Alas, a more succesful drawing:

I think I'm getting marginally better at this to be honest:



It's the Cheshire Cat from Alice In Wonderland. It's proportion is a bit wrong, but considering how much getting used to this tablet takes - I'm rather proud of it. Hopefully I'll be able to use this tablet for more useful purposes in the future. And will get much better at proportion etc.

A simple first attempt at an eye after trying to get used to my graphics tablet:

It's not the greatest piece of art in the world, but I'm just getting used to my graphics tablet and I'm rather proud of it:



Not a particularly good drawing, but a good example about how I'm getting used to using the tablet. Hopefully, as I get used to it, my drawings on it will be much better. Then I can use it to make amazing things - if I'm not getting ahead of myself here.

Aha, I have a new graphics tablet!

Well, new is debateable - it's actually second hand and the nib on the pen is getting a bit worn. However, it's still amazing. Also, incredibly useful. Particularly if you wish to do things such as animation. Here it is in all it's glory:



By the way, as I'm guessing I'll have to do some explanation into what a graphics tablet is:

A graphics tablet device plugged into a computer that means you can hand-draw images and put them onto the computer... Kind of like drawing with a pencil and paper but it appears on the screen. It's difficult to use but is easier than drawing with the mouse and very helpful for making animations with - especially when I get the supposedly amazing software I am currently downloading.

Aha, this is going to take some getting used to - however, it is simply beautiful in itself. I bet I can make some remarkable things here...

Since sometime in the new future their will be a new version of Alice In Wonderland...

Here is one of my favourite scenes from the classic version:

Nostferatu (1922)

Well I finished my work I had to do over the holidays, I personally think this film is brilliant... Your opinions?

From this time forward, I'll hold the title:

"Knows Space Exists"






On this day:


31 BC – Final War of the Roman Republic: Troops supporting Octavian defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the naval Battle of Actium on the Ionian Sea near Actium in Greece.

Fact Of The Day

A very effective way of keeping yourself awake during a long car journey is to shut a lock of your hair in a the sunroof/window... It's also rather cheap.

I don't really have ANYTHING else to say, I just found this webcomic really, really amusing. Maybe that's just me.

Fact Of The Day:

The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear. Any cup-shaped object placed over the ear produces the same effect.

Added note: The comic is too big for the screen... Any idea how I could fix that? :S

*Shamelessly steals blog idea*

I decided to visit the website and created my own "wordle". I decided to use a quote from one of my favourite graphic novels. Here is the quote:

"Rorschach's Journal. October 12th, 1985. : Dog Carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save us!' And I'll look down, and whisper 'no.' They had a choice, all of them. They could have followed in the footsteps of good men like my father, or President Truman. Decent men, who believed in a day's work for a day's pay. Instead they followed the droppings of lechers and communists and didn't realize that the trail led over a precipice until it was too late. Don't tell me they didn't have a choice. Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers, and all of a sudden nobody can think of anything to say."

Here is the "wordle":



Fact of the day:

A father Emperor penguin withstands the Antarctic cold for 60 days or more to protect his eggs, which he keeps on his feet, covered with a feathered flap. During this entire time he doesn't eat a thing. Most father penguins lose about 25 pounds while they wait for their babies to hatch. Afterward, they feed the chicks a special liquid from their throats. When the mother penguins return to care for the young, the fathers go to sea to eat and rest.

I'm not questioning your powers of observation I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.

I have some ideas for an art project I have to do for September (Yes, yes - September. I have lots of time, I wish to get on with it.) Basically work to do for the subject we're doing for A-level to make sure we're ready.

Anyway, for art - I have to do a project either based around the subject of Still Life or The Environment. I haven't decided which yet - but I've seen this graphic novel cover I like... Which inspires me somewhat:



But like I said, I'm not sure. This also "inspires" me somewhat:



Even if it's nothing to do with either subject.

For film studies I've managed to get hold of Nosferatu (Silent, German film from 1922). Which means I have all four films I have to watch and write about. Which is a relief, somewhat.

Fact of the Day:

The first recorded case of a man giving up smoking was on April 5, 1679. Johan Katsu, Sheriff of Turku - Finland, wrote in his diary "I quit smoking tobacco."
He died a month later.

On March 31st:

1889 – The Eiffel Tower was built.

1909 – The building of the Titanic started.

1912 – The building of the Titanic was finished.

1998 – Netscape releases the code base of its browser under an open-source license agreement; the project is given the code name Mozilla and would eventually be spun off into the non-profit Mozilla Foundation.

And in 1993 - I was born. What interesting things happened on the date you where born I wonder?

Anyway, did you know on this day in 1888 - The volcano Mount Bandai erupted, killing at least 470 people in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan.

Fact Of the (few) days:

King Henry VIII technically had either three or four wives, depending on who you wish to believe.

His marriage to Anne of Cleves was annulled.
The Pope declared his marriage with Anne Boleyn to be void as he was still married to Catherine of Aragon.
The marriage to Catherine of Aragon was declared void by Henry himself (as the new head of the Church of England) as it was illegal to marry the widow of one's brother (Catherine had previously been married to Henry's older brother Arthur).

On a cheerier note: After his death, while being moved to Westminster Abbey, the king's body swelled in the heat and exploded.

On this day in 1921 The Irish War Of Independence Ended

Other things to happen include:

1789 – French Revolution: Jacques Necker was dismissed as Director-General of Finances of France, sparking public demonstrations in Paris that led to the Storming of the Bastille three days later.

1804 – U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.

1943 – In a massive ethnic cleansing operation, units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army attacked various Polish villages in the Volhynia region of present-day Ukraine, killing the Polish civilians and burning those settlements to the ground.

1960 – American author Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, featuring themes of racial injustice and the destruction of innocence in the American Deep South, was first published.

(Although as the information comes from Wikipedia - maybe it's not entirely accurate, but never mind it's interesting regardless.)


Fact of The Day:

Gustav III, King of Sweden, believed that coffee was poisonous. So he set out to prove this theory, by testing this on two murderers. One to drink coffee everyday, and the other to drink tea. Two doctors where appointed to see who would die first.

The doctors died first.
The king was then assasinated in 1792.
The tea drinker died at 83.
The coffee drinker survived them all.

If we could shrink the earth's population to precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:



There would be:
57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 8 Africans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south

52 would be female, 48 would be male
70 would be non-white, 30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian, 30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual, 11 would be homosexual


6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read


50 would suffer from malnutrition, 1 would be near death, 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education, 1 would own a computer

Just something to think about...

I have nothing to declare but my genius.

Isn't interesting what was seen as frightening and horrific, or just plain obscene even just 20 years ago, is now seen as perfectly usual. I am thinking film wise rather than about Space Invaders but I think the picture illustrates my point perfectly. :)

I found a very interesting book today, a book of the poem "Killing Time" by Simon Armitage. Very good poem. In English we did a poem by him called "Hitcher that was very good as well, although I do prefer "Killing Time"... It's a very interesting poem - so absorbing. Speaking of books, I've almost finished Angels & Demons. Very interesting. ^_^

And for the general cute vote, here is a merecat from Berlin zoo, enjoy!

Splash.

Whilst I was randomly on the internet, I found this truly awesome poem, all I have to say really :):

Splash

the illusion is that you are simply
reading this poem.
the reality is that this is
more than a
poem.
this is a beggar's knife.
this is a tulip.
this is a soldier marching
through Madrid.
this is you on your
death bed.
this is Li Po laughing
underground.
this is not a god-damned
poem.
this is a horse asleep.
a butterfly in
your brain.
this is the devil's
circus.
you are not reading this
on a page.
the page is reading
you.
feel it?
it's like a cobra. it's a hungry eagle circling the room.

this is not a poem. poems are dull,
they make you sleep.

these words force you
to a new
madness.

you have been blessed, you have been pushed into a
blinding area of
light.

the elephant dreams
with you
now.
the curve of space
bends and
laughs.

you can die now.
you can die now as
people were meant to
die:
great,
victorious,
hearing the music,
being the music,
roaring,
roaring,
roaring.

Charles Bukowski

Praying To A God That I Don't Believe In

This I wrote whilst trying to write an essay on Charles Dickens' Hard Times - you could say I had a Hard Time writing it! (**TUMBLEWEED** **SOMEONE COUGHS**) Anyway, it's not just trying to write an essay it's also about writer's block and generally not being able to think of an idea. It's not to great but I felt I should put it down. :)

Writer's Block

Another cup of coffee
TRYING TO CONCENTRATE
That annoying tapping in the background...CAN SOMEONE TURN OFF THE RADIO??
Words trying to escape from my hand... Masses of scribbling across the page.
Every sound is a DISTRACTING EXPLOSION to my ears.
The computer and television are so inviting - MUST WRITE.
Don't break my concentration.
A dull book laying in front of me too hard to read.
Praying to a God I don't believe in, help me come up with an idea -
I'll never doubt your existence again.

The written motorway congests a fool.

Well it has been some time.
I've just sent off a story for a short story competition. Wish me luck!
In the mean time, here is a poem:

Skeletons In A Forest

Skeletal trees upon a walkway.
The rain hits their leaves into surrender,
Thunder from a distance.
Footsteps from beneath.
The grey sky above me -
Walking in a sea of leaves.

My thoughts will never leave my mind,
their mine to keep inside.
Books in my bag bang against my knees,
As I remember long lost times.
Music drumming in my ears,
The soundtrack to my life.

A short French animation:

Rather sweet I think:

Le ballon
Uploaded by ddbparis