And the guitars and trumpet and violin and cello etc...

( Paul and I went to see Broken Records at The Ruby Longue on Monday with Paul G and Jenny )

Or are we in fact just not very good at keeping our lj up-to-date? And by we, I obviously mean me. Apologies for the delay in posting, the fact I haven't checked my flist in ages and the fact I have no fanart to show for my absense. Anyway, I'm digressing...
What I really want to share with you is the highlights of my last few weekends... so here they are.

( Sheffield & The Killers )
( Laura's visit, Snow Patrol, Liverpool and The Killers )
( Watchmen, studying, CSI and newborn Emily )

That's all folks!

So, my latest and last OU course has started in earnest and I've been somewhat busy in the evenings. Hence, I haven't got around to posting neither my latest social exploits nor my fanart. So... here are the highlights and six wallpapers.

( Adventures in the Land of Hills and Snow )
( Journey to the Centre of Fanart )

Comments are love. Walls are for snagging. Enjoy! &hearts

I present 4 new desktop wallpapers.
( Please click here )

As I've been on holiday for over a week now (huzzah!) I have found time inbetween the bingeing, socialising and film watching to make some new fanart. Here it is. Enjoy!

( Images of popular media from the BetaVerse )

Feel free to snag. Comments are love. Enjoy! &hearts

Happy New Year everyone!

I know that several people on my flist will not be sorry to see the back of 2008 and I truly do sympathise with you and hope that 2009 brings you much better times. For myself, I had a great 2008 and hope that this year will be just as good for me. I intend to approach life in the same way that brought me much joy and contentment this year, so barring the kind of tradegies and unavoidable circumstances that blighted many of my good friends this year, 2009 should be full of good times. Here's to a great year for all of us!

Now for a quick catch-up on what I got up to this holiday.

( Xmas )

( Tues 30th )

( New Year's Eve )

Next up: some fanart! Oh yes, fanart fans - I've finally got around to making some new stuff :p

Last Saturday (6th Dec), I went to see The Mighty Boosh at M.E.N. Arena.

( Accessorising will save us all )

For those of you kind enough to express an interest in my academic prowess, I am happy to inform you that I passed this year's course - with a distinction! Yay me!

I was a little worried about this year's results to be honest because, as you may or may not have noticed, I've got out more this year. I've had a year of fun and I worried if maybe I'd had a little too much fun and that my degree would suffer as a result. Apparently not. The only thing I seem to have sacrificed is sleep!

Anyway, now my lovely fella is taking me out for a celebratory meal. Huzzah!

I had a good week last week...

( Guillemots at Barbican Hall, London, 261108 )

( The Shortwave Set, Dry Bar, Manchester, 271108 )

( Samantha and I rock the Casbah in Sheffield )

( The Fratellis, Sheffield Academy 301108 )

So, I went to three gigs in a week. I spent time in three cities and I only got ~28hrs sleep in 7 days. Mostly though, I had a lot of fun and adventure (and some misadventure!). It was a great week. Life is good.

I've taken quite a few photos at the recent Guillemots' gigs I've been to. So, with a wealth of resource material, I couldn't resist but make some more fanart. So, I present 45 icons and 5 wallpapers of Guillemots live. The last wallpaper is a manipulation of which, I have to admit, I'm rather pleased with - sometimes my fanart turns out the way I intended... sometimes!

( I'm going to tell you both a story about some memories that I dreamt )

Snag if you like. Comments are love. &hearts

This weekend gone was Guillemots weekend (again). Friday night saw me, Laura, Law and others from Guillemots forum watching the band perform at Gigbeth (Birmingham's annual music festival) and then on Saturday Laura and I followed the band down to Bath to watch them perform at the Bath Pavillion. It was a fanastic weekend!

( Is this a punchline or is this love? )

Next adventure? - Laura and Gem do London! Well, for a day and there may be a Guillemots gig involved. That's a shocker, isn't it?

I bring you 12 Tim Minchin icons

( Take Your Canvas Bags To The Supermarket )

Snag if you like. Comments are love &hearts

My first fanart post for months! Yay me! I bring you 20 Guillemots icons.

( ...red river's got a spell on me... )

Snag if you like. Comments are love ♥

At the end of my last post, I promised fanart in the next. However, I then remembered that I had done another fun thing during my hiatus. ( Weekend at Sherwood Forest )

Hi. So, my self-imposed exile is over. I had my exam last Wednesday and now my course is over for the year. Provided that I have passed and I'll admit that I am confident that I have (also less confident about having achieved a good grade) then that was my last exam. I do have one final course but it is a project course so no exam - hurrah!

Anyway, it is my intention from her on to return to mainly posting my fanart. I'm not really into updating people on my every move... I'm really not that interesting... although I do set on fire if you hold a magnifying glass to me...

Anyway, that being said, it is likely that I will continue to interject my fanart entries with the occassional post about something fun and exciting that I did. Fun and exciting for me... you're not obliged to concur. Which brings me to the main point of this entry: fun and exciting things I did on "study breaks":

( REM Live 240808 )

( Nook and Michelle's Dinner Party )

( Tim Minchin at the Manchester Dancehouse. )

And finally... ( Last night, I celebrated my birthday with friends at the Punjab restuarant in Rusholme )

That is all. Next entry: fanart. I finally have free time to Photoshop again. Yay! I hope I haven't become too rusty!

It's been a while since I posted and a lot has happened - all good I'm pleased to say. I'm gonna try and keep this as brief as possible though because I do have a tendancy to waffle and it's always bad when I start to bore myself!

( Rocking the Casbah once again )

Long story short. I ended up on the guestlist to Guillemots' Koko gig in Camden, London. ( Read more... )

On to Latitude Music & Film Festival 2008. ( Read more... )

So... I think I'm staring to waffle now so I'll try and summarise the weekend.
Friday

Caught the end of Beth Orton ( Photos )
Good but not my kind of music. Not currently, in any case.

British Sea Power ( Photos )
Awesome set. Really enjoyed these. Conclusion: Must buy albums. Must listen to Arwel more often...

Caught the beginning of Martha Wainwright ( Photos )
Again, not realy my type of music so Laura and I stayed long enough to watch Fyfe Dangerfield make his guest appearance then headed to the Music & Film Tent. Here we watched various short films including the rather good animation "Peter and the Wolf" before the main event...

Guillemots' rescoring of Eraserhead.( Read more... )
Easily the highlight of my weekend. Guillemot's improvised the entire score and it was a truly awe-inspiring experience. I hadn’t previously seen the movie so I cannot compare with the original but the score they provided certainly seemed to convey the themes well. I was sat on the floor at the back (with Laura) watching on one of the smaller screens (too many people in front to watch the main screen). The improvised score was immersive and I found myself totally absorbed by the movie and it’s almost stream-of-consciousness dream-reality. They played without a break for the entire length of the movie. Here are some clips which truly do not do the experience justice ( In Heaven, Everything Is Fine )

Then we stickered more loos, danced outside the cheesey disco tent and finally collapsed back at the tent!

Saturday

Mooched in the morning. In the afternoon, we mainly watched comedians:
Dan Atkinson - don't really remember...
Carey Marx - gets away with close-to-the-knuckle jokes by holding up a cute teddy bear. Strangely works.
Tim Minchin ( Photos ) - Easily the funniest comedian I saw all weekend. Like Bill Bailey but funnier. Dark yet somehow fluffy sing-along humour. Brilliant.
Scott Capurro - wasn't so fond myself
Jon Richardson - funny - much better than in his podcast with Russell Howard. The podcast seems to be aimed at a more laddish audience than myself but JR's stand-up had a wider audience appeal
Bill Bailey ( Photos ) - Funny but a little disappointing after having seen Tim Minchin. Similar comedy but I found TM's topics closer to my heart.

Then we stickered some more loos...

Then we caught the end of the Coral's acoustic set before pushing our way towards the front of the crowd for House of Love ( Photos )
Not that we were that bothered by HOL (although I recognised and sang along to one song and they were entertaining enough) but next up were...

Guillemots ( Photos )
Another awesome show. During the first song "Get Over It", leadman Fyfe Dangerfield's guitar strap broke about three-quarters of the way through playing it. He played on... awkwardly. A roadie tried to fix it. Failed. Fyfe played on. Hence, in the second photo of this batch, he is balancing his guitar on his leg.

Next up, were The Mars Volta. I'd never heard of them but would have stayed to check them out had we not needed to return the remaining stickers to Ed the Manager (I don't know his second name). So, we waited outside for Ed to appear and when he did, he brought half the band with him. ( So, I got to meet Fyfe and Arista of Guillemots! )

What could top that? Well, nothing did really but I the rest of the festival was still fun and far from over...

We didn't venture back into the Uncut Arena for The Mars Volta (must check them out on You Tube as they sounded good from the side of the tent) but wandered over to The main Obelisk stage for Sigur Ros ( Photos )
We took a few snaps then I attempted to sit and chill but there were too many people. Eventually we wandered back to the tent. I should listen to Sigur Ros again. They'll never be one of my favourite bands but their mellow music may be good to study and revise to.

Sunday
More comedians:
Russell Kane ( Photos ) - Funny. Another to watch out for.
Phill Jupitus & Friends Improv. ( Photos ) - Basically, "Whose Line is it Anyway?" Brilliant stuff. Loved it.
Steve Weiner - seem to remember him being funny but obviously not hilarious...
Andrew Lawrence ( Photos ) - Laura really likes this guy. I thought he was OK.
Frankie Boyle - rather aggressive I thought. Not my cup of tea.

Then some music...

The Shortwave Set ( Photos )
Good set. Enjoyed. Played my fave from their first album (the only one I have). Enjoyed the others so must purchase second album as well.

Spotted Alan Davies being interviewd in crowd... (see first Latitude photo dump).

The Breeders ( Photos )
To be honest, a little disappointing. Laura described them as "unprofessional" and it's a fair point. It probably works for a smaller stage but they were on the main one. Chatty and engaging enough but their music didn't really impress. Except crowd-pleaser Cannonball which I too had been waiting for. That was top.

Blondie ( Photos )
Wasn't expecting much but Blondie turned out to be another high point of the weekend. Debbie Harry can still rock! The crowd was simply one of the best I've ever been in... all ages... everyone singing along and dancing. We were far away from the stage but the atmosphere was still amazing. Atomic! You had to be there...

Laura and I decided nothing could top this end to a fab weekend so we ventured back to our tent via the bar were we purchaed only one drink only but still ended up giddy due to a lack of proper nourishment and sleep during the weekend.

Monday
Alarm goes off at 6am. Yet again, I've had about 1hrs proper sleep due to the closeness of arena playng the disco until 4am, then people chatting in tents without the realistaion that tent walls are not as private as brick ones... Still, up we get, pack up the tent and throw ourselves and luggage onto the first coach to start our long journeys home. We're knackered. But it was so worth it! A truly amazing, fun weekend :D

I spent Monday evening with my beloved long-suffering fella, Paul. He's great &hearts

Back to reality. I really have to study this weekend else my degree is heading down the pan. Overdramatic. But my grade on this module will suffer if I don't pull myself together. Hey ho. I just cannot bring myself to worry too much about this. I'm having a fantastic year. I'm happier than I've ever been. Not just because of the last two weekends but just because I feel at one with myself and have done for much of the year. Something has clicked and life just seems good. I know many of my friends are having a shitty year and I truly do sypmathise. For myself though, I'm living and being thankful I'm here.

Well, today's Men's Wimbledon final was an epic, to say the least. My nerves were in shreds by the end but Nadal emerged triumphant! Huzzah!

( Rafa eat trophy now! )

Other than watching tennis and the Dr Who finale, I've mainly been studying this weekend. Last weekend was more fun. I attended the wedding of Paul's sister to her long-term partner, Gary. The rain held off and fun was had by all despite having the worst DJ I've ever come across. Sunday was the highlight though with the free Party In The Park gig in Huddersfield. Due to my own ineptitude at planning, I didn't get to meet up with Jo and Arwel but I did manage to get right up against the barriers near the middle. As did they... just a few people away as it turns out. The Guillemots were fantastic! To read my post-gig waffle, click here.

Finally, here are some ( Guillemots icons and walls )

Snag if you like. Comments are love &hearts

Just got back from seeing Simon Amstell at the Lowry in Salford. He was hilarious - I laughed the whole way through and even had tears coming from the corners of my eyes by the end. His warm-up act, Arnab Chandra was also very funny. I'll be keeping an eye out for when he (hopefully) gets his own gigs.

Now, if I'd been prepared I would now present you with some Simon Amstell fanart. I'm not that prepared. I spent all of yesterday doing an OU assignment and... excuses aside, I'm bringing you three Mighty Boosh wallpapers that I made whilst on holiday and haven't got around to posting yet instead.

( We create our own extistence )

Enjoy!

Went to see Mobius Band play at the Night & Day Cafe in Manchester with Paul this Sunday evening gone. ( And we could keep sitting around, Watching the paint flake off the walls, Waiting for answers, That are never gonna come )

I would have liked to have included some icons and walls with this entry but I had to study and watch TV last night instead. So, there aren't any :p

PS: My mood is related to today at work not seeing Mobius Band and the last day of my holiday. My mood that day was chilled ;)