One Reflection
If you’ve got Twitter, then I’m sure you’re aware of the ridiculous amount of ‘fangirling’ that goes on for (originally) Justin Bieber, and (hugely) One Direction.
If you’re a male, then I’m sure you’re aware of how annoying this is. Unfortunately for the ‘Beliebers’ and ‘Directioners’, I’m not so keen on seeing their brown-nosing, over-emotional tweets. However, they continue to fill my timeline with such tweets, and it’s increasingly annoying. To be fair, I don’t follow any hugely obsessed teenage girls, but when those I follow retweet the said teenage girls, it really is crazy.
One such tweet I saw earlier this evening went along these embarrassingly cringeworthy lines:
“@onedirection Your so amazing, I’m in tears every time I hear your music. Your all so talented and it would make me soooooo happy if you follow me!?!? xxxxx”
Apart from the atrocious grammar and spelling, I, in a way, almost feel sorry for these girls, as they spend pretty much all evening tweeting their favourite ’1D’ member, hoping for any sign of them actually recognising their existence. What’s unfortunate for them, however, is that they don’t. When Bieber & One Direction members have thousands of girls tweeting them at once, surely it’s obvious that they’re going to find it hard to reply to you, even if they want do.
What’s more, seemingly everyday there is a Bieber/One Direction related trending topic. Right now, for example, it’s “Need SomeBieber To Love”. Brilliant.
My short rant is over, but I would say this to these girls; stop wasting your time, you’ve probably got homework to do.
Listen to good music.
(Sorry if I’ve offended anyone, and this isn’t the majority of who I follow before you just tell me to unfollow them).
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My Latest Track And The Near Future
Thanks for bearing with me recently, and sorry for the lack of decent posts. I’m afraid it’s going to be the same for a while though.
I’ve got mock exams in a couple of weeks, and then I’m off to France for a week. So, until after then, I won’t have anything up. Sorry.
However, in the meantime, please check out my latest track!
I hope you like it, and please feel free to download it. Any feedback would be much appreciated.
See you soon, followers!
2011 In Review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Big thank you to all of those that have visited my blog in 2011, I look forward to giving you more this year!
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 23 trips to carry that many people.
Click here to see the complete report.
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Echoes of Silence (Free Mixtape) – The Weeknd
The Weeknd has just released his third mixtape, Echoes of Silence.
The mixtape, which follows up equally impressive House of Balloons and Thursday, yet again exhibits the 21 year old Canadian’s insane skills regarding production and recording.
This is the tracklist:
- D.D.
- Montreal
- Outside
- XO/The Host
- Initiation
- Same Old Song
- The Fall
- Next
- Echoes of Silence
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Magic To Face Heat In Preseason Rematch
Following our thumping 118-85 loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday, we need to drastically improve this evening in the reverse match up to prove our worth in the Eastern Conference, and indeed our intentions for the upcoming season.
According to John Denton’s article on nba.com, the Magic have been putting a whole lot of effort in training since Sunday night. Despite not wanting to exhaust players even before the season has started, that can only be a good thing. The loss on Sunday can only really be described as a blow-out, and the Magic fans would have wanted better, even though we’re only in the preseason. Of course the Heat have a phenomenal, powerful roster, James, Wade & Bosh backed up by some solid players, but who else remembers when we came back from a 24 point deficit in the third quarter to eventually win the game 99-96 earlier this year? Why can’t we do that again tonight?
However, if we want to beat our Florida rivals then we have to step it up. Sunday’s performance simply wasn’t strong enough, and, rightfully so, head coach Stan van Gundy has been blunt about it, “imploring the players to run harder on fastbreaks and be tougher defensively”. Although it was the first game after a long time off, especially bearing in mind the disappointingly early exit to the Atlanta Hawks last season & it doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, the players were embarrassed with the rather one-sided game. Jameer Nelson, who shot 0% from the field, said that it made him “look in the mirror afterward and check [himself]“. Meanwhile, Dwight Howard has been fending off comments insinuating his will to play weaker for the Magic due to his recent trade request, saying it was “insulting”. He will be playing at the Amway Center for the first time in around seven months, and the three time Defensive Player of the Year winner assured the fans that he will give his all, like always.
Hopefully we can see some signs of improvement tonight, as we need to step up our game in advance of our 2011-2012 season Christmas Day opener with the energetic outfit of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Some Incredible Videos
Vimeo is excellent for finding incredible videos exhibiting phenomenal beauty from all around the world. I’ve got a couple of examples here.
The Arctic Light – TSO Photography
This video was filmed between 29th April and 10th May 2011, on the archipelago Lofoten in Norway. You can follow TSO Photography on Twitter here.
TimeScapes 4K – Tom Lowe
This fantastic footage from Tom’s upcoming film, TimeScapes, is “a portrait of the American Southwest”. It was filmed at a resolution four times greater than 1080p HD, making for stunning photography. You can follow Tom on Twitter here.
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November Is Nearly No More
Is it just me, or has November, and this year in general, just gone really fast?
I can distinctly remember New Year’s Eve like it was yesterday, as the impressive fireworks and the champagne corks flew up into the illuminated sky.
Now, we are coming to the end of yet another year. 2011 has indeed been good for me so far, and I feel very blessed to have enjoyed some great times over the year. Although I had to endure over 20 papers for my GCSEs in May and June, I’m pleased with the results I eventually achieved. And, partly thanks to these public exams, my summer holiday was brilliant. I finished everything on the last day of June, and on the first day of July I went to Wireless with my friends. Then, after a rather lazy 4 weeks, I went away to Portugal on a family holiday, where we enjoyed sun, sea and surf. On return from Europe, we again went away, this time up north to Cartmel for a couple of days. When we got back, I was awaiting the start of a new school year.
As of September, I’m now a Sixth Form student. I can’t describe how much better I’ve found school now I’m in Year 12. Firstly, I’m only taking subjects that I want to take, those being English Literature, Medieval History, French and German. Having just 4 subjects, instead of 11, without Maths & Science is so good. However, inevitably, the work load has been much larger. Due to taking English Lit and History, I’ve found myself with at least 1 essay a week. Although I don’t really mind writing essays as much as some people do, they’re time consuming and exhausting, meaning that use often found myself shattered this academic year.
Outside of school, my new hobby of this year has definitely got to be running. As you might have read in my earlier posts, like this one, I’ve really become fond of this fitness activity. Since June, I’ve ran a total of 140 miles, and I’m frequently pounding along. Next year I’ll hopefully be doing the Bupa London 10K, with other events throughout the months as well. As well as running, I’ve been playing hockey and I’m taking it to a relatively high level, so that’s all good.
So there you have it, my year so far. We’ve still got December to come, which is undoubtedly my favourite month of the year, but who else’s 2011 has just flown by? Has it been a good one? Let me know in the comments section!
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Aiming For The Sun – Ryan Keen
After stumbling across his music the other evening and subsequently buying his 5-track EP off iTunes, I can definitely say that singer/songwriter Ryan Keen is someone to take a look at.
Go on over to his YouTube page, and see for yourself what I mean. Up there, he’s got an outstanding guitar cover of Coldplay’s Fix You, live performances, and all his music from ‘Aiming For The Sun’.
Ryan Keen's debut EP
So the EP. This is the tracklisting:
- Thank You
- Chasing Shadows
- Interlude
- Primrose Hill
- Aiming For The Sun
Every single song on the EP, in my opinion, is absolutely fantastic. I can’t stress how much I enjoy listening to Ryan’s music, and I’ve only just found out about him.
His virtuosity on the guitar is evidential throughout ‘Aiming For The Sun’, but listening to the start of the title track, song 5, I was blown away. The speed that he plays at is incredible, and, coupled with the slight orchestration which is also heard, it makes this my favourite song on the EP.
However, it’s not just his guitar playing ability that blew me away, as phenomenal it is. Ryan Keen’s talent as a songwriter is in abundance on these songs, showing his lyrical talent to transgress thought-provoking, emotional messages. Finally, he’s got an amazing voice, which sends shivers down my spine, especially on track 2 ‘Chasing Shadows’.
That’s it for this post (longer one coming soon), but in the meantime I thoroughly recommend that you listen to, and buy, Ryan Keen’s music. His music has been featured on TV programmes and he’s currently supporting none other than Ed Sheeran on tour.
I’m sure you won’t be disappointed!
My SoundCloud
To celebrate the launch of SoundCloud’s HTML5 feature, I thought I’d share some of my projects here on WordPress:
I’m new to music production via the computer, so any feedback you might have would be greatly appreciated. I’m aware that they all sound very similar, and I’m hoping to take a new direction soon.
Chelsea vs Arsenal – It’s Good To Be Optimistic
Due to the results that Arsenal have conjured up over the last month or so, I can’t help but feel optimistic about today’s clash with Chelsea.
Yes, today we face our London rivals away from home at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea, who are 3rd in the Premier League, would have certainly wanted this match a month earlier, and, thanks to Arsenal’s form of late, I’m sure that Villas-Boas will be slightly anxious about today’s match.
Since our defeat away at Blackburn Rovers, we have built up a few solid results (vs Sunderland, Marseille, Stoke & Bolton), and I can’t help but feel confident about today’s match.
Here are some Match Facts, taken from BBC Sport’s match preview:
- Arsenal’s 3-1 win the last time the two sides met, at the Emirates in December 2010, was their first in six games against Chelsea.
- Chelsea have lost just three of their last 19 games in all competitions against the Gunners.
- Arsenal have lost their last two Premier League visits to Stamford Bridge – both by a 2-0 scoreline.helsea have gone eight Premier League games without a clean sheet for the first time since September 2003, when the run was nine.
- Chelsea have gone eight Premier League games without a clean sheet for the first time since September 2003, when the run was nine.
- Andre Villas Boas’s side have won all four Premier League home matches this season.
- Chelsea’s next goal will be their 6,000th in league football.
- Ashley Cole, who has played every minute of Chelsea’s Premier League games this season, is set to make his 450th club career start (how fitting for it to be against Arsenal).
- Robin Van Persie has 25 goals in 26 Premier League games in 2011 – more prolific than any other player.
- This will be Wenger’s 30th Premier League match against Chelsea, having won 13 and lost seven of the previous 29.
