Saturday 29 December 2012

The iTunes Challenge

Now, lots of us have a lot of music stored on our computer, and I mean a lot. And a lot of the time, we don't listen to half of it, instead picking out a few of our favourite artists without giving anything new a try. Me? I have 14 days worth of music and I can guarantee I have not listened to all of it. So, throughout this summer holiday I am going to try and listen to my entire music library. All of it. No matter which artist I want to listen to, I shall go through my library alphabetically. I'm sure I'll find some hidden gems! So, without further ado, may I present to you the iTunes challenge

Rules
-You must go through your music library in alphabetical order
-You cannot skip a track, no matter how embarrassing it may be to listen to
-At the end of each day you must record how many hours of music you've listened to, which artists you've listened to, and how many songs you've listened to.

Now, enjoy mine :)

Day 1- 29th July

Number of Hours: 7
Number of Songs: 100
Artists Played: AC/DC
Aerial
Aerosmith
Aetherius
Airbourne
Alex Day
Alice Cooper
Alice in Chains
Anathema

Day 2- 30th July

Number of Hours: 2 
Number of Songs: 22 
Artists Played: Anathema
The Answer
Aquarius Moon
Astra

Day 3- 31st July

Number of Hours: 3.5 
Number of Songs: 41 
Artists Played: Atonika
Ayreon

Day 4- 1st August

Number of Hours: 8.2 
Number of Songs: 88 
Artists Played: Ayreon
Badlands
Bat For Lashes
Bellowhead
BigElf

Day 5- 2nd August

Number of Hours: 6 
Number of Songs: 80 
Artists Played: BigElf
Black Country Communion
Black Sabbath
Black Tide
Blackfield
Blink-182
Butthole Surfers
Camel

 Day 6- 3rd August 

Number of Hours: 10.2 
Number of Songs: 145 
Artists Played: Camel
Canniblast
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band
The Cardigans
Chiasm
Chickenfoot
Children of Bodom
Chiodos
Chris Cornell
Chris Isaak
Christina Augilera, Lil' Kim, Pink, Mya & Missy Elliot
Christina Perri
Clutch
Coheed and Cambria
Cradle of Filth
Crippled Black Phoenix
Cynic
Daniel Ash
Darling Violetta
The Dear Hunter

 Day 7- 4th August 

Number of Hours: 4 
Number of Songs: 48 
Artists Played: Death in Vegas
Deep Purple
Delain

Day 8- 5th August

Number of Hours: 7.8
Number of Songs: 77
Artists Played: Delain
Des'ree
Devin Townsend
DeVotchKa
Dio
The Dirty One
Disney
The Divinyls
DJ Casper
DJ Otzi
Dollhouse

Day 9- 6th August

Number of Hours: 3.6
Number of Songs: 26
Artists Played: Dream Theater

Day 10- 7th August

Number of Hours: 6.1
Number of Songs: 47
Artists Played: Dream Theater

Day 11- 8th August

Number of Hours: 3.8
Number of Songs: 33
Artists Played: Dream Theater

Day 12- 9th August

Number of Hours: 5.3
Number of Songs: 40
Artists Played: Dream Theater

Day 13- 10th August

Number of Hours: 5
Number of Songs: 31
Artists Played: Dream Theater

Day 14- 11th August

Number of Hours: 2.4
Number of Songs: 13
Artists Played: Dream Theater

Day 15- 16th August

Number of Hours: 2.5
Number of Songs: 16
Artists Played: Dream Theater


Day 16- 17th August

Number of Hours: 2.4
Number of Songs: 21
Artists Played: Dream Theater

Day 17- 25th August

Number of Hours: 2.6
Number of Songs: 25
Artists Played: Dream Theater
Dredg
Dual Prophets
Eden's Curse

Day 18- 26th August

Number of Hours: 4.1
Number of Songs: 54
Artists Played: Eden's Curse
Effloresce
Eiffel 65
Elbow
Elena Cats Chernin
Emerson, Lake, & Palmer
Emilie Autumn

Day 19- 27th August

Number of Hours: 8.9
Number of Songs: 127
Artists Played: Emilie Autumn
Eva Cassidy
Evanescense
Everclear
Fans of Friction
Final Moon
Fleetwood Mac
Focus
Foo Fighters

Day 20- 28th August

Number of Hours: 8.7
Number of Songs: 98
Artists Played: Foo Fighters
Frameshift
Frost*
Funny Fax
Garbage
Gavin Friday
Genisis
Genitorturers
God of War
Godsmack


 Day 21- 29th August

Number of Hours: 7.2
Number of Songs: 122
Artists Played: Godsmack
Gorillaz
Guinea Pigs
Gummy Bear
Guns 'n' Roses
Halcyon
Half Life 2
Hard-Fi
Hawkwind
Hayseed Dixie
Heaven's Basement
Heaven & Hell
Helloween
Ideosphere
In Glass Houses
Infernal
Iron Maiden


 Day 22- 30th August

Number of Hours: 8.2
Number of Songs: 114
Artists Played: Iron Maiden
Isle 15
James LaBrie
Jefferson Airplane
Jeremy Soule
Jethro Tull

 Day 23- 31st August

Number of Hours: 1.8
Number of Songs: 26
Artists Played: Jethro Tull

 Day 24- 1st September

Number of Hours: 4.3
Number of Songs: 57
Artists Played: Jethro Tull 

 Day 25- 2nd September

Number of Hours: 2.2
Number of Songs: 29
Artists Played: Jethro Tull

 Day 26- 3rd September

Number of Hours: 7.6
Number of Songs: 88
Artists Played: Jethro Tull

 Day 27- 4th September

Number of Hours: 5.1
Number of Songs: 53
Artists Played: Jethro Tull
John Murphy
John Petrucci
John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess
John Williams

 Day 28- 5th September

Number of Hours: 1.2
Number of Songs: 14
Artists Played: John Williams

 Day 29- 7th September

Number of Hours: 2.1
Number of Songs: 28
Artists Played: John Williams

 Day 30- 8th September

Number of Hours: 3.3
Number of Songs: 49
Artists Played: John Williams
Jordan Rudess

 Day 31- 9th September

Number of Hours: 3.6
Number of Songs: 42
Artists Played: Jordan Rudess
Journal
Judas Priest

 Day 32- 10th September

Number of Hours: 3.6
Number of Songs: 42
Artists Played: Judas Priest
Killroom
Kimbra
King Crimson

 Day 33- 11th September

Number of Hours: 1.6
Number of Songs: 19
Artists Played: King Crimson
Kings of None
Kiss
Korn
Kim Mazelle
Lacuna Coil
Lana Del Rey

 Day 34- 13th September

Number of Hours: 2.5
Number of Songs: 34
Artists Played: Lana Del Rey
Las Ketchup
Laura Marie
Lazytown
Led Zeppelin

 Day 35- 14th September

Number of Hours: 4
Number of Songs: 44
Artists Played: Led Zeppelin
Liam Gaughan
Linger In Shadows
Liquid Tension Experiment

 Day 36- 16th September

Number of Hours: 1.7
Number of Songs: 11
Artists Played: Liquid Tension Experiment
Lisa Miskovsky
Llama Llama
Long Distance Calling

 Day 37- 17th September

Number of Hours: 1.1
Number of Songs: 14
Artists Played: Long Distance Calling
The Lord of the Rings

 Day 38- 20th September

Number of Hours: 3.7
Number of Songs: 48
Artists Played: The Lord of the Rings
Lost
Lou Bega
LUDO
Ludovico Einaudi
Magnum
Mama Cass Elliot
Marilyn Manson

 Day 39- 21st September

Number of Hours: 3.7
Number of Songs: 50
Artists Played: Marilyn Manson
Massive Attack
Mastodon
Matt Barker
Matt Loveridge
Meatloaf

 Day 40- 22nd September

Number of Hours: 7
Number of Songs: 80
Artists Played: Meatloaf
Megadeth
Metal Gear Solid
Metallica

 Day 41- 23rd September

Number of Hours: 2.4
Number of Songs: 22
Artists Played: Metallica

 Day 42- 28th September

Number of Hours: 4.2
Number of Songs: 47
Artists Played: Metallica

 Day 43- 29th September

Number of Hours: 5
Number of Songs: 50
Artists Played: Metallica

 Day 44- 30th September

Number of Hours: 4
Number of Songs: 55
Artists Played: Metallica
Michael Buble
Michael the Turtle
The Mighty Boosh
MIKA
Mindless Self Indulgence
Ministry
Moby
Monty Python
Mr Mitchell
Mundy
Muse

 Day 44- 1st October

Number of Hours: 50.1 (Minutes)
Number of Songs: 13
Artists Played: Muse

 Day 45- 4th October

Number of Hours: 1.9
Number of Songs: 26
Artists Played: Muse

 Day 46- 5th October

Number of Hours: 1.8
Number of Songs: 33
Artists Played: Muse
Mutiny Within
Neil McDougal
Newton Faulkner
Nickelback
Nirvana

 Day 47- 8th October

Number of Hours: 1.8
Number of Songs: 30
Artists Played: Nirvana

 Day 48- 9th October

Number of Hours: 1.7
Number of Songs: 23
Artists Played: No-Man
Noriko Matsueda
O-Zone
O2
Oasis

 Day 49- 14th October

Number of Hours: 4.6

Number of Songs: 37
Artists Played: One Hit Wonders
One Inch Punch
Opeth

 Day 50- 15th October

Number of Hours: 2.1

Number of Songs: 16
Artists Played: Opeth


 Day 51- 20th October

Number of Hours: 4.8

Number of Songs: 35
Artists Played: Opeth

 Day 52- 21st October

Number of Hours: 2.3

Number of Songs: 21
Artists Played: Opeth
Ordem Inversa
Ozzy Osbourne

 Day 53- 22nd October

Number of Hours: 2.3

Number of Songs: 27
Artists Played: Ozzy Osbourne
Pain of Salvation

 Day 54- 23rd October

Number of Hours: 2.3

Number of Songs: 24
Artists Played: Pain of Salvation

 Day 55- 28th October

Number of Hours: 9.7

Number of Songs: 125
Artists Played: Pain of Salvation
Pandora's Box
Panic! At the Disco
Pantera
Paradigm Indifference Syndrome
The Partridge Family
PeacePerception
Pearl Jam
Pendulam

Day 56- 31st October

Number of Hours: 8.1

Number of Songs: 108
Artists Played: A Perfect Circle
Peter Gabriel

Day 57- 10th November

Number of Hours: 12.2
Number of Songs: 137
Artists Played: Peter Gabriel
Phoenix Wright Musical Project
Pink
Pink Floyd
Pipo & Elo

Day 58- 16th November

Number of Hours: 8.5
Number of Songs: 92
Artists Played: Pipo & Elo
Pirates of the Carribbean
Poets of the Fall
Porcupine Tree

Day 59- 22nd November

Number of Hours:12.7
Number of Songs: 174
Artists Played: Porcupine Tree
Portal
The Posies
Procol Harem
Prophecy Within
Queen
Queensryche
Quindon Tarver
Radiohead

Day 60- 1st December

Number of Hours:10.4
Number of Songs: 142
Artists Played: The Reasoning
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Relocator
The Ridgeways
Rik Schaffer
Romeo & Juliet
Rooster
Rush
Rusted Root
Rylan Finch
S.A. Adams
Sanity not Included
Santeria
Scale the Summit
Scatman John
Sepultura

Day 61- 3rd December

Number of Hours: 2.2
Number of Songs: 39
Artists Played: Sepultura
Sigur Ros
Silent Hill
Skunk Anansie

Day 62- 6th December

Number of Hours: 4.3
Number of Songs: 58
Artists Played: Skunk Anansie
Slipknot
Smashing Pumpkins
Snow Patrol
Soundgarden
Speedycake
Spock's Beard

Day 63- 7th December

Number of Hours: 8.5
Number of Songs: 84
Artists Played: Spock's Beard

Day 64- 8th December

Number of Hours: 2.7
Number of Songs: 35
Artists Played: Spock's Beard

Day 65- 11th December

Number of Hours: 3.5
Number of Songs: 33
Artists Played: Spock's Beard
Stephen Lynch

Day 66- 14th December

Number of Hours: 2.6
Number of Songs: 41
Artists Played: Stephen Lynch
Still
Stina Nordenstam
The Stone Roses
Stormwatch
Susanne Sundfor

Day 67- 17th December

Number of Hours: 1.5
Number of Songs: 20
Artists Played: Susanne Sundfor
Symphony X

Day 68- 19th December

Number of Hours: 1.3
Number of Songs: 21
Artists Played: T-Rex
Ted Nugent feat. Meatloaf
Terrorvision
Tesla

Day 64- 8th December

Number of Hours: 2.1
Number of Songs: 31
Artists Played:  Tesla
Thomas Newman
Thunder

Day 65- 10th December

Number of Hours: 4.2
Number of Songs: 43
Artists Played: Thunder
Time and Tenson
Tiny Tim
Transatlantic
Trivium

Day 66- 15th December

Number of Hours: 3
Number of Songs: 46
Artists Played: UFO
Unkle
Urban Voodoo Machine
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines

Day 67- 17th December

Number of Hours: 3.2
Number of Songs: 42
Artists Played: Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Vampire Weekend
Van Halen
Vengaboys
Vitamin String Quartet
Vixen
Voltaire
Von Hertzen Brothers
The Wannadies
War of the Worlds

Day 68- 20th December

Number of Hours: 1.9
Number of Songs: 20
Artists Played:  The War of the Worlds
The Who

Day 69- 23rd December

Number of Hours: 2
Number of Songs: 25
Artists Played:  The Who
Wigfield
The Wildhearts
Will Smith
Within Temptation

Day 70- 27th December

Number of Hours: 4.5
Number of Songs: 55
Artists Played: Within Temptation

Day 71- 28th December

Number of Hours: 2.6
Number of Songs: 29
Artists Played: Within Temptation
Yes
Yohisha Hirano
30 Seconds to Mars
3oh!3

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes my laborious foray into the deepest, darkest recesses of my iTunes, thank you, and, goodnight!











Sunday 6 May 2012

'Becoming' Your Character

A little bit of context for this post: I've got my Theatre Studies exam on Tuesday.

What? I only said there would be a little bit of context.

So, for this exam there are two sections, each with equal weightings. 30% of your final grade is based off of a group performance, where you're marked on your ability to abide by the director's (i.e. your teacher's) interpretation of a script, and for our piece we're doing Charlotte Jones' The Dark. The other 30% of your exam mark is based on a 2 minute monologue of your choosing, and you're marked on your written interpretation, movement, characterisation, and voice.

Long story short, being a completely cocky arsehole I decided to play Titania from Midsummer Night's Dream, and believe you me when I say that 'These are the forgeries of jealousy...' may look on the surface to be a relatively easy monologue...But as with anything of Shakespeare, it's one thing saying the words with expression, it's an entirely different thing expressing the language in a way that makes it penetrable to the audience.

Now, as some of you may know, Titania is the Queen of the Fairies. As some of you may not know, I naturally lack grace, and poise, and anything remotely queen- like, asides from my accent (as I discovered, my natural accent wasn't posh enough anyway, I pronounced my 'u's wrong). As the weeks progressed, and as I worked longer on the monologue, I finally managed to grasp the fairy like, but regal manner, that I wanted to portray as Titania.

And then Titania started seeping into my real life. Now, instead of being hunched over when sitting and standing, I generally push my shoulder's back slightly and sit tall. I can't help but pronounce my 'u's as if I'm speaking the Queen's English, and finally, I'm a lot lighter on my feet, seriously. I'm naturally quite a heavy footed person (hence the clumsiness) but now I'm able to prance about without making a sound.

Now this may be something that I've noticed when getting into role as Titania, but it occurs elsewhere in my...'creative pursuits'

For example, whenever I roleplay (as in internet roleplay, not kinky bedroom sex roleplay) as certain character's for a prolonged period of time, I tend to bring across their personality traits into real life, I talk slightly more like I imagine they'd talk, adopt the mannerisms I write for them, adjust my language to suit their background and upbringing.

So, what I want to know is...As an actress and writer, is it a good thing that I find it so easy to adopt my character's mannerisms and such? I mean it doesn't effect me greatly, and when I realise I'm doing it I can snap back to myself straight away, but is it natural to do so?

Thursday 19 April 2012

H&M- You've crossed the line!

There's an annoying trend going around in fashion at the moment. No, it isn't chinos, it isn't highlighter coloured tops and bags (I mean honestly, why did people find that appealing?), and it certainly isn't terrifyingly garish dresses that not even my older sister (who managed to pull off the highlighter trend) can wear and make look...bearable.

No my friends, I'm talking about printed t-shirts. But not your usual printed t-shirts, no, printed band t-shirts.

'But what's so wrong with band t-shirts' I hear you cry! 'You wear them all the time!' Yes, and I admit that, I wear band t-shirts because I want to support and go around as a walking advertisement for my favourite bands. Plus, I can rock men's t-shirts in a way no other woman can...Mainly because most women buy... you know, women's band t-shirts. But this is where the problem lies, because many shops (and H&M isn't the only one, but provides an extremely sacrilegious example) are selling t-shirts with the logos of bands that many of their target demographic, i.e young women with money to burn, will have never heard of.

It started with The Beatles. Not so problematic, everyone has at least heard of The Beatles, who didn't sing Yellow Submarine in primary school? Just me? Right. Then it went a tad more obscure, The Ramones. I'm not necessarily a fan, but each to their own. Then further away from the bands that my generation could be fans of. The Rolling Stones.

But then, H&M touched holy ground, the grail of prog fans.

My friends, I regret to inform you that H&M are currently selling t-shirts with the artwork for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon

Yes, you heard me, Dark Side of the Moon.

As in, the incredibly progressive and one of the most popular Pink Floyd albums by general consensus.

So, I challenge you, dear reader, if you care for your favourite bands, to go up to anyone you see wearing these t-shirts and ask them 'Oh wow, Dark Side of the Moon? You didn't look the type, what's your favourite song from the album?' Or, alternatively 'Great to see another Pink Floyd fan around, hey, you mind refreshing me of the lyrics to The Great Gig in the Sky?'

Thursday 5 April 2012

Beauty Blog- Would you be interested?

Now before you all get up on my arse about this, I am well aware that there are a million and one different beauty blogs out there, I know there's nothing that I could possibly add to the incredibly diverse world of beauty blogging. Skin care focus? Been done. Product reviews? Only a couple of hundred for each product lining the Superdrug shelves. Tutorials? One of the first women to hit a million subscribers on YouTube focused on tutorials.

So, what can I add, considering that this is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, but haven't been able to because of a number of reasons (eg lack of a decent camera, terrible skin; would you trust the word of someone on a skin care product if her skin was bright red and had more spots than a leopard?)

How about video game inspired?

Now, initially, I would focus on looks from the Elder Scrolls series, initially wearable race tutorials, before branching out into other aspects of the universe and, after that, into a much broader scope of video games. Think Jeanette/ Therese from Vampire; The Masquerade- Bloodlines, think The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3, that sort of thing.

So, what I want to know is, would you be interested?

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Kony 2012: A retrospective

As if you couldn't tell from my (now deleted) last post, I was swept up on the Kony 2012 bandwagon. It's been less than 24 hours since that post, and upon furthering my research into the organisation Invisible Children I am beginning to regret supporting the cause. Now, before I get jumped on, I have been to unbiased and biased sources to get the full story. First of all, I went to the BBC's profile on Joseph Kony and, the BBC being a relatively unbiased news source, I have to agree with the fact that Joseph Kony is a terrible war criminal who should be punished accordingly if he can be captured in a way that harms as few people as possible- And that doesn't mean execution.

However, I do not agree with the military stance that Invisible Children are taking on this, something which I should have seen in the initial video but I only realised on retrospect. You do not, and I repeat do not fight fire with fire. It is true that Kony has kidnapped thousands of children, horrifically abused them and turned them into child soldiers, and, as many before me have pointed out, if military force is used then thousands of these children, who have had their minds twisted by this horrible man, will end up not rescued, but killed. I don't want to promote military action. I do want to promote capturing a criminal and delivering justice.

And this is where everything comes to an impasse. Because Kony is a military leader. If he is tracked down then, even if those who find him don't show violent intentions, chances are that he will give the order to take those men or women down. Then they will have to attack.

However, I do agree with some of the other things that Invisible Children have done for the affected communities. The radio broadcasts to warn of incoming attacks are a stroke of genius in helping the families keep their children safe, albeit slightly redundant unless they make radio broadcasts more widespread to the nations where the LRA are currently focusing their energies on. And if this movement has done nothing else, it has at least raised awareness to a, lets face it, ignorance riddled youth (including myself) who need to be made more aware of what is going on in the world. Hopefully, this will encourage our generation to pay more attention to the world in which they live in, the world outside of their Facebook and their Twitter account. I know I'll look a little more outside the box now.

But the point still stands. I believe that military action is nothing but a last resort. I want these children to be free and safe again, just as anyone should, but military action is the final line in a case as delicate as this. The video compared Kony's actions to Hitler, but I'm going to compare this to Osama Bin Laden. Capturing Kony will set a precedence, just as killing Osama Bin Laden did; terrorism will not be tolerated. However taking out the leader will only on very rare occasions take out the organisation. If Kony is captured and imprisoned then it will set a wonderful precedence for other war criminals, that those kinds of crimes will not be tolerated and are not justifyable. However, it will not take out the organisation as a whole. That's the whole point behind an organisation. They are organised. Go back to Kony's profile on the BBC, look to where it says 'he and his senior commanders take the pick of the girls they capture' senior commanders. That's the word I want you to focus on. It proves that Kony can be replaced as head of the organisation and that they will more than likely continue the kidnap of children.

I am upset at myself that I didn't originally look at this objectively. I'm a history student for christsakes, it's my job to look at both sides of the argument! I guess that I'm just helping myself to organise my own thoughts and hopefully, help others who are confused about their thoughts on the Kony 2012 movement see things in an objective light.

Because if there is one good thing that the movement has done, it has helped raise awareness about injustice in the world. But in my own, personal opinion, they counter this with the encouragement of the use of military force. There has to be another way to bring this man to justice, and to break his organisation down.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Lent, and what I'm giving up for it

I know I know, there are probably a million and one different posts like this popping up around the internet at the moment, and I know you're saying 'But Alice, you're not religious, why should you care about lent you hypocritical arsehole!'

Well for one, thank you for saying arsehole. It brightens up my day because the voice to my inner monologue simply cannot pronounce the word 'asshole' without sounding like a completely different entity has entered into my thoughts and is rudely jumping in on my normal mental narrator who speaks in a very distinguished and refined English accent which I attempt to channel into my everyday speech which has earned me the title of being 'very ladylike'

But I digress. Secondly, I believe that lent is a good thing (despite the fact that this is going to be the first time I observe it) because everybody needs a chance to let their bodies wind down, relax, and detox. Considering that exam season is coming up soon as well, I need to spend as much time as possible relaxing now before the stress induced binge that will come with frantically reciting my lines the night before I'm due to play Titania for Theatre Studies, or trying to overcome my resentment of the character Holden for English Literature.

So, what am I giving up for lent? Well, quite a lot of things actually, considering I'm also dieting (inb4 'so that's your real motivation!')

-Chocolate (obvious one)
-Sweets (still obvious)
-Sugar (as in adding extra sugar to things)
-Fast food (fast food that mum doesn't cook- Yay for oven bake!)
-Soda and diet soda
-White bread
-Pastry (I'll miss you pastry </3)
-Cake
-Alcohol

Well then, haven't I got a fun and highly enjoyable 40 days ahead of me

Saturday 21 January 2012

Bras

Bras should be a girls best friend.

Bras are meant to be there for support, they should make you feel good about yourself, to help you wake up with a smile when you get ready for work.

That is not the case.

Bras are prisons for your womanly appendages, who rebel against the stiffling cage you force them into every single day. Then you have to buy more bras to fit them in. They rebel again, you buy more bras, the cycle continues. At least until puberty finishes.

Long story short, I haven't worn a nice bra in a long, long time :(