Coffee

This is the best news story I've read all week:

'Pay It Forward' in real life

It really is great when you hear about things like this. I've heard many other ways in which this kind of thing is done, such as leaving a pound coin on a street for somebody to find, letting somebody ahead of you in a supermarket just 'because' and giving complete strangers a compliment and then simply walking on.

This story led me to this website: HelpOthers.org which is a simple page with many stories of genuine kindness on. Sure, some of it is clearly an exercise in creative writing, but think about it. Just because the message doesn't come from a real source, does it make the meaning any less worthy? I for one think not.

In times like these, we have newspapers and websites and TV channels that try to turn everything into something watchable, so the less shocking items take a back seat. I want this trend to change [As does this show Newswipe produced and presented by Charlie Brooker, a genuinely brilliant man] and to stop news channels monopolising our opinions.

One of the ways of doing this is simply being nicer. You can surely spare a couple of pounds now and then, can't you? And you at the very least get a nice anecdote to share with your friends out of it and a feeling of good in your heart. You might think this is a pointless exercise, because the already nice people won't turn nasty if they don't do it and the horrible people won't suddenly don a halo, but by at least tilting the balance a little more to 'kindness' side it will help in the long run. I think.

N.B: I finished the title sequence! I've gotten feedback from a few friends and family and they really like it, which I can only feel relieved at. Also, the previous blog broke the record for most number of posts in a year! Considering I have also posted a couple of entries on my related blogs this is a good year for me, and I hope this commitment of mine will last for a lot longer :)

Titles

I've been struggling to find the motivation to work on Come Dine With Us [No typo there, if you read the earlier posts you'd understand] because without the facilities to record good sound and capture it, there's only so much I can piece together. The narration is also the best part of the programme, so it means it's doubly as frustrating.

Hence my decision to work on the titles instead. This has been a big project as it turns out, but having fought my way through the ins and outs of After Effects [Finally!] I am now more than halfway through the process. It's looking quite good for a first attempt, and I did scrap two half done ideas along the way, but I've now narrowed it down to one final plan. The following is an image taken from it, bear in mind this isn't finalised and could very well change before it's complete. It should give you an idea however.



I went for dark purple as my colour of choice in an homage to the real series, and also to class it up a little. I hope to be able to show you the full sequence once it's done.

My productivity, as usual, has hit the slowdown I am used to upon coming home. I have however packed a lot more into the holidays than normal, including a trip to visit my friend in Maidenhead [Documented in an earlier post] but also Easter weekend saw me and my family spend a lot of time together. We went to Brecon, which is a beautiful market town in Mid Wales, to visit the famous Farmer's Market which only occurs once a month. It was really nice to be able to stroll along the canal towards the town, and once there tread the streets of such a wonderfully vibrant place, all the while soaking up the sun from a cloudless sky.

The market itself was a little smaller than I had anticipated, but what it lacked in size it made up for in the diversity of products on display. Hand made soaps and toys, locally produced chocolate and beer, food products ranging from fifteen varieties of scotch eggs to a stall dedicated to milk and cheese all made from goats milk. There was a lot to spend money on and if I hadn't been so broke I certainly would have come home weighed down with stuff!



Easter Sunday meant a trip to Mums to eat a delicious roast dinner, and I was really enjoying spending the time with my little sister too who I see only once or twice a month these days on average.

With three excellent weekends in a row, I only wonder what the following one will entail, but most likely expect it to be largely quiet due to having no plans made. Oh well.

Truth

I do not wish to dwell on this subject any more in this blog, but it must be noted that Michael Parkinson was quoted today in the news saying that Jade Goody represented 'wretched Britain'. I'm not normally a Parky fan, but I can't find any fault in his statement. He reminds people that this woman grew up in a council estate, was a bully and a criminal as a teenager and was uneducated as an adult. She got famous for doing nothing, and I loved his blunt statement that she was not a Saint or a hero, and I really hope the time when she is forgotten comes soon, even though as I've mentioned before I do wish her kids the best in life and applaud Jeff Brazier's efforts to maintain their private lives.

I also heard a story in the news that suggested sex offenders would be required to take a lie detector test. Source. I thought this was taken straight from the headline of The Sun or The Daily Mail, and I honestly thought polygraphs weren't reliable enough to use as evidence, so why are we using them in the justice system elsewhere?

I had a fantastic weekend, though I'm feeling the effects of exhaustion a little bit. I think I overdid it, and if you include the past week too, it's been a hectic and non stop few days.

Anyway, to sum up this weekend, it involved a fantastic gig with a good friend of mine Katy, by a guy called Jason Mraz who I've been avidly following for at least two years now, and it was the best he's ever done. Five stars! I also met up with an old friend from Essex, and had a great time catching up and finding out what she'd been up to. Overall, an enlightening day. The day before and day after I spent with my housemate Simon, and we didn't do anything adventurous, after all, it wouldn't have been typical Simon if we'd done anything wildly out of routine [And I mean that in the best possible way!] but there was still lots of enjoyment through dossing around the town and meeting his slightly eccentric family. They also made me feel incredibly welcome which is the best possible thing to happen when visiting someone else's home.

Now I have several tasks to do before I go back to Uni, including some writing, some editing and some revising. Better get started soon.