I’m currently in the process of reworking a few parts of the site so bare with me as things break and then get fixed. Right now a bunch of the urls aren’t working properly, I’ll have a stab at fixing those tomorrow. I know you are all waiting with bated breath so in the mean time feast your eyes on this particularly tasty piece of audiovisual cake by Universal Everything.
Also, this tune takes me back.
Crystal Chronicals Annual Festival
I love new web technology and Twitter is no exception. I remember the first time I heard of it, Muse held a poll to see what the fan’s favourite social networking sites were. Of the thousands of people that voted Twitter got 2 votes. In true Muse fashion they decided to go for Twitter anyway so I found the scene fairly early on. In those days it was pretty quiet, the best feature being that it would text you the updates for free. It wasn’t until celebrities started getting accounts that things really took off. Stephen Fry seems to have single handedly created a multimillion dollar company with his ramblings. Props have to go to the twitter team though for the features which were really the driving force behind Twitter’s rise. There’s no denying that the celebrities were a massive help, but I feel that it’s Twitter’s sharing mechanisms that are really it’s crowning jewel. ReTweetng, tagging and trending along with Twitter’s ability to connect to other websites and aggregate feeds are where Twitter really excels leaving giants like Facebook lagging behind. Twitter is now an integral cog in the viral machine and from humble beginnings is changing the face of the internet.
PS, thanks the the wonders of ‘web 2.0′ (I hate that phrase) when i post this blog it will then be tweeted onto my twitter account. Then those who have their mobile set up will get texted with my tweet. They could then read and reply no matter if they are on the bus or on the toilet. Theoretically i could have posted this blog from my mobile if I had a half decent one (I don’t). Not only that, if i had an iPhone I could take a picture and tweet it, the tweet would automatically take the exif location data from the photo and display a map of where I am. We truly live in exciting/scary times.
Hi there Wilf fans!*
*for legal reasons all people reading this count as ‘fans’
Sooo, time for some updates. A quick skim of my twitter reveals tales of sandwich scoffing, wood waxing and misfit meetings. As well as that I have a few projects in the works, couple of websites and some loose threads to tie up. I also have an interview coming up so wish me luck.
In the past few days I’ve been watching True Blood. If you don’t know, it’s an American drama series based in south US (I want to say Texas but won’t for fear of lynching if I’m wrong). It’s another one of those new vampire shows that seem to be flooding the place recently. Blame Twilight! As for True Blood, I’m actually quite enjoying it! I’m not really fussed about vampires but it’s got a really good vibe. I especially like the opening title sequence. It’s also a LOT more raunchy than I expected, there’s no chance in it toppling House from my list of favourite TV shows but it is surprisingly enjoyable. This girl is alright too.
Apple has just released the iPad to unprecedented levels of hyperbole. It does look like a whole lot of fun though, if I had £400 lying around I would definitely consider buying one. The lack of flash is annoying though, I had hoped they would beef out the web experience a bit more, fingers crossed they have that up their sleeves for a future update. I could wax lyrical all day about current affairs but I shall leave you with his gem.
Peace
A new year, and the new hope that comes with it.
I’m sorry I havnt updated the ol’ blog in a while. In truth I have been very busy but that is no excuse for not taking 10 minutes to ramble. I’ve been working on a few projects recently, both personal and for others. I came across this band ‘Flash Echo Fire’ over a year ago now at a local BotB and they really struck me with their stage presence and energy. After a year long hiatus they are back on the road. Long story short, I am animating a quick 30 second preview of their latest offering ‘Invincible’. Here’s a taster of what is to come.
Here is something else that I’ve been working on, entitled ‘BrainStorm’
I’ve hit a bit of a wall with it so I’m not sure i will ever finish it but it’s a bit of fun at least.
PS. for some reason while you can view this post in the blog you cant view it on it’s own. I’ve tried fixing it but nothing works. Sorry.
PPS. fixed!
As a designer, I’m expected to have a visual identity. At the very least I should ‘look’ presentable and professional. But why is it that branding yourself is so hard? When branding something/someone/somewhere else there is a tried and true method for analysing their needs and coming up with a solution that works for them. Maybe it’s harder to brand yourself because you are so much more critical of yourself and you know that everything will be scrutinised in much more detail. Really, it’s about a uniform look to show an understand for the principles of design. My website should reflect the sort of work that I do, as should my business card. That is all well and good, except, what if you’re not sure what sort of work you do. I do a whole bunch of stuff from simple branding to experimental audio visual pieces. Do I make my brand a mixture of all the different things that I do, cater for all eventualities but end up muddling the message? Or do I go down a specific route, potentially closing doors to other opportunities? Or is my personal branding really important at all? I’ve come to the consensus that it is all about balance. Treading the tightrope between all these issues. Having a professional look that makes you stand out but that won’t turn people away whilst keeping in sight the real goal of all of this. At the end of the day, not looking like the dog’s dinner is the most important thing. Getting your personality across will come naturally.
Sorry I havn’t updated le blog in a while, been damn busy.
Soooooo, MUSE TOUR. I’m not going to give you the whole story, needless to say, it was amazing. Highlight was probably the first time MK ULTRA was ever played live at Brum. Lowlight was probably missing the train in London which in turn led to this horrible horrible illness that I am currently going through. Felt like death for the past week, luckily I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve cracked out a classic game though, Golden Sun!
The running theme at the Muse gigs was cool. There were 3 ‘skyscrapers’ on stage with the band members inside. During the intro ‘We Are the Universe’ the lights all lit up, gradually you could see figures walking up the stairs behind the windows. As the intro faded the figures started to fall down, tumbling over each other as they fell down the steps. The skyscrapers came back numerous times in the set:- during Hysteria they distorted and the lights flashed red. During Undisclosed Desires glowing rings wrapped the skyscrapers and reacted to the music until finally the skyscrapers were destroyed during the stomping finale Knights of Cydonia. During Time Is Running Out the man that fell at the beginning slowly drowns whilst straining to get to the surface and during Exogenesis: Overture he slowly floats into oblivion.
I like the way that they threaded themes in visuals through multiple songs. In the past generally each of the songs have had their own visual identity, the dancing robots from Supermassive Black Hole spring to mind. This is great as it separates each song in your mind but having themes running through the visuals makes the whole experience seem more bespoke. You just have to make sure that they are different enough that the whole experience doesn’t merge into a big blur.
Person of the Day
(I may even make this a regular feature 
)
SUPERFEX!
Claire is a very good friend of mine. I was there when the legend of Superfex began. She’s gone from strength to strength, check her out!
Today is a good day, I’m up and feeling motivated.
Upcoming Projects :
-Paid portfolio website for a friends
-Showreel
-FINISH this website
-Evoke stuff (possibly paid)
-MUSE
Last night Muse played Exogenesis Part I in Finland. It’s going to be mindblowing next month. Need to sort out accommodation though.
I’ve followed this guy called Aliceaffect/Ikaruga for a while. His animations blow me away.
Ayria @ Kinetik Festival from Ika on Vimeo.
Back home in Fromehampton now. I guess it’s time to start looking for a job. At least for now until the Muse tour in November. I think the Jobseekers people are starting to get annoyed at me though.
I know I said that I would be posting the results of the photoshoot but one thing turned into another we didn’t finish the shoot. Fifa called again, although we fared a bit better this time. When the final photos have been taken I will try get hold of them and post them on here 
In other news, I have been having some very weird dreams latey. I really should be writing them down. Last night I dreamt that i was lucid dreaming and went on a big adventure but when i tried to make a skyscraper appear out of the ground a woke up 
I still havn’t worked out if i woke up in my dream or actually woke up. Maybe I should create a project based around my dreams…. Also just got an epic RT chain on twitter, RT @daveoz85 RT @sickjew RT @dv8 RT @voenixrising RT @CoaHT: RT @Wilfio No God, No War. Know God, Know War. Good stuff.
I’ve decided as I now have a bit of free time to create a piece for Evoke. I’ve come up with a few concepts, time to start sketching and resource gathering. Hopefully this won’t be another of those projects that I just forget about.
Having a busy busy time down here on the south coast.
Got down here at about 9pm Monday evening. Settled in nicely, I got a good spot on the floor. The first night was just about having a good old natter so we whacked on the xbox and proceeded to win the world cup. Tuesday Dave had uni so I stayed at home and caught up on some worky/internety things. Then in the afternoon we went to asda to grab some ingredients for tea and the obligatory wilfanddaverumandcoke. For tea we had enchiladas which were most excellent but I ate too many felt like a had a food baby inside me. After that we went to see Attack! Attack! at a local tiny venue. It was really good actually, even the support was good. Just makes me wish I could write songs or play guitar a bit better. Would love to rock it up on stage.
Wednesday morning we managed to squeeze in a couple of back to the future films before Dave had to go to uni. I never realised how much of these films i hadn’t seen. I had basically only seen the hoverboard scene of BttF II. In the afternoon Dave started his new job looking after the darkrooms and I took the opportunity to go do some shopping. Bought myself a bargain new hoody (£10!) along with some nice new jeans and a new belt (which actually fits!). After a quick KFC to recharge the batteries I headed back to meet up with Dave and watch the England match. On the way i met Lindsay who was very nice and then AJ who followed us back to the house to watch the match. Overall thoughts on the match – good but not great. Then the night really got started though. Ted had brought back a crate of 20 Lomza beers, plus the 6 we had already bought (Yay for special offers!). Time for some late night raucous fifaing. Much hilarity ensued, although Dave was a little worse for wear. Nuff said.
Thursday was all about recuperation. In the afternoon we managed to drag ourselves to uni to keep Lindsay company whilst she was looking after the darkrooms and brainstorm some ideas for Dave’s project. In the evening we had some cracking bangers and mash and then finished off the BttF trilogy and watched V for Vendetta during which I (half) fell asleep.
Today is photo shoot day. Hopefully for the next blog entry I will be able to post some of the photos we’ve taken. I don’t want to give away the concept. All I will say is that it involves fruit. Wish us luck.
Whilst researching the project I came across this dude
Tim Flach
He has some of the most beautiful animal photography I have ever seen.
Apologies for this boring blog post. The next one will be more snappy
… of fixing bugs on the operation website. This one got me very flummoxed. In the end i didn’t even fix it, just did a work-around but it works fine so all’s good in the hood.
Off to Southampton tomorrow to stay at Dave’s and help him with his photography coursework. Should be a laugh, I haven’t packed yet though so fully expecting to forget something essential.
I’ve spruced up my twitter page with a new image and background. go follow me
It’s late and i have to be up in the morning to collect the train tickets from the station. Night peeps