Warning

Flickr and my blog are now bonded as strong as a child to its mother’s nipple. The picture below was taken on the London underground, I managed to get a telling off too. “Flash photography is strictly forbidden on the platform” said the tannoy. “Sorry” I said.

Bluescreen central.

Feeling better today, a couple of things cheered me up. Had a nice, interesting lecture about video formats and compressions; the highpoint of which being told our assignment involves special effects, bluescreens, ‘soft porn’ tv cameras (apparently nicknamed because lots of small companies use them, mostly for soft porn), 3d modelling and aftereffects! What a lovely combination. Having a brainstorming session next week with some coursemates on what our theme could be, I put forward the idea of shakycam war/disaster footage which was met with elation, which was nice.

Loving Deerhoof‘s new album ‘The Runners Four’, can’t stop listening to it, ‘Spirit ditties of no tone’ being my favourite track. Still no reply in relation to my placement, I need to find out what happens if I can’t get it. I can’t take a gap year because I wouldn’t be able to afford living without a student loan. Especially bang in the middle of Newcastle where living costs are right high.

The ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ tickets are still going for £21 on ebay, already more than double what I paid for them. I’ve uploaded the rest of my photography to Flickr, and also added all my bookmarks on delicious. Just going to update all my other profiles with my uptodate music tastes et cetera. Christsakes at this computer in the library being skull rendingly slow. Desperate for the oppertunity to do more creative work for people, get me emailed if you want anything doing, for free of course, i really need to get my portfolio built up with more recent work.

Don’t ever buy ‘Oats so simple’ honey flavour, they have an aftertaste like the smell of wallpaper/paint shops. I’m glad it was only a tester we got in the post. Right, i’m off to read my daily blogs/news now so.

Lanzaroteplzthnxbye.

Down in the dumps.

Still no reply, getting increasingly disheartened as they days go by. But on a lighter note, getting more and more excited about our holiday to Lanzarote; roll on March 9^th.

I’ve added some more links to this blog, making sure it stays simple though. I don’t want loads of links for sites like Amazon et cetera which everyone knows anyway, thought I would just crack on the places I visit on a day to day basis. There are links to all my various profiles across the web, including Flickr, mySpace and Deviant Art to name a few. Now I’m just waiting for WordPress to let me customise the theme so I can give this page my own personal style.
Getting through Angels and Demons fast, loving every minute though. Dan Brown may not be a spectacular novelist but he doesn’t half know how to captivate the reader. May be something to do with the page and a half chapters, each with their very own cliff-hangers, but I can never put it down, brilliant.
Got a revised timetable today, made me fume. Originally Wednesday was my dog day, but now it is filled up with some dismal lectures about “Human Computer Interaction”; which I can tell is somehow just going to end up being scribbling down structure flowcharts for random imaginary companies.
On another lighter note, this time relating to my project; I’ve finished the flyer for the London DJ ‘Steffishambles’. She is one of Claire’s friends who is affiliated with the well known indie DJs ‘The Queens of Noize’ who I’ve met once. She asked me to do something pirate based, the end result is on my portfolio site (link in the sidebar). So hopefully my name and website will be fluttering around London in the coming months.

Roll on March 9^th indeed.

Another day, another blog.

I guess a “hello dear reader” isn’t needed here seen as though there is only going to be me reading, so I might as well just crack on and explain to myself exactly what this blog is all about. My name is James Hill, and I’m a student. I’m currently in my second year of Digital Entertainment and Multimedia Computing at Northumbria University. Similarly to the Uni, my house is situated in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England, and similarly to me, my girlfriend Claire lives in the same house and goes to the same Uni. I want to be involved in new media after University and this blog is here to document what happens, if anything, along the way.
Let me get myself up to speed on the current situation; I began University and was told in my third year I would be going on a placement in industry. Upon reaching the beginning of my second year I was told a student is three times more likely to get a job after finishing uni if they ventured on a work placement whilst studying for their degree. Upon reaching the end of the lecture, I knew less than half the people in the room were going to get a placement, and I knew to get a placement in my desired field of work, I was going to have to do everything myself.

After months of sending emails and receiving disappointing replies, I am now waiting for the answer to my final chance at a placement. The very last, but the very best new media company in Newcastle. They have my portfolio CD, and the prospect sounds hopeful:

Hi James,

Thanks for dropping your CD in. We’ve not had a chance to have a look through yet but I’ll let you know when we do – I’ll definitely give you some feedback. As I mentioned, we can’t guarantee anything, but we may ask you to pop in for a chat if we think there’s a possibility of a place opening up.

Thanks.

Now, my future career stuck in limbo, myself knows as much as I do. I’ll post the reply on here as my project continues. Meanwhile, if anyone wants any flyers, leaflets, logos, banners, avatars, adverts or similar making, just give me an email on x at pwns dot org and i’ll do them for free (the time it takes to finish depends on how busy I am). A couple of examples of my work are here at pwns.org.