Friday, March 30, 2007

WTF FACTOR FRIDAY! #6

Today's WTF FACTOR FRIDAY comes in the form of an early MTV animated short "Dirty Birdy", before MTV forgot about music and all things fun and original...

I remember watching this late at night a good 5-6 years ago (When technically I should have been asleep hours previously... *cough*)

A very funny sketch... (Warning: the animated bird is a dirty birdy!) Love the Cat...


WTF?!

I know its terribly delayed but I'll announce the winner of the Party Competition later today after work...

So until next time
ttfn

Nic

Sunday, March 25, 2007

A little reminder...

Just a reminder that the Ultimate Blog Party bead giveaway contest is closing on tuesday so get those limericks in!


GingaNic's PARTY COMPETITION

So until next time
ttfn!
Nic
x

Friday, March 23, 2007

WTF FACTOR FRIDAY #5



Makes you want to go out and join/renew a membership to a gym!
One of the best music videos yet so simple!

While its not fully WTF FACTOR it does beg the question as to who thought a dance on tredmills was a good idea... I would hate to think of the types of accidents the blooper reel could have produced!

So until next time
ttfn
Nic

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Get Well Soon Lois!

Just a quick post for my cousin Lois who after three hours repairing a malformed kidney, is already climbing the walls and up to general mischief! She has learned cheekyness well...

Its amazing to see her just a few hours out of surgery and looking like this:



I'm sure if it was any of us at our age we would be zonked! So Get Well Soon Lois! Though by the looks of it, you've started already!

Love ya!

So until next time
ttfn

Nic
x

Friday, March 16, 2007

WTF FACTOR FRIDAY! #4

Hurrah! It's that time again... it's WTF FACTOR FRIDAY!

I've been a bit busy this week so once again its a YouTube quickie (The stuff you can find on YouTube can make you lose DAYS).

This week is about potty training.. Thats right, a clip from a training video to teach children to use a toilet.
I think I can honestly say that its a very strange way to teach children to use a toilet properly... With songs such as: "Wipe Wipe Wipe Yourself, Always Front to Back" who needs spoof videos when there are musical classics such as that?!

From my research this is an 100% ACTUAL training video created by Dr. Barbara Howard that you can still buy today, and the infomercial is available via a quick YouTube search.



WTF?!

You've got to wonder what the child actors made of it all...

So until next time
Ttfn

Nic
x

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Geeky Music

Just a quick blog entry just to share some geek music with you all :D

I've been procrastinating from my essay by sorting through my old laptop - RIP Laptop, it was a pain in the arse but it helped me get through my undergrad course so it deserves a bit of gratitude, not much mind due to the number of times it BSoDed on me and lost my essays... well anyways I've been sorting out the laptop files files on my mac that I just dumped onto the mac without really sorting through the rubbish on there.

Sifting through three years of random files I stumbled upon something labled SMSP which confused me... Upon opening I realised what it meant: Super Mario Summer Party!

So I've instantly gravitated to here in order to share it with you all

Enjoy!

http://savefile.com/files/554441

So until next time
ttfn

Nic


GingaNic's PARTY COMPETITION

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Serious Rant: Thursday's BBC Newsnight

I wanted to blog about this earlier but I wanted to try and find a clip of the interview that I want to comment on. But I failed... so I'm blogging it anyway.

This is about the Tory Homeland Security spokesman Patrick Mercer and his comments about the army. For those who don't know about it, have a quick read here. He has basically said that
he had met "a lot" of "idle and useless" ethnic minority soldiers who used racism as a "cover".

and that:
"If someone is slow on the assault course, you'd get people shouting: 'Come on you fat bastard, come on you ginger bastard, come on you black bastard.'"

Subsequently he was forced to resign his post, without getting too entrenched in the topic (since it isn't exactly what I wanted to discuss) while I don't fully condone what he said I don't think it required him to have resigned. I think his comments were not one of personal belief but of personal observation (Whether right or wrong is not what has been debated) and rather than it being an issue of him being a racist I think its more of a case of a bad phrasing of words and his statement being chopped up and taken out of context.

Whether its racist or not is not the point, its the fact that there is obvious discrimination within the army. A more liberal approach is needed I think, all forms of discrimination is wrong, but not because you’re black/gay/female/disabled/ginger but because it is discrimination.

But thats not what has really ticked me off...

On Thursday Newsnight interviewed a Tory representative to discuss the issue. Despite being in reference to Mercer's comments, the debate focused on one section of Mercers comments. The debate became rather heated and as it continued instead of it being a debate about Mercer it became a opinion struggle over the acceptability of certain terms, "Black bastard", "fat bastard", "ginger bastard". I think a comment posted on the BBC website pretty much sums up my feelings on the proceedings of that debate:

On Newsnight the Tory spokesman implied that it was OK for soldiers to be called 'ginger bastards' but not 'black bastards'.
He criticised Mercer for giving equity to the two remarks. All my family have ginger hair and are disgusted that all sorts of groups of people who are considered different in some respect are given special consideration, but 'anti-ginger' comments are treated as a joke and we are expected to just accept them. All of my children have had to put up with totally unprovoked remarks at school and on the street.

We can no more change our natural appearance than any any other group. many are now protected by law or the regime of political correctness at least, Mr Tory Spokesman, give us the same consideration or keep your mouth shut


So instead of taking a stand on ALL forms of discrimination the tory rep decided to attack the use of racial slurs being used on EQUAL terms to that of other derogatory terms, as if just because the other terms were not racist they were therefore more acceptable/a bit of a joke. WELL THEY'RE NOT. Discrimination is discrimination no matter what the form it takes and is just as valid.

It rather annoyed me... as a redhead I have been a recipient of unwarranted hate... Surely I deserve the same support against discrimination as the "proper" forms of discrimination?

Phew...


So until next time

Nic



GingaNic's PARTY COMPETITION

Friday, March 9, 2007

WTF FACTOR FRIDAY! #3

Interruption pic...

GingaNic's PARTY COMPETITION
Ahem...Right back onto WTF FACTOR FRIDAY!


Welcome to the third WTF FACTOR FRIDAY!

I had planned to highlight a rather strange website but then I suddenly changed my mind at the last minute in true GingaNic style...
So today's WTF FACTOR FRIDAY entry is from brothermcleod...
The Brothers McLeod

Greg and Myles have been writing and directing animations for the last seven years and their work has appeared on BBC ONE, Channel 4, E4, BBC CHOICE, Atomfilms, and nokiashorts.com. Their surname is pronounced MacCloud for those not versed in Norse-Scottish history...


For those that like hyperlinks have a go at THIS and vist their website and find out more.

The video chosen for this week is an animated email... a spam email... those annoying emails that make no sense whatsoever using key phrases purely to fool the spam filters... The type of email that makes you want to burn your inbox if it had a physical form...

Hopefully this will help you to think of them a little differently... Almost poetic? In a WTF kind of way.



So until next time
Ttfn

Nic
x

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

The Ultimate Blog Party!!




I admit I was forwarded to the ULTIMATE BLOG PARTY!! a while back but me being me, I've only just got around to signing up... Well its a known fact that all the great bloggers arrive fashionably late :P *ahem*

Thanks to Bec for poking me to get organised!

To celebrate not only the whole partay (Yes that is how its pronounced :P) but also my recent motivation to actually do some essay writing (shocking I know...)
I'm going to steal Bec's idea and have a mini competition...
The prize is one of the following:


Cat, Dog, Mouse!
OR

Seahorse Earrings

OR
If you have a retro pixel character that you like (depending on the seed bead colours I have available atm) I'll make you one :)

In order to win all you need to do is post a comment in the form of a limerick based on an animal(s) the winning limerick will be chosen by The Boyfriend in two weeks time...

Have fun!

So until next time

Ttfn
Nic

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Lunar Eclipse - March 2007

Well it has to be said the lunar eclipse tonight was fantastic.
The sky was perfect, and the star of the show played its part perfectly but unfortunately my camera wasn't up to the challenge...

I managed to capture a few blurry mobile phone camera pictures but they're not really at all impressive nor capture how amazing it was.


Before hitting the umbra


The vanishing act...

Nearly...

Almost...

Gone!

You can just about make it out from this shoddy image!

All in all a good night. Reminded me of my GCSE Astronomy lessons I had... 5 nearly 6 years ago (Really doesn't seem that long ago!) since the last eclipse was a failure due to heavy cloud cover *sniff*
The brilliance of the event tonight motivated me to talk to a few of my friends who also seem to be interested.

So maybe, just maybe we shall be founding a new society at the university... Astronomy Soc! Now whether this will come to pass depends on how much apathy is floating about before the next AGM meating, but it would be nice if something could be done. Fingers crossed I can dig out my old telescope and teach the little first year undergrads a bit about the stars! Hehe

A redhead who likes astronomy and general art geekery? Gosh! I'm such a geek!

So until next time
Ttfn

Nic
X

Friday, March 2, 2007

WTF FACTOR FRIDAY! #2

Time for the second WTF Factor Friday entry!

Yet another YouTube video, but this time with a more surreal artistic edge.
It is a stop animation short by Jan Svankmajer the well known Czech surrealist artist.

This video has been taken from his animated short film Jídlo... this particular section is entitled "Breakfast"



A brilliant surrealist film from 1992... I recomend you watch it

A New York Times review stated that:
"Svankmajer conceived the film in the 1970's, when it seemed too risky a politcal allegory to be made. . . . it now seems too simple a statement about how people are devoured by mechanistic states and each other"


Without going into too much art analysing mode... While I agree that the ideology is slightly dated, I think it is still a powerful and valid statement portrayed in a unique and visual way.... but it still lets you beg the question: WTF?!

So until next time
Ttfn

Nic

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Tired

Just a quick post so that I don't forget that this thing exists.
Very busy week this week, but a completely messed up sleep pattern does not bode well with the attempt at a productive successful one... So despite feeling like I could sleep for a year I have so far:

1) Missed field trip
2) Almost overslept for work...twice
3) STILL struggling with essay and thus debating missing tomorrows lectures so I can avoid the "look" from my lecturer.
4) Missed a tutorial meeting due to completely forgetting that I had one until about 8 hours after the event.
5) Letter from Landlord asking for rent... oops! (Although that is now paid)
6) Scary phone bill... *sniff* (paid but it was painful)
Less importantly:
7) My WoW character has still not levelled up due to obsessive herbalising...

Pah roll on next week...

Just so this isn't a sleep deprived piece of fluff, I want to quickly comment a few things...

I'm thinking of getting back into my painting again... my last large project was an Art Deco piece that I did for my A Levels and while I know it was just part of the course I'm feeling the creative itch again.. I do like it if I do say so myself... I use it for my YouTube channel background... how vain is that?!



I attempted a small project to get the ball rolling a few weeks back as part of a Paperlilies competition on YouTube, but it didn't quench the creative urge and so I had to buy a book on enamelling to try and placate myself... hehe



So until next time
Ttfn

Nic