

Mind blow.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Should I?

It might be a small problem in relation with the rest of the world's problems but it's something that is on my mind. I recently started getting food boxes from graze.com. It's like dried fruit and  flapjacks and other yummy stuff delivered straight to your door and so far everything has been really good. My quandary is they gave me a code to give to friends and other people so they can get a free first box (i'll post it at the end) and I'm seriously considering setting up another account just so I can get a free box. Would that be really wrong? I'm quite happy paying for boxes as they are so good but this temptation of a free box is just really... tempting. I just don't know anymore.

Anyway, here's the code for those of you out there that want to try a box for free! Just type this in where it asks you at graze.com and enjoy!: NZ7GWHXF

Still wondering if this would make me a bad person...

Monday, August 20, 2012

It's Here!

I've finally received The War For Banks Island my P4A donation reward from December last year! Thanks John!!

Friday, August 17, 2012

A Dark Night

So, I went to see Batman: Dark Knight Rises on Wednesday (yes I meant to blog earlier but life got in the way, and by life I mean minecraft) and it was awesome! I mean seriously epic. There was laughter, there were tears and I giggled like a little girl when Batman finally appeared because you know It's about to go down. There was some referencing back to the previous films so I would recommend seeing them first if you haven't but do it quickly so you can see this at the cinema. Maybe go see it twice so you can saviour those things you missed first time around due to the shear awesomness of this film. 5/5, definatey.

Some sad news. I talked a couple of posts ago about my gran and we now have confirmation that It's definitely cancer. Lung cancer. We don't have a time frame just yet but there's not much that can be done, mostly palliative care, maybe some chaemo if it might help. Gran herself can't remember (begining Alzheimer's) so we've decided not to keep telling her and let her get on with her life.

Later.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Finished!

Today I finally got around to making my finishing (or Hanko) stamp for ZeFrank. Rather than just giving you a pic of the finished result, lets go through the steps shall we?

Step One: Gather materials

Ruler, eraser and pair of compasses.
What I used. YMMV.

Of course, that means scrabble for ages for an eraser, then for a ruler and when you finally find the ruler find another eraser that will actually work better than the one you originally found.

Step Two: Choose design

 Picture of the four designs
My four designs (Taekwondodo, Ninja Panda, Rambo Panda and Dodo)

This is by far the hardest part. You have to find something that reflects you, fits on a 1inch by 1inch square and that isn't too detailed. I started with my avatar that I use everywhere, a taekwondodo, but then found that although I did draw my own avatar in paint I can't draw it freehand. It was probably too complex anyway. Second was a Rambo Panda, which I use as my skin in Minecraft, looked OK but no way of telling that it's a RAMBO Panda. Third was Ninja Panda, which looked OK and would be good with the one colour and last was a dodo, for my nickname but I decided that it would be too hard to carve out of the eraser easily so ninja panda it was.

Step Three: Cut eraser to size

A surprise production of Titanic, performed using stationary

Step Four: Draw design on eraser

Even worse than the first drawing

Step Five: Start carving

Adult assistance should be sought at this point

Using the pair of compasses I scored along the lines and dug out all of the white space that I didn't want, leaving the black behind.

Step Six: Try stamping

No ink pad? Try making your own!

I don't own an ink pad so I tried stamping with watercolour paint I had lying around but it didn't work all that well as the paint was just too wet and collected between the lines, causing smudging.

Maybe not watercolour...

 So then I tried a marker (not a sharpie, it dries too quick) and got a really good impression so here's my finished finishing stamp!

Aww... Adorable ninja panda!

Why not have a go at making your own? It's really not as hard as it looks and you don't even need any fancy equipment.

Later!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Forced To Consider Mortality

It's strange when you go to visit relatives, especially those you haven't seen for a while and suddenly notice how old they're getting. It's something that doesn't really happen with those you spend all your time with (although I do see it occasionally with my parents) but for people you only see every so often it can be like only a moment ago they were old in age but still vital and young in spirit but now they're OLD. All saggy skinned and so tired looking. It just kind of brings it home, you know?

Later.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Well, It's Certainly Over The Quickest

It's the most anticipated race of the Olympics but blink and you're likely to miss it. The 100 meters final has just been run and once again Usain Bolt has beaten all contenders to finish first.

It's funny, I wasn't really psyched about the Olympics before it started, but now (especially after winning some medals) I'm quite enjoying it. The only problem is that it forces me to spend more time in the same room as my dad where he will randomly ask me what I am planning to do with my life. An awkward conversation if ever there was one, mostly because I have no fricking idea.

Just now I'm spending most of my time playing Minecraft and watching Zefrank videos. I've recently downloaded the technic pack for Minecraft (as the group my brother plays with didn't want any help, stupid boys) and am doing really well except I don't know what to build. I've got two quarries and go mining with a destruction catalyst but I've not got anything to do with all the items I'm collecting. I've got macerators and furnaces all powered by solar energy and nothing to do with them. I was going to do a vlog when I first downloaded technic but my laptop's not powerful enough to run both minecraft and fraps, and if I was vlogging then I could ask my audience (surely someone would watch them, minecraft is popular) but as I can't I'll ask you instead. If there is anyone out there, what should I build in minecraft using the technic pack? I'll upload pics here if you want me to and let you know how it's getting on. Maybe not as exciting as a minecraft vlog but until I get a better computer it's the best I can do.

No further word about my gran yet.

Later.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Sad News

I just found out today that my last surviving grandparent may have lung cancer. It's kind of a weird feeling. I want to cry, I want to bury my head in the sand until we find out for certain, I think mostly I want to hug someone. This morning I told my mum I loved her for belated Esther Day and now it looks like my gran might be dying (well we're all dying but nothing brings it home quite like "cancer"). It's a weird, weird world. And quite a sad one as well.

I really need that hug...