Devious Musings

deviouscreations.co.uk - version 3 preview!

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:47:16 GMT

Here's a sneeky peek of the soon-to-be version 3 of deviouscreations.co.uk. I've tried to make it more "wholesome" as a website, but at the same time nice and simple. The site should be online within the next week or two.There will be a couple of tweaks here and there, but this is the overall style.

I went for a "postcard on pinboard" look, but I didnt want people to have to keep clicking thumbs to see each image as it was before. (The more clicks, the less hits.. is what I have found. I get the impression more people will scroll down one page than go through a string of pages).

Chew

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:21:05 GMT

Special Introductory Price! Tony Chu is a detective with a secret. A weird secret. Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. It also means he's a hell of a detective, as long as he doesn't mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why. He's been brought on by the Special Crimes Division of the FDA, the most powerful law enforcement agency on the planet, to investigate their strangest, sickest, and most bizarre cases...

Chew is brilliant, and quite a breath of fresh air, from the rather unique writing of John Layman right down to the stylish illustrations from Rob Guillory. The dynamic, edgy and colourful images really help to emphasise the story's pace and immersion.

Vol. 1 "Taster's Choice" is out now.

You can find out more about the series at the official blog.

Falling Into... Finailsed

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:07:15 GMT

There it is.. What should be the finished cover artwork for Sorocco Drive's new EP. I had fun with this one, and despite some frustration with fonts I think the end result works a treat.. You can CLICK HERE for a much closer look, and see below for a zoom in on the front panel.

So who's next? Keep those requests coming in!

In other news..

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:02:49 GMT

This weekend's been fairly quiet. I've mainly spent it at home in front of the TV, or progressing through Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and relishing in Old School delights with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. (The whole Sonic back catalogue is available on Xbox Live. This is an awesome thing.) Its quite incredible when a 16 bit arcade game still be as enjoyable all these years, despite the super hyper-realistic efforts of next gen titles.

I've managed to do some more Christmas shopping, hopefully not much more left to go, including a gift for the office's Secret Santa. I'm hoping to finish it all next weekend. I've actually become a member of Amazon for the first time, which has really helped since most of London's shops are cosed when I finish work.

I've found a couple more fantastic albums thanks to Spotify and Rocksound.tv's reviews. Goonies Never Say Die are a new fave.

Falling Into.. developed

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:46:26 GMT

Click for full view

*EDIT*

OK, major font edit time...

I figured out what was annoying me the whole time. The decorative font was fighting with the background for my attention. It just wasn't quite gelling together.

I've changed this for a much simpler, minimal typeface, and I think the overall effect is better. Just need to hear what the band think.

Falling Into... Sorocco Drive

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:37:07 GMT

This is a working in progress design for Sorocco Drive's new EP "Falling Into". I'm just waiting for the track listing and additional info for the back of the sleeve notes, but this is the main look. I'm still trying out different fonts for the EP title though...

Feels good to be doing something creative again.

I'll be sure to post the developed design up as soon as I hear back from the band.

Out of the Darkness, Came Art : "How It Is" & "X-perimentalist"

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:23:09 GMT

This weekend, Angela and I took some time out to see a couple of exhibitions currently on in London. Tate Modern's Turbine Hall is presently home to Mirolsaw Balka's "How It Is", a giant steel structure offering a glimpse into a seemingly infinate darkness. Visitors are encouraged to step inside and walk into the pitch black void, loosing sense of perception and space. It really is quite odd, and once enveloped your senses do get hampered. There's a point where you dont know how far to go, and you cant even see who's in front of you. It's kinda like being blindfolded, and quite amusing bumping into everyone.

We also went to see the X-perimentalist gallery at the OXO Tower. For 12 years Hugh Turvey has been working with x-ray to produce amazing and insightful constructed contemporary images...exposing the inner world of familiar and unfamiliar spaces. On show was everything from flowers and figures to motorcycles and mixing decks. The level of detail and intricacy is thrilling, especially when he overlays each image with vibrant colour.

"How it is" is on until the 5th April 2010, and "X-perimentalist" stays at OXO until 22nd Nov 2009.

The Matrix, the silent movie

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:36:32 GMT

This week's Escapism

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:20:22 GMT

So, another week goes by, and not much changes. The usual is still depressingly overbearing, but I shan't go into that again. It's the same painfully drole story as usual. Instead, I'll highlight the week's escapism.

I've been thoroughly enjoying Guitar Hero 5. There's something to be said for a plastic guitar when it comes to stress release. Not only that, but I've also downloaded most of the free song packs too. I still find it amusing to see my Xbox Live Avatar dancing sporadically on stage whilst showing off his new found axe skills. Brutal Legend on the other hand, has proven to take a little more to get into.

Two new music purchases are currently on continual loop at the moment. Both Pelican's "What we all come to need", and Baroness's "Blue Record" are truly great releases, making some serious noise amongst the competition. Baroness already proved their worth with the "Red Album", and this new CD happily builds on that reputation.

On the more geeky side of things, DMZ Vol. 7 and Walking Dead Vol.7 lie in wait for me to lose myself in. Both are fantastic series which I fully recommend. I've also recently read The Umbrella Academy : Dallas, and Y: The last man Vol.4.

This weekend, Angela and I went to see both UP and another new animated feature film "9". Both were excellent and fun to watch, UP for its humor and light heartedness (Pixar just dont ever seem to stumble), and 9 for its awesome action sequences and truly unique sense of fantasy. Then again, it is a Tim Burton Production. (There were a number of really creepy moments, and "dramatic" moments that really gave the film an edginess you dont normally get from cgi animation.)

Finally, I snapped up Stoked for the 360. This is a game I have had my eye on for some time, and after the utter gutter slush that was Shaun White, this so far is a refreshing change to the otherwise quickly-dull snowboarding genre. The "real weather" pattern is a nice touch, and as soon as I get enough points and reach the second part of the game, the pro season really picks up the pace of the game. Its just a little frustrating that it took so long to come out in the UK. (Its sequel, Stoked Big Air is already due for release in the US later this month, but we probably wont see it on our shores well until next year.)

I've also finished season one of the Big Bang Theory, and am currently working my way through season two. I genuinely think its one of the funniest shows I've seen in ages.

What we all come to need...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:40:54 GMT

Well well... what do you know? Pelican have done it again.

I pretty much haven't stopped listening to the new Album "What we all come to need" since I pressed play earlier this afternoon. For all you fans of instrumental metal out there, this is another must have on the list. Pelican have always been up there with the likes of Russian Circles, Red Sparrowes & Isis, and this latest offering only seems to strengthen that accusation.

Moving on from 2007's City of Echoes, the band have seemingly woven the last album's heavier stylings together with a more progressive, melodic sound that sucks you in and carries you for the full eight tracks.. half of which are now 7 minute opuses. Its hard to pick a "stand-out" track, but the highly impressive opener "Glimmer", and "Specks of Light" are especially enthralling walls of sound.

With each album, the band continue to hone and refine their skills. I was a huge fan of "The fire in our throats...", but Pelican's newest release is a clear contender. Chalk up another point for 2009.

Games of ROCK!

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:03:26 GMT

Its good to treat yourself once in a while. So this weekend, that's exactly what I did.

Things have been pretty intensive as of late, and I felt i needed something to help wind down and chill out after a hard day's work.. (which seems to be everyday). And then as I wandered into HMV, it clicked. Guitar Hero.

I had originally wanted to get Rockband2 some time ago, but was dismayed a the fact that unless I wanted the new Beatles edition (unlikely) that I'd have to buy the game first, and then get the instruments separately. There is seemingly no combo pack available, at least in the UK. This is rubbish.

And then Guitar Hero 5 was released. I've played both Activision and Harmonix's titles with friends, and although there is something to be said about the visual presentation of Rockband, I can happily say that Guitar Hero 5 is brilliant. I've only had it a week, but I love the "jump in / out" feature, and the ability to now be able to play any combination of instruments. (So if you want 4 guitars, you can). The 85 track song list is fairly impressive, with Judith, Everlong, Plug in Baby and Salt Sweat Sugar being some immediate faves. This can the be bumped up to just under 100 with the 2 free song packs currently available from Xbox Live.

If that wasnt enough ROCK for one man, I also grabbed Tim Shafer's Brutal Legend, which looks to be an absolute hoot. Playing a roadie voiced by Jack Black as the main hero whilst using the powers of Metal to defeat my foes just sounds awesome. I'll be able to confirm this, just as soon as the game gets a look in. HAH!

So if anyone fancies a Jam Session, send me a msg! My gamertag is deviouscreation. Suprisingly enough...

The Prodigal Blogger

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:42:32 GMT

Welcome Back!

Well its been a while since we said hello. But believe me, there's a multitude of reasons.

Mainly the fact that Angela and I spent the first few weeks of September seeing the sights of Los Angeles before trekking across California & Nevada, followed by a further week recovering from Jet Lag and sifting through an endless supply of photos. Then there's the fact this was immediately accompanied with being dragged back into the murky depths that is the 9-5.. (or in some cases 8-7.) However, rest assured, you can expect a rather lengthy post about the adventure in the next couple of days!

Since getting back, things have been pretty haywire (and somewhat draining). However, the devious pot of creativity has been bubbling away within the recesses of our consciousness, and at last some new stuff will be on its way soon, including a continuation of the steampunk butterfly collection! Stay tuned for more. Admit it, you've missed us..

Working Title, Part 2

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:35:44 GMT

Before we progress this tale, I just wanted to make an edit to the end of the first post. yo_sarrian kindly pointed out that the physics of my thunderstorm were flawed! In any case this gives us a nice lead into the next part.

1. (Cont.)
He'd gotten used to the flurry of passing vehicles by now, and at this time of night they filtered out into a small stream, posing no more than ambient background noise, mixing with the patter of raindrops against glass. Suddenly a flash cracked the sky like a stone spidering a pane of glass. He smiled. There's something calming yet exciting about a storm. Kinda reminds you that mother nature has its own power, and it doesn't need a fossil fuel or radioactive process to provide the energy. He started to count, awaiting the percussion that would surely follow the light show. Five seconds later, & a slow faint rumble of thunder broke. Resting his head against the wall, he stayed at the window for another few minutes, before bidding the storm farewell and headed back to bed.

Damned Insomnia...

----------------------------------------
A city however never sleeps. In order for it to function, in order for it to maintain it's existence, it must stay awake no matter what. As a living, breathing infrastructure, it both provides for and relies on its people. . An almost subconscious balance is therefore established between the metropolis and the inhabitants to maintain this exchange. A break in the chain would cause this to faulter. And in this day and age, a faulter could mean disaster.

It was still raining when he woke. It was also dark, but this time no streetlight. He wearily opened his eyes, rolling to one side and flailed an arm in the direction of the clock. He grabbed it and brought it closer to his face, waiting for his eyes to reach focus. 7.00am... which meant a record breaking 5 hours of sleep. He led toying with the idea of trying to drift off for another couple, but decided he was too hungry. Bizarrely hungry in fact... not just peckish but ravenous. Odd. Something didn't feel right, and not just his stomach. Hauling himself out of bed, he made his way over to the kitchenette and opened the refrigerator. Empty. Cursing, and making a mental note to actually get some food this week, he got himself a glass of water, sat in front of the TV and hit the remote.

Staring back at him, live from a public rally was the Country's leader, addressing the nation with an unusually strong and rousing speech, but something was different. It wasn't the leader he knew. This guy was new, and this guy meant business. As the TV ranted on, the same word kept coming up over and over. Invasion. Lost for words and still rather sleepy, as he continued to listen, he began to realise that this guy wasn't talking about being invaded.. but doing the invading. To the neighbouring Country. And to a round of supporting cries, cheers and roars.

Scrambling for words that never came, he flicked through every channel, every news program screening the same public address. He stumbled from his chair and grabbed his computer, typing furiously as he checked the internet for any kind of explanation. It wasn't long before he found it. Coup. That's what they called it. A Coup, and this city playing centre stage to the whole event. He blinked wildly, and stared back at the screen. Government overthrown by Rebel Milita. Political figures imprisoned. Armed forces surrendered. Dictatorship? Public Approval?? What the hell....How could this happen?

It was only at this point that he saw the date of the news article. June 16th. The hairs stood up on his arms and the back of his neck, and his hands started to shake. Today was the 4th... of February! Wasn't it?? Jesus, just how long had he been asleep? Taking a swig of water, he clicked at the site's frontpage.

The glass dropped to the floor, spilling its contents. His mouth wide open in shock, and the colour rushing from his skin.

It was the 4th alright, and it was February. But the last two digits... he manically clicked at the little clock on his laptop. Same. He ran back to the TV, bringing up the settings. Same. He flicked back through the channels, desperately trying to dispel the facts before him...

"..and that just about wraps up the top stories this morning at Channel 6 news. It just gives me enough time to wish Sally here a happy 35th birthday, from me and all the crew!"
<applause>
"Oh Peter! You said you wouldn't say anything! And you know you should never give out a woman's age! I swear, time's just flown by."
"Haha, Sorry Sally, I guess we couldn't resist saying a little something. I guess 2021's got here a li'l quicker than anticipated! That's it from us this morning, see you at noon for a round up o...."

2021... 2021??

What the fuck happened to the past two years?!
----------------------------------------

Ok... I think that's the "prologue" done...

I'm off for a couple of weeks, but i'll be sure to continue this when I'm back. I'm getting some good ideas formulating, and look forward to writing more when i'm back.

Working Title...

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:12:58 GMT

Ok, so this story currently has no title, but this is the start of my writing foray. I'm going to keep writing the story in small chunks like this, so sometimes it may be a whole chapter, or just a small part of the tale. I'm also writing this totally off the bat, with no pre-planned structure, not even the characters. It will certainly be interesting to see where it goes. As soon as I do have a title, I shall let you know!

1.

Rain.
It always rained this time of year. Not just the odd shower, but a relentless never-ending downpour. For the next month or so, the greying sky would continue to fall, and the city continue to take a beating, clinging to the edges in fear of being washed away. But it never was. Down below, the pavement completely obscured by a sea of umbrellas, flowing like a tidal current as the crowds hurriedly made their way home. Whoever was in charge of the weather should be fired.. or at least lighten up.

As the warm amber streetlight spilled into the apartment, he sat on the window sill and looked out, leaning against the wall. Scenic views they told him. And so they were, right before they built a bloody great office block a couple of streets down. Now instead of a sunset over the hills he got a perfect view of a banker's trading floor, complete with coffee machine and highly stressed yet overpaid staff. Some of them were still working, even at this hour. He wondered if they knew they had an audience. Then again, maybe they were all his audience. He shuddered and turned to gaze across the rest of the city. At least he could still see the cathedral in all its grandeur, standing majestically in the distance clashing wildly against the sprawling urbanite architecture. Whatever happened to detail? When did it get replaced with hard lines and angular juts? Such a question could only be followed by a sigh.

He'd gotten used to the flurry of passing vehicles by now, and at this time of night they filtered out into a small stream, posing no more than ambient background noise, mixing with the patter of raindrops against glass. A slow faint rumble of thunder broke. He smiled. There's something calming yet exciting about a storm. Kinda reminds you that mother nature has its own power, and it doesnt need a fossil fuel or radioactive process to provide the energy. He started to count, awaiting the light show that would surely follow. Five seconds later, and a flash cracked the sky like a stone spidering a pane of glass. He stayed at the window for another few minutes, before bidding the storm farewell and headed back to bed.

Damned Insomnia...

So that's the start so far.. I would write a load more but its late, and I need my own sleep. I'll be sure to continue this soon.

Game On!

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:50:57 GMT

This Bank holiday, I spent Friday night sprawled in front of the TV before falling asleep and waking up at about midday on Saturday. I managed to haul myself out and around town to check out exchange rates and the Post Office's travel money card, before wandering into Game and picking up Mirror's Edge for £8. I loved the demo that was on Xbox Live, but never got round to buying the game. This was clearly a WIN. As well as playing through the main story, you also get a series of time trials, which really sees the free running element shine as you continually try to find new lines and shave the odd second off your time.

I've also downloaded Marvel Vs Capcom 2 and Battlefield 1943 from Live Marketplace, and I have to say both are great fun. For the former, the tag team battle system and over the top special moves are brilliant, whilst the sheer mass of playable characters (56!) including Street Fighter, Xmen, Iron Man, Hulk Spiderman.. (the list goes on) result in some awesome combinations. The latter is pure multiplayer gold, with two teams (USA and Japan) battling it out over the Islands such as Iwo Jima and Wake Island. Xbox Live is really picking up the pace, and the quality of its releases are improving ten fold.

I then spent the rest of the weekend with Angela, watching Liam Neeson take no prisoners in Taken, eating pizza, and buying a pair of binoculars for the holiday, before cheering on the competitors of Ninja Warrior. Suffice to say, its been a great three days. By this afternoon, I genuinely felt well rested. All weekends should be three days long.

Putting pen to paper...?

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:02:09 GMT

Even though I quite literally no longer have any basic understanding of the concept of "Spare Time", over the past week or so an idea has taken root in the back of my mind and begun to sprout. Part of me wants to write.

Whether it be a full story, short tales, or simply a few hundred words to describe a scene or setting, it doesnt particularly matter right now. What I do know is that since I started picking up a book more often (and actually reading them), it's given me a rekindled enjoyment of the ripling yarn. For that I clearly must thank 1984, The Dice Man, Man in the High Castle, The Forever War et al.....In addition, they and indeed more recently graphic novels seem to have reinvigorated a creative imagination that had become somewhat dusty..

Perhaps I'll find sometime to put something together this weekend.. who knows. If I do, I'll be sure to post it here.

The Umbrella Academy

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:31:02 GMT

If Coheed & Cambria thought they were sitting pretty with The Amory Wars now being distributed through Image Comics, My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way proves that Sanchez's bunch are not the only band with comic creativity. Wonderfully Illustrated by Gabriel Ba and under the wing of Dark Horse, The Umbrella Academy is a brilliant tale of a reunion of dysfunctional orphan superheros, raised together as child crime fighters and splitting up to do their own thing before the death of their "father" brings them back together. And just in time it seems... for a familiar face is about to become one of their greatest adversaries.

Gerard has an excellent imagination, and the story and its characters are heightened in their enjoyment by Gabriel's drawings and dioramas. Vol. 1 "The Apocalypse Suite" is an Eisner Award winner, and Vol.2 is due out in October.

Never Better : Fantastic Sleeve Art Package

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:49:11 GMT

Check out the special digipack sleeve art for POS's "Never Better" in all it's glory. This is a great example why owning the genuine article can be so much better than nabbing it off a torrent site... Awesome stuff.

I am Man, all is Good.

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:37:14 GMT

I sit here typing this entry with a belly full of Nandos chicken, listening to P.O.S's "Never Better", (the sleeve art for which is fantastic) and scanning through DMZ Vol.5. Today has been a good day.

In fact so far the whole weekend has been pretty fun. Yesterday evening I threw in the towel for the week and left work to meet Angela and enjoy a meal at Pizza Express before checking out the Monorex 5th Birthday at Village Underground. Despite the disappointing lack of any actual secret wars artwork battles (the main reason we went), the artwork on show was impressive and the music was good. So we hung around for a couple of hours before calling it a night.

Today, whilst Angela went off to do her own thing at a Colour Analysis class, I took the time to wander around town, dropping by the usual Fopp, Orbital, Gosh and Forbidden Planet, before finding myself in HMV. Girls have their ideas of fun, I have mine... heh. I'm still trying to find a copy of The Matrix Comics Vol.2. It seems its about as comon as rocking horse shit, whilst the first volume is EVERYWHERE. Annoying. Especially when I eventually found a copy it was a ridiculous £17... sigh. Still, I managed to bag Liam Neeson's Taken for 6 quid. Bargain! Looking forward to watching that.

Tomorrow I plan to lose myself in DMZ, and hopefully play several hours of Xbox. Havent touched the damn thing in ages!

Inglourious Censorship

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:19:27 GMT

Anybody else noticed that the latest television trailer's for Tarantino's new film are just using the title "Inglourious"? Pre-watershed I guess I can understand, but so far all the TV adverts for it are running with this censored announcement. I can only assume that a bunch of people complained about the original trailers, and the studio had to cut the name in half. Its a little sad I feel, for all that the word "Bastard" is seen as an offensive word, it still has a genuine meaning and is part of the english language.

However, what amazed me more today, is that the poster adverts on the London Underground have gone one step furter, removing not only the potentially offensive term, but also the word Inglourious. So instead, all that is present is the phrase "The New Film From Quentin Tarinino".

Why? Who on Earth would find the word Inglorious offensive?? I am absolutely baffled by this. I really dont see the reason for doing so. Perhaps they should just hide the guns behind a fuzzy black rectangle and be done with it.

All I do know, is that historically any form of censorship can only help the film gain a bigger and wider audience, as everyone will be eager to know what all the fuss is about..

One thing I will say.. these movie posters are fantastic...

They wont see us if we keep very still...

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:04:43 GMT

Somehow, in the few sparse hours of free time that I've had over the past fortnight, if I wasn't asleep I was able to hook up with a few friends, enjoy a surprise trip to the O2 and even take my folks around the V & A.

For sometime, Angela had insisted I kept the 8th of August free but never really elaborated on why. I had a few ideas; festival, gig, meal, movie.. but as it got nearer to the day she kept playing it down, with the supposed event being just a movie and a bite to eat. Nevertheless, I was looking fwd to it.

I certainly wasn't expecting a boat ride on the Thames Clipper. Yet despite this I still fell for a quick "We're watching a movie at the O2". I kept trying to think of what was showing at the arena, and couldn't think of anything, plus they had a cinema so it was completely believable. It was only when we finally arrived a voice came over the tannoy spouting "Welcome to the 02 for Walking with Dinosaurs!" did it actually click. A look back at Angela and her facial expression of "dammit" verified that no.. we were not here for a movie. Heh. And she'd kept it a secret so well.

Walking with Dinosaurs is great. The detail and movement of the figures, the animatronics, the music. It really does put together a nice show. Its pretty cool to watch them stomp around the arena and loom into the crowd, the Brachiosaurus especially with his long neck getting right up close and personal. Meanwhile, the smaller dinosaurs are played by people in special dino-suits, but the way they move and act masks this to a great deal. It might not have the high tech budget of the BBC tv series, but as a live performance it's a lot of fun. If the reptilian giants are your thing, go see this if you get chance.

This Friday, we were invited to one of my colleague's barbeque and somehow ended up on cooking duty. Rising to the challenge, stomachs were soon satisfied, and with plenty of booze, shish kebabs, meat and portebello mushrooms covered in cheese, the result was a rip-roaring success, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

We would have stayed much later than we did, (although probably not till 4am when it finally finished), but my parents were arriving in London to visit us at 9.30am on Saturday. After meeting them and grabbing some breakfast, we headed over to the V&A.

Its been some time since I've been there, and I had forgotten just how enormous the place is. Even without going to any of the special exhibitions, walking around the 3 floors of the normal exhibits took practically the whole day. They have some fantastic collections of objects and artifacts from around the world, both large and small, and by the time we were done my parents were both overwhelmed and amazed. Gloucester is certainly lacking in the museum department. They were very thankful for the day out, and it was great to see them too.

However, it felt good to get back home, and collapse in front of the TV for a while. I nearly watched Anchorman, but it was pipped to the post by Hackers... man I thought this film was great the first time i saw it. Now.. its cheesy as hell in places, and I love how they give hacking this supercool almost sci-fi outer skin, (just like swordfish, or the matrix, or any other film that involves hacking), but its still a fun film. Plus, all hackers can rollerblade. Fact.

I'm going on holiday in a few weeks, and there's still a few things to organise, but I cant wait.. Bring on LA!

What more could you ask for in an evening?

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:43:47 GMT

Another whirlwind week, another weekend that's far too short.

A big presentation to a very important client resulted in several very late nights in the office, thankfully rewarded by a successful delivery and highly positive reception. So it wasn't the hardest decision for all of us to kick back on the Friday with a few beers on the South Bank. The Royal Festival Hall sits directly opposite our office, and the terrace bar area overlooks the Thames. With the warm summer evening coming to a close it felt great to kick back with colleagues and wind down.

As the Sun fell from view we conceeded to the cold and headed into the hall for more drinks, only to find that there was a free performance on in a few minutes. Only this was no ordinary show. Enter Miss Jo King and friends for some good all round Burlesque fun! Quite amusing, if not quite the chance discovery. (The female colleagues seemed to enjoy it as much as the guys.)

This weekend was spent picking up a few more bits and pieces for the holiday, (if I gradually get stuff as the weeks go buy, I shouldnt have too much left to get right before we leave), relaxing at home with Angela, Afro Samurai and a ~~very~~ pretty simplistic business card design...

I finished reading The Raw Shark Texts the other day, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The book feels like a combination of Memento, Fight Club, and The TV series Neverwhere, albeit with a shroud of geek. (A guy not knowing who he is, lots of notes left for him, an alternative reality...) Steven Hall is certainly an Author to look out for.

I also enjoyed Vol.1 of Marvel's new X-Force series, which is remarkably dark as hell and bloodier than I expected. Cyclops puts together a black ops incarnation of X-Force that would be able to use lethal force to preemptively deal with the threats that would be too dangerous or unsavory for the X-Men to handle. Forget brightly coloured costumes and heroics, this is all about death & vengance, and with some of the best artwork I've seen to boot. I thought I was done with Marvel after Secret Invasion, but this is great stuff...

Dan Simmon's Hyperion is next. From the first few pages, this could be pretty hefty reading, but the acclaim it has is staggering.

And so another weekend is done. Roll on the next one.

Flock and Facebook Sitting in a Tree

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:46:30 GMT

When someone says to you "Broadcast Anything", how do you interpret that?

Any fellow Flock user will now have received the 2.5 update, and been duly informed of the "Truly Awesome" new features that Evan and Dan are so eager and excited to tell us about. Explained in three short videos, including Twitter integration, the second begins by exclaiming how good it would be if you could publish articles and display media across multiple websites and formats simultaneously at the click of a button, rather than the laborious task of reposting.

Now this sounds good, and to aid my interest they throw up an array of platform logos on screen, including livejournal, myspace, blogger, wordpress, and facebook. Cross posting may not be new, but a browser that could post to any of these simultaneously would be quite a neat thing to have and a time saver to many.

And then the wolf lifts off the sheep's clothing.

Dan and Evan's idea of multiformat cross posting is not the same as mine, or yours potentially. What it actually means, is that whether you are using the browser's blog editor, photo uploader or any of its publishing tools, instead of choosing which sites to post the information to, you have the option to tick a new extra box, and a copy or note of the data being sent to your blog or gallery also ends up on your Facebook profile. That's right, Facebook. Just Facebook.

For some reason, despite being both a Flock and Facebook user, this thoroughly annoys me. When I saw the beginning of the video, I began to think that I could utilise this with a multitude of sites, including image thumbs on livejournal when I upload photos to Photobucket. If anything, what the video shows is that Flock and Facebook have engaged into some kind of torrid love affair, in an attempt to help Flock get a wider audience from the popular social network's users.

This accusation can only be backed up by the third and final new feature, which is facebook chat integrated into the web browser, allowing you to leave the site without getting cut off or signing out. (albeit a more useful tool... if you use facebook's IM chat)

Maybe one day bloggers and online journalists will get the "time saving" application they truly need, but for now, this doesnt seem to be it.

Flock 2.5's New Features

Icarus : Unravelled

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:47:20 GMT

I wanted to supplement the new piece "Icarus : Evolved" with a brief rundown on how it was put together. However it was so late last night that I decided to leave until tonight.

Firstly, the basic process is the same as that for Skydancer, hence the similarities in detail and view. After searching for a couple of key object images, in this case img a and img b, they are selected and pasted into a new document. Taking each object, duplicate the layer and add a minor distortion & rotation, before saving this process as an action. Then the fun begins. By repeatedly running the action, a pattern builds up on screen from all of the exponentially distorted objects. These can then be flattened onto one layer before running the process again with a much large, more detailed object. The trick is knowing when to stop, and when to tweak the action. But there's no right or wrong.

The main difference between Icarus and Skydancer is that with Icarus I spent more time experimenting with various painting effects in Photoshop for the wings' feathers. I settled for a combination of the smudge, burn and dodge tools, to soften and pull out strands from the distorted saw blades that made up the layer. By duplicating and layering the feather layers, it helped to add depth and buildup to the wings. Final touches were some photomanipulation of separate objects and painting effects for the helmet and engine turbine.

I had an idea last night as I eventually crawled into bed, of producing a whole series of these, then creating a large overall piece with all of them inside a big glass case like some kind of "steampunk butterfly collection". The more I think about it, the more keen I am to do so. I already have two.

Icarus : Evolved

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:25:13 GMT

---Click for full view---

Icarus, MKII for the steampunk generation...