True Blood

I finished watching Season 2 of True Blood a couple of weeks ago. I watched the entire first and second seasons online, as they haven’t yet been shown on any non-satellite channels over here in the UK. Apparently Channel 4 is going to start broadcasting Season 1 in October, but they’re a bit late – the DVD has already been released!

True Blood is based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. I haven’t read the books yet, but I should probably invest in them! The first is on my Amazon wishlist, anyway.

Now, for those of you who have never seen this show, you’re probably thinking “Oh god…not another vampire series…not more Twilight”. I know lots of people are sick of the Twilight series; personally, I loved the movie, and the first three books (the only ones I’ve read).

True Blood is very slightly similar to Twilight – although the books were written before Twilight. The story centres around a girl called Sookie Stackhouse, a barmaid and mind-reader in the small town of Bon Temps. In this world, vampires have made themselves public, and even have a voice in government. When Sookie comes into contact with a vampire called Bill, she’s in for a gripping adventure. There must be at least one sex scene or one murder in every episode…

I’ve enjoyed this TV show immensely, and I’d recommend it to anyone who has a remote interest in vampires.

True Blood is available to watch online, mostly in MegaVideo format. I found a handy application for Firefox which eliminates the time limit on MegaVideo (72 minutes, then a 54 minute break before you can watch any more). This application is called Illimitux, and works with MegaVideo, MegaUpload, Veoh and many more internet video platforms.

 

Progressive Nation 2009

I am attending this fantastic event, Progressive Nation 2009, on Saturday 10th October at Wembley Stadium.

It’s only 27 days away…I’m rather excited.

I mainly bought tickets because Dream Theater are playing, and Opeth was just a great bonus!

There will be…

Bigelf; a psychedelic/progressive rock quartet from Los Angeles, CA (30 mins)

Unexpect; a 7-piece “avant-garde” metal band from Quebec, Canada (30 mins)

Opeth; a 5-piece progressive rock band from Sodermanland, Sweden. (60 mins)

And lastly, Dream Theater; again a 5-piece progressive rock band from Long Island, NY. (90 mins)

Readers: Anyone else going to Progressive Nation? How about at Wembley?

 

Pushing Daisies

Pushing Daisies was described as a “forensic fairy tale”. The story revolves around the main guy, Ned, who is a pie-maker, but who also has the ability to bring people back from the dead at a touch. It’s incredibly quirky but fun.

I watched a few episodes of Pushing Daisies on TV when it first came out, but then for some reason missed an episode and then got completely lost.

However! I have now got Pushing Daisies series 1 & 2, so I shall be watching them all again.

Apparently, there won’t be a third series, as ABC cancelled it

Readers: Did you see Pushing Daisies? What did you think of it?

 

New Shoes!

I finally have some patent shoes! Here they are in their gorgeousness:

I also bought some other shoes yesterday but they’re not on the website of where I bought them… Anyway, they’re flat, quilted, mary-jane type shoes and REALLY soft and comfortable. I’m very pleased.

My nan gave me some money to get shoes because I had holes in the soles of all my other shoes… Haha

I am now the owner of six pairs of high-heeled shoes…And a pair of small wedges :3

Readers: What sort of shoes do you absolutely covet? Do you have lots of shoes?

 

Japanese Learning, 22-Aug

Recently, I decided on a path for my future.

Throughout my life, I’ve wanted to be a dancer, a veterinary surgeon, a writer… But now I’ve finally decided what I’d like to do after I finish University (either after my BA or after doing an MA):

I’m going to teach English to people in Japan!

So, in order to get by and survive in Japan, I must learn the language before I get there. I have started teaching myself from a textbook, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Conversational Japanese.

It did come with an audio CD, but I lost it. Anyhow, I know exactly how to pronounce the language, so I don’t mind. I’ve always been very good at pronunciation when I learnt Spanish. French however, evaded me…that’s another story.

Eventually, I’ll start learning how to read and write Kana/Kanji.

So far, I’ve learnt particles and sentence structure; Affirmative Present, Affirmative Past, Negative Present and Negative Past tenses for verbs, adjectives and nouns; and the TE-form (-ing verbs).

I’ve learnt to say: “That’s my book” – Kore-wa watashi-no hoN-desu. “There’s pizza in the freezer” – Piza-wa furiizaa-ni ari-masu.

I haven’t really bothered to learn much else by heart yet. I’m going to go over everything I’ve learnt so far for a brush up and to test myself.

Readers: Are you learning a new language? What do you find easy or difficult about learning the language?

 

iMais @deviantART

iMais is May, 22 from Qatar. May is a ‘digital painter’.

Her colours make me happy

Visit her gallery here.

 

FIMO Animals

Recently, to keep myself occupied during this moneyless Summer, I have been making animals out of a special clay called FIMO which you bake in the oven, and it becomes hard.

I thought it may be interesting to share my creations with you. Some inspiration came from existing models I found on Google Images.

 

jevigar @deviantART

jevigar is Ömer Volkan from Turkey. Ömer specialises in animal photography, particularly the stray cats of Turkey.

His gallery can be viewed here.

 

Positive/Negative Thinking

From the Opinon: Letters section of New Scientist magazine.

“From Nancy Blake

Helen Pitcher highlights the strength of the nocebo effect, in which negative expectations can produce harmful effects (16 May, p30). A study of the language used in the Milton model of hypnosis could help doctors who wonder how to inform patients of potential side effects without suggesting that they acquire them.

If I ask you not to think of a purple cow, you first have to visualise it, and the image then stays in your mind as you try not to think of it. If you are subsequently asked to visualise a brown cow in some detail, the image of the purple cow disappears.

Similarly, saying to a piano student, ‘This is the hard part of the piece’ will produce negative expectations, raising the student’s anxiety level. Saying instead, ‘This part isn’t easy, yet’ will cause the unconscious, which doesn’t deal well with a negative, to respond to the word ‘easy’.

These quirks of the unconscious mind can be exploited in medical treatment. When prescribing a drug, the doctor could say that in most cases, the patient can expect it to produce a particular improvement, and that they have every reason to believe the patient will respond in that way. The doctor could then go on to explain that occasionally something different might occur, but in such a case it is just a matter of discontinuing the medication and contacting the doctor so that the situation can be sorted out. The emphasis here should be on the process of ’sorting it out’.

This sets up an expectation of specific improvements: the placebo effect. It builds in a sense of confidence, as the patient knows the doctor is aware that the situation might change and will be able to handle changes accordingly. This should minimise anxiety even if side effects occur, reassuring the patient that things still can go well.

Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire, UK”

(New Scientist, 6 June 2009, p26)

 

Penguins Not Visible From Space…

In New Scientist magazine, I read this cute mini-article:

“Penguins are not visible from space, but their faeces are. British Antarctic Survey scientists have used satellite images to locate the reddish-brown guano stains of emperor penguin colonies. The work will allow the team to monitor the penguins’ response to climate change”

Good old scientists!

(New Scientist, 6 June 2009, p7)