Weekly Stumble: Get The Look

Okay, so I promised my next Weekly Stumble would be a little bit more serious… so here’s a funky page that caught my eye:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2gjV3S/tartecosmetics.com/get-the-look.php

It’s a nice page on how to do your eye make-up in a funky way. There are two rules I have always paid the most respectful of heeds to when going out – the first is flaunt only one thing out of boobs, legs and midriff. If you overdo two of them it makes you look easy, and all three? Go stand on a street corner, save the trouble.

The other rule? If you are doing your make-up, it’s wise to focus on EITHER your lips or your eyes. If you’re the kind of girl who, like me, prefers to spend 20 minutes juggling shadows, powders, liners, pencils and mascara to make your eyes look striking and sultry, then finishing your look with over-the-top, vibrant red lipstick doesn’t usually work so well. Likewise, if you can’t leave the house without a winning smile, keep the eyes simple and elegant to polish off the look.

I’ve never been one of those girls who can’t leave the house without make-up on. no matter how little or much cover-up many girls feel they need to use in the morning, it still leaves me feeling too restricted. I much prefer saving my efforts for special occasions, because it means so much more to me and others when I DO dress up for something.

Kirsty Watkinson

All Change Places

This week’s posts are being switched around, due to illness. I’ll hopefully get back on track soon, but for now my poorly, bedridden self is going to kill some beasties on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and eat crackers and peanut butter until I turn into a monkey!

Kirsty Watkinson

AMV Of The Week: Don’t Look Back

First AMV of the new year! This one is by SilentOkami, and is a lovely compilation of footage from Final Fantasy VIII edited to fit the song “Don’t Look Back” by french electric music group, Télépopmusik.

The best part about this AMV is the use of transitions. Though the changes in window size can be a little jarring, the way masking and blurring are used to obscure Rinoa at certain points fit perfectly to the music. Unlike many other AMVs I have chosen in the past, this one is simple, almost gentle in its presentation, but extremely effective.

Some of my favourite parts are the opening, with the feather, and the way the wings are interplayed with her body along with the tilting camera angles. I’m not sure how much of that scene is edited and how much is lifted, having never completed VIII myself, but it’s very clever. I also love the use of colour, or lack of it in certain scenes. It adds extra layers to the video, and wonderfully conveys the relationship between the two characters. I find the use of black and white, or sepia, show time and age beautifully.

I also really love the dancing, the way it fits to the music and the double layered clips. This works really well, and makes a good showcase of the first time Squall meets Rinoa.

A pretty decent video – makes me want to give Final Fantasy VIII some more time and attention.

Kirsty Watkinson

Hidden Gem: A Beautiful Eye

For this Tuesday’s Hidden Gem, I’ve gone for a music video. One of my closet crushes in the music industry is Jared Leto, for many reasons: his voice, his emo hair, his smexie body and his smexie smile are just some of the things that get me. But the first moment I was struck by him was when I watched the music video for “A Beautiful Lie”, a song by his band, 30 Seconds To Mars.

See if you can guess why:

Yep… his EYES! Have you ever seen such blue eyes in your life? I could stare at them all day…

Kirsty Watkinson

I Spy…

I’m going to test a new approach to blogging this week by giving it a general thesis. As much as possible over the next seven days I will try to write my blogs with the same common theme in mind – three guesses what the first week’s theme will be.

While you think it over, I’ll crack on with my weekly topics, curtesy of The Daily Post:

Topic 5: Do you prefer to talk, text message or different communication method?

When I was at school and college, I might have chosen text messages. Through university, I preferred to find people on MSN or send emails – it saved me money and was a less broken method of cenversation. But nothing beats a good phone call. It’s easier to get a read on a person if you can hear their voice, and you can always tell your best friends for the ones you can comfortable talk to for hours on end when neither of you run out of interesting things to say to each other.

Topic 6: Are you stressed out right now?

Not specifically, but I suppose I have a lot on my mind. What a personal question!

Topic 7: Share a story about a memorable job interview.

My most memorable interview wasn’t even a real one – when I was studying my final semester of university and I couldn’t get to funding to stay, I had to sign on at the job centre. After several weeks of that I was enrolled into a week-long course teaching me valuable skills such as CV writing, interview techniques and how to get the most from my job search. The practice interview we did was greatly enjoyable for me – the guy knew a lot about the media industry, so I was able to chat confidently about my course without feeling a bit silly for pretending. Afterwards he told me my score was near perfect, and I’d done better than most of the advisers would have. It may not have got me the job, but it did give me one hell of a confidence boost.

Topic 8: How do you stay focused on a task or activity?

Depends on the activity. I often write lists, schedules and timetables for myself to stay on top of my jobs, and I’m nearly always playing music in the background to help me focus. The music in particular helps me set the mood for what I’m doing – something jumpy and active when I’m getting dressed at the start of the day, a little more soothing choices for when I’m working on something I find difficult or stressful, or particular playlists I’ve made for when I’m writing one of my stories to help me identify with the setting and the characters.

Topic 9: Describe a recent Aha! moment. What sparked it?

The most recent one I can think of was earlier on today actually. I can’t explain it in depth, as it refers to one of my stories – lets just say I had an epiphany of how to change the ending to one of my books so that it flows better (and more believably) into the following one.

Topic 10: How do you stay entertained when you are snowed in?

I don’t think I’ve ever been “snowed” in, but I am quite often room-bound by illness, which kind of surmounts to the same thing. If I’m stuck indoors, I like doing lots of different things; reading, writing, blogging, painting or drawing, listening to music and singing, practicing my guitar, watching dvds… although, the most common past time I like doing when I’m home alone for any extended length of period is gaming. Usually, getting lost in an RPG like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or a title from the Fable series is a brilliant way to lose a couple of hours.

Topic 11: What do you want to be remembered for?

Easy – my novels. I want to take all the ideas from inside my head and get them down on paper in some way. If I fail to finish my books before I die (morbid, I know… but I think about these things sometimes) then it won’t just be the end of me – it’ll mean the death of so many characters, with intricate lives, dreams and desires, tales untold and futures unseen by anyone but me. What a depressing thought! It certainly drives me on with my writing, feeling obligated to tell these stories so they can be shared while I’m still around to tell them.

That’s this week’s topics done with, and a new week to look forward to. Have you guessed what theme I’ll be working with yet?

The clue is in the title…

Kirsty Watkinson

Lesson Learned: There IS Such A Thing As Too Much Flavour

Well, it’s Sunday and time for my latest topic – Lesson Learned. This is my reflection of the week – the moment when I get to look back over the past 7 days and pick out something I feel I have progressed in, whether it’s a fact I didn’t know, an experience I’ve never had before, or a difference of opinion brought on by days gone by.

This week’s lesson is relative to food (again!) and my recent obsession with cooking. I’ve always enjoyed experimenting, even though I’m somewhat of a novice in the kitchen, and being the almost-sole user of the facilities I have now gives me much more freedom to explore. Every time I leave the house for a weekly shop, I bring back yet another jar of herbs or spices. Even when I’m just making a simple pasta dish, nowadays I still throw different things into it to test what they taste like.

Still, it is possible to get it wrong. Yesterday, for example, I managed to accidentally throw too much chili powder into my egg-fried rice – I was only going for a gentle kick. It did sort of work, but it wasn’t on purpose. I’ve had worse accidents in the past, like the time I broke my pepper corn grinder and spilled half its contents into my spaghetti bolognese. THAT didn’t work so well! Just tonight, I almost managed to put myself off my tea (pie and chips) by poisoning it with too much barbeque sauce.

Flavour is brilliant – it makes good things into great things and bland things into nice dishes. And, so long as you don’t take that a little too far, it never hurts to add a little extra seasoning to make something tasty into something delicious.

Just… remember to take it easy.

Kirsty Watkinson

Playlist: Hold Your Colour

This week’s music moment is a playlist, directly based on one of the programmes I hosed on my radio show a few years ago. Trying to find quirky themes for each week was always a challenge, but one of the shows I feel like I gained the most from was the theme of colour.

Back then, I picked as many songs as I could find with colours in the title – and half of them I didn’t know. But some of those songs became firm favourites of mine, like “Blood Red, White and Blue” by Rise Against, “Infra-Red” by Placebo and “Grey” by Yellowcard. As a homage to that show, I’ve made another list – 20 songs with colours in the title. Some of them are old favourites, some of them are very well known, and some are songs I myself haven’t listened to much – but they sounded good enough to be included when I was researching:

01 – “Blackest Eyes” by Porcupine Tree
02 – “Girl’s Not Grey” by AFI
03 – “Back in Black* by AC/DC
04 – “Blood Red, White, and Blue” by Rise Against
05 – “Best Wishes To Your black Lung” by Less Than Jake
06 – “White Noise” by The Living End
07 – “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse
08 – “Red Flag” by Billy Talent
09 – “Orange Crush” by R.E.M.
10 – “White Shadows” by Coldplay
11 – “Golden Touch” by Razorlight
12 – “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra
13 – “Grey” by Yellowcard
14 – “Silver” by Hundred Reasons
15 – “Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured” by Arctic Monkeys
16 – “Purple Prose” by Mystery Jets
17 – “Infra-Red” by Placebo
18 – “Behind Blue Eyes” by The Who
19 – “White Balloons” by Sick Puppies
20 – “Gold” by Beverley Knight

If I’m honest, I think the research for this took longer than it did for the radio show – half of which was just narrowing the number of songs down! My music collection has grown somewhat in the three years since I hosted the show… Here’s hoping that means my playlists just keep getting better.

If you want to check this playlist out on my Last.FM profile, just click here.

Happy listening!

Kirsty Watkinson

Weekly Stumble: Who’s Awesome?

It must be true – Lincoln says so:

http://www.gamersanon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/lincoln_awesome.jpg

One of these days, I’m going to start posting stumbles that make more sense, or have more point to them. But when I find random little things like this, I just can’t help sharing.

Watch it, Kex… You’re only one step away from perusing sites like kittenwar.com and failblog.org for new material…

Next week’s will be more mature, I promise!

Kirsty Watkinson

Article: Top 5 Gaming Influences

This week’s article is a personal reflection piece – the 5 games I’ve played that have influenced my life the most, and what impact they’ve had on me.

Rockfall – Atari ST

Though not a game I actually played much – it was too difficult for me at a young age – this is probably the game that influenced me the most. I used to spend hours watching my Grandma play Rockfall, directing her little brown egg-character through mazes collecting things and avoiding rocks. This is one of the earliest strategic puzzle games I came into contact with, and if it wasn’t for the time I spent sharing her enjoyment I might never have played games at all.

Jungle Strike – Sega

Had to be added as my first method of stress relief. When I first played the game, I didn’t really know what I was doing. But, after a few hours of practice, I got the hang of killing terrorists – and Jungle Strike became my go-to game when I needed to take my emotion out on something. I gained more knowledge about myself and my levels of tolerance while making the world a better place.

Lylat Wars – N64

One of the best N64 games I have ever played, and still one of my favourites. But that’s not the reason I have to include it on this list. Quite simply, Lylat Wars was the first story-based adventure-style game that I actually completed. At the time I had Super Mario 64, and that was taking long enough on its own. Most other games I got bored of pretty early on and never saw through. But Lylat wars kept me hooked from start to adrenaline-fuelled finish, and I loved every second.

Primal – PS2

In a time before Primal, I played many different types of games. Some of them had an RPG style, but none made quite the same impact as this one. To me, Primal was grungy, dark and serious. It had more realism to it, with characters in real risk of death – blood on the floor, doctor’s conversations about theis injuries. A long way from the “oops, I did it again” approach to dying. Alongside this realism, there was a strong emotional connection. The characters had good repor, and some of the comments I found genuinely funny, while enjoying their building relationship. The main character, Jen, is still one of my favourite gaming heroines. And even at the end, with a slight prodd at a spoiler, you’re not left knowing for certain that everything will end happily ever after – at least, not for everyone.

Left 4 Dead – Xbox 360

Yes, this one is much more recent than most of the others, but it still had a strong impact on me. In a time before Left 4 Dead, I didn’t like first-person shooters. In fact, I hated them! Not being able to see behind me? Yea, right! I want to know who I am when I’m shooting you in the face. Another strong position I held with games was that I despised multiplayer. I’ve always been a little competative, and I can be quite sensitive when I first play a game, so jumping online and facing strangers was a huge no no! Then, after a play around with some on-the-rails games like Resident Evil: Umbrella Chrinocles on the Wii, I had a little go on my friend’s Left 4 Dead. I absolutely loved it, coaxed all my friends into buying it, and quickly managed to not only get over 3/4 of the achievements but helped them on things they were stuck with too. My confidence in gaming has shot up tenfold, I’ll happily play FPS games now, and multiplayer isn’t some dirty act we never speak about.

So, there you have it. There are many games I debated adding to this list and couldn’t – it was tricky to narrow down. But after careful thought, these are my 5 most influential games. Have a think sometime – can you name your top 5?

Kirsty Watkinson

Getting Old?

This is a random grumble, I know… but sometimes, I wonder whether my body is genuinely starting to grow up – and it’s all because of food.

When I was a kid, I could eat anything – chocolate, cake, crisps – and feel full. Now? If I’m ever feeling a bit rough, and not in the mood to cook, I HAVE to find something “proper” to eat! If I don’t eat actual food, even if it’s just a slice of bread, and instead choose to snack on naughty things like I have once or twice when me and my boyfriend are a bit too busy (or lazy) to cook, then I begin feeling really off inside. It’s like being able to feel yourself feeding on food that’s not good for you, when you’re body demands sustainance. Or even warm meals! Most of my student life I could manage on cereal if I was working, but now if I don’t have a hot dinner once a day I feel like I’m starving myself!

Is this a sign of getting older? Is it something everyone goes through? Or have I finally reached that glorious point in a “healthier” lifestyle when bad food feels as bad to eat as it should?

…and, the biggest question of all? Should I REALLY be complaining! I want to eat better, it bothers me when I don’t… shut up and go with it!

Kirsty Watkinson