SuperAshBro

I know it's been ages since I last wrote a journal entry, so now on the first day of 2014 I've decided to break my silence.  To be honest it was hard to think of what to write about.  A lot's happened to me since my last journal entry.  For a start, I had a week long psychotic episode in May 2012 and had to be put in a care home for three weeks (I though I was the Doctor!).  I've been recovering ever since.  Luckily, with the help of Early Intervention I've been making a successful recovery, getting involved with some of their groups and projects.  That's what I've been doing mostly for 2013.

Anyone out there who follows my work on DA will have noticed a lot of pictures in my gallery of stick figures made out of pipe cleaners  exploring and interacting with the world.  What started off as a childhood hobby eventually became part of my portfolio coursework in both high school (GNVQ Art) and university.  The GNVQ Art project was to come up with a design for a set of merchandise products for a hypothetical company - I ended up turning my pipe cleaner figures into key-rings.  Suffice to say they were still in the "beta" phase despite being a portfolio project.

In my 3rd year of college I found that the Abakhan Fabrics in Hanley stocked craft-work pipe cleaners and pompoms, so the cogs in my head began to turn.  I showed off a couple of the figures to my college friends who suggested I should sell them around the campus at lunch time and during free periods (which beforehand were spent discussing the 90s) .

Three years later I found myself in my final year of university (or so I though at the time).  I chose to study Live Art for my practical module, since it allowed the creative freedom I felt was missing from my previous modules (apart from the script-writing module, that was awesome).  In the first few weeks of the module I had no idea what I wanted to create as a Live Art piece, especially considering the artists and performances we had analysed in lectures.  Naturally, I didn't want to make a Live Art performance that was weird, controversial and pretentious for the sake of being weird controversial and pretentious (no offence, performance artists), so we were advised to base our performance on a topic that interested us.  Being a mixed-raced, part-Jamaican nerd with Spanish and Irish heritage down the line, I went for diversity.  That's when the "Bendy Buddies" got involved.

The final "performance" had three parts: my least favourite was the speech I had to give outside in the April evening rain.  The other two parts involved the "Bendy Buddies".  Prior to the performance night, I went around Staffordshire University campus leaving the little figures for people to find alongside a card with an address to a (now defunct) Facebook Group where people who found the pipe cleaner figures could upload photographs of their new inanimate friend.  The final part to this performance was by far my favourite despite stretching the boundaries of what classes as "Live Art".  I set up my laptop and a projector in the Drama Studio's Green Room, which doubles as the lobby for the building.  Pointed at a blank wall, the projector, umm, projected this animation www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpbOBJ… .  The silent video was on loop throughout the entire evening, inter-cut with a slideshow of photographs taken by myself and people who uploaded pictures to the Facebook group.   It was a lot of fun making the stop-motion footage, plus my respect for Aardman and other professional stop-motion animators/studios went up by 200%.  After the performance, I put away my pipe cleaner figures, shelving them in my mental archives at the back of my brain for years...

...  Until recently.  Now the "Bendy Buddies" have been re-branded as the "Desktopians", and they'll take their first step into the world of video games and professional merchandising.  At least they will if I get my act together.

For those of you who check my profile often enough, you might've noticed the lack of Journals I've posted.  To be honest, there wasn't much to talk about.  Well, from a personal perspective.  Globally, this has been one of the most significant and eventful years in human history.  For me, it was spent perpetually steaming vegetables, making gravy, mashing potatoes, mopping floors and gradually losing faith in the human race whilst spiralling into an existential crisis...  

Luckily Christmas has cheered me up, spending time with my friends and family (which now includes a soon-to-be brother-in-law).

While I'm still in a festive mood, I'll focus on the better aspects of 2011.  I visited in the summer.  Whist I was there, her brother did my second set of tattoos - the SNES controller layout on my wrists.  It was painful (and when the house spider showed up, agony), but it was definitely worth it.  My friend Ben Emery got married in September.  We had the stag weekend in June - it was meant to be a surprise, but I foolishly blew the cover on it (I blame Facebook for making me want to share the news ¬¬).  It was still a good weekend involving paint ball, Goldeneye (Licence to Kill Mode with Slaps Only is hilarious), camping and loads of barbecue meat.  It was all very manly.  The wedding itself was heart-warming, as you'd expect.   But being typically British, for me it was the reception that stood out more.  It was mainly spent catching up with everyone, dancing to cheesy 90s pop and of course the buffet.

Favourite film of 2011 - Captain America.  For me, it's up there with Spiderman 2 and Watchmen.  While it treads familiar territory and doesn't bring anything new to the genre, it perfects all the tropes and plot-points.  Steve Rogers is a likeable hero who's idealism is refreshing, especially in this day and age.  I didn't get why Sucker Punch got so much flack, since it basically took everything you want to see in a summer blockbuster and tied it all together.  Rise of the Apes, also a great film.  Ceaser is one of the most complex characters I've seen in a film despite being CGI.

Games of 2011 - Since I'm not a huge fan of FPS games, I think I've avoided two thirds of all the noteworthy games of this year.  However, it's still been good.  The 3DS had a shaky start; all I had was The Sims 3 and eventually the e-shop for months.  Thankfully Ocarina of Time and then Super Mario 3D Land gave me reasons to play, not to mention all the free GBA and NES games I got for free .  Console-wise, the only recent hits I've played are Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City and now Skyward Sword (Do I even need to say how great they are?).  However, I was also acquainted with two older RPGs often held in high regard - Final Fantasy 7 and the Mass Effect series.  

Music of 2011 - I have very little to say.  Most of what I listen to is either on the radio at work or whatever Todd in the Shadows happens to be reviewing.  The song of the year, whether you like it or not, has the be LMAFO's Party Rock Anthem.  I'll admit it's a guilty pleasure for me.

TV of 2011 - Doctor Who, always a good place to start.  I loved this series, so many amazing episodes and concepts wrapped in an epic story arc.  Despite the lack of Nathan, Misfits remained a great series and Joe Gilgun as Rudy was brilliant.  I was also introduced to An Idiot Abroad.  Karl Pilkington is so British, it's hilarious.  He should have a live show where the audience just ask him questions.  Speaking of Ricky Gervais's mates, Life's Too Short was also a highlight.  I like the fact you didn't laugh at the fact Warick Davis is a dwarf - you laugh at him because he's an Alan Partridge-esque jerk (I'm sure he's much nicer in real life).

The Big Events of 2011 - Where the hell do I start?

Anyway, I'll see y'all in 2012.

Well, 2010 has come and gone, along with many highs and lows.  Highlights included Download Festival, finally getting a job and seeing Toy Story 3 (a film I honestly think deserves Best Picture at the Oscars this year).I rather foolishly haven't seen Inception yet, but 2010 had some other great films such as Kic-Ass, Scott Pilgrim, Predators, Iron Man 2 and The Expendables.  Gaming-wise, there's been Pokemon SoulSilver, Donkey Kong Country Returns ans Super Mario Galaxy 2, all of which took me back to being a kid.  I discovered the hilarity of MST3K and Rifftrax.  My love of Nostalgia Critic's reviews branched out to other TGWTG.com members.  I also officially finished university (I only got a diploma though).

So what does 2011 bring?

At some point I'll finish my Train2Game course and become a games designer.  Me and my friends HAVE to organise a holiday to Amsterdam.  Oh, and I need to get a girlfriend.

Happy New Year!

Hooray for me!  As soon as my Sonic Screwdriver Wii Remote has fully charged, I'm gonna give Donkey Kong a spin