Moved to Tumblr

I have stopped using this blog now. Didn't really like the way its set up. I have however, moved onto Tumblr to display my design work on. You can check this out here http://theacademy0310.tumblr.com/

On my new blog, It will be used for a project I'm currently working on called The Academy. Below is a poster i did using the first 50 illustrations I did for this project.

Moving Pictures

Song: Blur - Fools Day

Game: FIFA World Cup 2010
DVD: How I Met Your Mother season 2

Well, finally got a free weekend. And seeing as my new camera is already starting to gather dust. As the weather is great at the moment, I will probably hope on my bike and go for a ride taking some nice shots of the Somerset scenery! Should hopefully get some nice shots in.

In the meantime, I've taken a token mirror shot, as all people with cameras takes these shots...don't they?

More to come!

QUAKE APPEAL

Song: VV Brown - Quick Fix

Game: Sonic and Sega All-Star Racing
DVD: TV Burps Gold 2

After the devastation that struck Haiti last week. I made my donation already, I hope others will follow and give a little to help the people in Haiti who have just experience hell this past week. I donated through the Sun but there are many other places you can do it from. All the same really.

THE SUN - DONATE HERE

This Month, Day 10

Song: Rodrigo y Gabrielai - Hanuman

Game: Assassins Creed 2
DVD: Kung Fu Panda

Its another year, and I'm getting older so thought I will write a random old man rant. 5 things that really annoy me that really shouldn't.

1. People who talk on their phones whilst getting on the bus. Seriously, it takes less than 30 seconds to pay for a bus fare. Stop talking, and pay the bus driver. Why continue talking, struggle to get your fucking bus fare out, delaying the already delayed bus even more. Also ,why didn't you have your money ready... Man, I want to punch you in the face.

2. People who walk out of shops and stand in the door way deciding what to do. Fuck off out of my way, theres other people who want to get out as well, just move to the side, don't stand in front of the door.

3. People who use self checkouts and not have a clue what to do. Don't use it, use a till, your holding everyone else up. The time you figure out how to use it, you may as well of queued up at the long queue.

4. Loud kids. When your on a bus full of college or school kids, there is always one twat that makes the most noise. Thinks hes funny, taking the piss out of others, very loud, sings, brags about nonsense. You know the one I mean. Man, I wish someone would shut him up.

5. Girls that screech 'Oh my God, oh my God' when they see something. No one cares. SHUT UP BITCH!

Peter knows what I'm talking about.

We're not Famous Anymore

Song: Paulo Nutini - Ten Out Of Ten

Game: Left 4 Dead 2
DVD: How I met your mother

The 3rd of January 2010 will be a date that many Leeds fans will remember for a long time. The 3rd division leaders took on the Premiership champions of England in a Battle of the Roses F.A cup tie to reignite their rivalry of yesteryear, It has been over 6 years since we took on our neighbours from across the pennines. What was to occur was something special.

On the 1th minute of play, Leeds born Jonny Howson played a 50 yard pass over the top of the Manchester United defence to Beckford, As he brought the ball down, his first touch was poor, but his pace was just too much for Wes Brown. As the angle was becoming more and more tight, Brown hot on his heels and Tomasz Kuszczak running out towards him, all had seem lost, but a flicker of a foot played the ball under Kuszczak and it rolled into the empty net in what seemed to take an eternity. Goal. Cue hysteria at Old Trafford... MARCHING ON TOGETHER!!

Don't really care what people say, This was an amazing day for us Leeds fans. We played like we were still in the Premiership, either that or Man utd was just really really bad. I wish we could play this well more often against the league one teams. But we're through to the 4th round of the F.A cup for the first time in a while, so I'm going to enjoy this moment.

Next Round, Tottenham Hotspurs.

Does exactly what it says on the board

Stress

Song: MSTRKRFT - Neon Knights

Game: FIFA 10
DVD: Entourage

After waiting many months, the final version of FIFA finally arrived in the office. After having many competitive games with Greg, I set off to play some online games against the people on XBL. OH MY GOD! I have never been so pissed off with a video game before, so many bell ends online. People just can't take losing. I lost some games 7-1 and 6-1, despite being rather annoyed, I finished off the game as its a game. BUT there was this one little brat (was a Man Utd fan) that I played, the score was 2-2 and went to extra time when I cracked in a 20 scorcher to win the game in the 120th minute. Next thing I see is that the connection with the player has been disconnected...aaarrrggghhh And that happened a few more times during the night, including some cock that disconnected after 5 mins when I was already 2-0 up.

The most annoying thing about it all is the fact the people that are disconnecting aren't getting penalised for disconnecting. They get away scot free and I don't get my victory for my record. Had to give online FIFA a break as it was very stressful, to the point I was virtually turning green with rage! EA need to sort that problem out, its not fair for the people who play fairly and finish off games whether win lose or draw.

Anyway, Enough of that, Im going to play something less stressful.

Stuck On Repeat!

Song: Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat

Game: Tiger Woods PGA Tour10
DVD: Drawn Together

My new favorite musician is the rather cute, Little Boots (formerly of Dead Disco) I would describe her style as electro pop, nice just to have something upbeat and fun for the summer. She uses this instrument called the Tenori-on on a few of her tunes. It looks like a toy but it can create some nice funky beats. The video below is a Tenori-on version on her song Stuck on Repeat, which incidentally, I've had that video stuck on repeat most of the week. Just looks pretty cool how she reproduce one of her songs with that piece of equipment. Oh, it also helps that shes quite hot in the video :)

I really want one of them to mess around with, but then found out it cost £750, so might give that a miss for now. In the mean time, enjoy the video. Go check out some of her covers on her youtube page as well, some cool versions of Alphabeat, Blur, Wiley and others.

New in Town

Song: Boston - More than Feeling

Game: Wii Sports Resort
DVD: Heroes Volume 4

A few months ago, I decided I needed to re-design my website, give it a fresher look. I gave the site a launch date of 7th August 2009, just so I can have it launched on 070809, no reason other than that. It wasn't until 3 weeks ago though that I finally put forward some designs to my friend Jase, who was going to help me build the site. After several weeks of hard work, it was finally finished this week. There were many problems during the whole process, mainly due to my lack of knowledge of CSS, but it was finally completed ready for the deadline I set myself.

Go check it out on here and let me know what you think of the new look. Zerothreeten

To the End

Song: La Roux - Bulletproof

Game: Virtua Tennis 3
DVD: American Dad

This weekend, I took up a challenge my Art Editor proposed to me, a 100 mile bike ride to Marlborough and back in 2 days. It was for a charity and all the money raised was going to a cystic fibrosis charity group. A challenge I eventually accepted after a few months of negotiating, I got a cover out of the deal, haha.

So the day came it was 9:30 and it started off alright, just down the canal path I usually take to work, John was struggling to keep up with the rest (Due to not riding for 6 years and also just recovering from Swine Flu) but he kept on battling through to the next stop. I wasn't finding the bike ride hard, but was finding keeping up with the front runners hard, the gap between me and them was getting bigger and bigger the further we went but they would always wait for the people at the back at certain junctions, so they got a break as we caught up.

If we thought the canal paths was hard, we was in for a treat later on. On the later routes, they were hell, just hills after hills. They were painful, went as far as I could but in the end, had to push the bike up the last bits, it was quicker pushing the bike up than actually riding it in first gear. After around 6 hours of cycling (including all the stops and lunch break) we arrived at the camp site, never been so happy in my life, my arse was so sore that it felt like I was in prison for a week, back was aching, legs were weak, and just overall exhausted. We spent the night at this camp site, had plenty of food and drinks and chilled out before the journey home.

Sunday came, early wake up call, made by the rain. Had some breakfast and was all set to go, then it started pouring with rain again, I can see this was going to be a lot tougher than the journey here, due to the wet conditions. At around 11, we set off for the second leg, and went through the forest, was quite nice route this was. With John not doing the second leg, I was at the back, struggling to keep up with everyone. As we reached the hill section of the route, It started to rain again which made it ever so much harder to climb up it. I was on my third Snickers bar by then, needed it to give me the energy, after about 2 hours and many curse words used, the hills were over.

As we got back onto the canal path, it was muddy, very muddy. At first, I tried to avoid as many puddles as possible but in the end, it was losing battle. I was covered in mud, from back to front. shoes was wet and shorts were brown now. Probably should of got some mud flaps for the bike, arse was getting wet and was starting to get uncomfortable, but I had to battle on. The return trip home seemed a lot quicker, and as we arrived at Bradford-Upon-Avon, we knew the end was in site. Was going to be around 30 minutes ride and we bomb it back to the finishing line, I sense we was nearly there and found some energy from somewhere for the final straight. We arrived at the George in Bathampton and it was over, pints are in, and my bed is in distance.

It was a challenge, and I achieved it. So I'm pretty happy about that. Until next year.

The riders at the start in Bath

Down the canal path, we encountered many things

During one of many breaks we took

Waiting for the rain to stop on day 2

The forest route was good fun

There were many hills on this ride, some more painful than this one

A quick rest before setting off again

Arrived back at the George

We've finished the ride, and covered in plenty of mud

Year Zero

Song: Rick James - Give it to me baby

Game: 1 Vs 100
DVD: American Dad

Update on my website. New logo, just because I felt it needed freshening up a bit. Also some new pieces of work on there. There will be more work put up onto the site very soon.

Zerothreeten Website

Parklife

Song: Michael Jackson - Blood On The Dance Floor

Game: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
DVD: Total Recall

Finally, the wait is over. After they decided to take a break and do their own things. (Damon - Gorillaz, Mali Music, Monkey. Graham - Solo Albums. Dave - Politics. Alex, Writing and Cheese) I didnt think they would ever get back together, but it really really could happen, and it did. They finally decided to get back together for a string of big gigs. The first one announced was this gig in Hyde Park.

Throughout the week, I was dreading the weather forcast, as it stated it was going to rain on Friday. As the big day finally came, it was still unclear what would happen, but thank the lord, the rain stayed away and the sun was out in its full glory. It was such a lovely day, exactly what we all wanted. The gig was good. Not amazing. But good. I think I probably built it up too much, like I normally do and left a tad bit disappointed. Nothing Blur did wrong, but probably because I expected too much. The fact the crowd were a bit boring where we were stood didn't help either, and also there was no spectacular fire work display, but then again, most indie bands don't really do that do they...? Im not saying I didnt enjoy the gig, because I loved it, the songs brought back many memories of many moments in my life. The sing-a-longs were also pretty awesome, and it was genuinely good seeing the full band up there on stage looking happy and enjoying themselves again. They played a blinding set from the hits to the more obscure album tracks. They showed tonight that they are back, and better than ever!

Highlights

1. Tender, 2. The Universal, 3. For Tomorrow, 4. Parklife, 5. Song 2

Blur, Hyde Park

I'm Walking on Sunshine

Song: Blur - Death of a Party

Game: Grand Theft Auto 4
DVD: X-Men: The Last Stand

Another thing that has got me extremely excited recently is the return of Sci-Fi TV series Futurama. After its cancellation several years ago, We have seen 4 feature length films come out on DVD, which was great, but that was only a short term thing. After successful sales of the films, Comedy Central have resurrected the Planet Express crew with 26 new fun filled episodes, spread across 2 seasons. 

No matter what people say, I believe Futurama is the best animated series of this generation. Not only does it have comedy that will make you laugh out loud, but the story also have a lot of emotion in them that can bring a tear you your eye. Thats the reason why I think Futurama has such a cult following, you actually care for the characters in this program, and the story isn't as random as Family Guy is.

If your were never really into Futurama, and need convincing of how great it is. Here is my top 5 Futurama Episodes.

1. Luck of the Fryrish

The most emotional episode of Futurama I think. Fry is out of luck and goes to find his old 7 leaf clover only to discover his older brother stole it when Fry was missing. 

2. The Sting

Really clever story this. Fry gets killed by a Bee sting and Leila struggles to cope with his death and starts hallucinating Fry.

3. Jurassic Bark

Another emotional episode, sees Fry find his old pet dog from the year 2000 fossilized and displayed in a museum. He starts a one man protest outside in the rain to get Seymour back. 

4. Amazon Women In The Mood

The funniest episode of Futurama. After a double date goes wrong, Zap crash lands onto a unknown planet run by huge Amazonian women.

5. The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings

The final episode in the original run. Fry writes a play to show his love for Leila, but to do so, he trades his hands with the Devil. The ending is really well done.

Everyone is happy with the return of Futurama

B.L.U.R.E.M.I

Song: Blur - Song 2

Game: Race Driver GRID
DVD: Joey

Only 21 days left until Blur play Hyde Park in the capital. London is going to be witnessing the greatest gig ever (In my opinion). They have recently put out some videos of their rehearsals on youtube. Here is the first one, of Song 2. It has got me extremely excited.

Lessons to be learned

Song: The Prodigy - Invaders must die

Game: Tetris
DVD: Scrubs Season 8

A few things I have learnt from this weekend whilst back in Lincoln for 24 Hours exactly.

01. When the bar man ask you how many glasses you would like with the bottle of wine, a bad answer would be 'a straw will do'

02. Don't buy a bottle of wine in the first place, just because its a fiver.

03. If wine is consumed, don't think out loud, or say anything for that matter.

04. Don't try and walk to the place your staying if you don't know where it is.

05. When down a cu de sac, best thing to do is to turn around, bad thing to do is climb over into  someones garden to find the main road.

06. Don't jump off walls if you can't land them.

07. If lost in Lincoln, best not to try and ring a taxi company in Bath.

08. When eventually through to a Lincoln taxi company, knowing the street name would be useful.

09. After telling someone not to lock the door. On arrival to the house, must actually try and open the door before knocking on it, waking people up only to find it was unlocked anyway.

10. Don't get on the wrong train home the next morning.

It was like the good old days, where the journey home was a mini adventure in itself. Was good seeing everyone again as well. Now I'm back in Bath.

Luke, Jo, Heather and Me on the wine

Everything's Not Lost

Song: DJ Weasel - Myspace Minimal Mix 3

Game: Prince of Persia
DVD: Die Hard 4.0

Was a really disappointing day yesterday, I didn't win the Lotto and also, Leeds put on performance in what could only be described as poor. It was the Play-off semi-final against Millwall at the New Den. Neil Harris's 71st minute goal is all that separates the two sides after the first leg. When the goal went in, all their skin head ex convict fans ran on the pitch celebrating like they have won the Champions league or something, it was one goal, its not over yet. Our players just didn't show up at all, hardly troubled their keeper throughout the 90 minutes. To be honest, Millwall deserved their win, they played better football and closed down on us very well. We may of lost the game, but its not over yet, there is still 90 minutes of football to play at Fortress Elland Road on Thursday.

I don't believe in records, past sequences, history books and all that stuff that TV pundits always go on about, but I might do this time, as in the last 2 play off semi-finals we have played, we have never won the first game, drew 1-1 with Preston and lost 2-1 to Carlise. But in the second leg of both ties, we managed to win them and proceed to Wembley, so I have that belief we can again do the same. This time with the Elland Road crowd behind us, which will be an added bonus. Getting really nervous now, as we must not fail. Hoping we can get a good 2-0 win and head towards Wembley and finally get out of this League. Im not confident, but optimistic.

Marching on Together!!!

Neil Harris scores Millwalls Goal

New Divide

Song: Boycom - Push Your ways

Game: FIFA 2009
DVD: 24 Season 7

The New Transformers trailer is out. OH MY GOD!!! It looks absolutely amazing, sent shivers down my spine when I watch it. The sequel to the 2007 smash hit, sees the return of the Autobots battling out with the Decepticons.

Everything about the film looks incredible, the fight scenes, the effects, the robots, Megan Fox returns, which always helps. Oh, another thing, Hugo Weaving reprises his role as Megatron as well, fuck yeah!! We need a film with amazing special effects like this to come out, so bored of all that crap Oscar chasing films that come out each year that receives so much praise. Yes we get it, The Nazis are bad. 

Anyways, Transformers is only 1 of only 2 films I want to watch this year, the other one features robots as well. But enough talking, check the trailer out and enjoy.

Million Miles Away

I wish I was...

Believe in What You Want

Song: Lily Allen - Not Fair

Game: Worms
DVD: American Dad Season 4

Went to Bristol Zoo the other day. Was the first time I've been to the zoo in over 15 years, so was quite strange to see how much has changed in that time. Was cool to see certain animals there though. My favorites were the penguins and the Meerkats, they looked pretty awesome. I really wanted to take a penguin home with me and keep it in the fridge. Also, The meerkats were well cute, there was a family of them in their little section, how they stand up and look around was cool. I can remember seeing this documentary on Meerkats one afternoon (The summer I didn't have a job was rather boring at home) and its always been one of those animals I would love to have, take good care of it like any other pet. But, It looks like one of those things that I will never have now, as I found out its illegal to have Meerkats as pets. So doesn't matter how hard I try, its not going to happen any time soon. Maybe one day in the future though, I could get my hands on a little Meerkat all to myself.

How Awesome are Meerkats!

Popscene!

Song: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

Game: Street Fighter IV
DVD: 24

Today, I opened up my web browser, went on the NME website and saw an article about the support acts for the Blur gigs in Hyde Park. I was quite excited and clicked on the article to find that Crystal Castles, The Foals and Friendly Fires were supporting, I jumped up with joy...but that was short lived as I discovered that they were supporting on the July 2nd gig, the extra date that was added. I thought to myself, that's a shame but I'm sure on my day, there will be people of equal quality, only to find that Vampire Weekend, Florence and the Machine, Amadou & Mariam and Deerhoof are supporing. WHAT THE FUDGE!, seriously, did they run out of money after signing the first few bands, Florence is like a crap Kate Nash, and shes crap! Vampire Weekend annoy the hell out of me and the other 2 bands I've never heard of. 

I'm going to think positive and hope the bands on my day prove me wrong, I can remember goint to see Muse at Wembley and had My Chemical Romance, Biffy Clyro and Shy Child supporting and I wasn't exactly thrilled with that, but they were pretty awesome on the day, really enjoyed some bands I wouldn't normally go see. So hopefully the Vampires and Florence can prove me wrong again and put on a good show.

Anywho, the support acts aren't that big of a deal really as I'm there for the Mighty Blur, been waiting for over 15 years for this. I think as soon as they walk on stage, I'm going to feel like a school girl watching Take That, or something on those lines. What I'm hoping for is when the sun is setting, they play For Tomorrow, that would make my year. Not long to wait now though, YAY!

Blur Reunited for NME shoot

Marching on Together

Song: Scenario Rock - Skitzo Dancer

Game: NHL 09
DVD: Pretty Persuasion

With the  season drawing to a close, Leeds United took another step closer to cementing a play-off place. We beat Stockport County 1-0 yesterday, thanks to a Jonny Howson goal. We're currently on an 11 game unbeaten run, which has seen us climb from 8th to 5th, having disposed of teams including promotion chasers, Oldham, Scunthorpe and MK Dons. We may of had a shout at getting 2nd if we had beaten Leyton Orient on tuesday, but managed to squander a 2-0 lead and draw the game.

If we don't let our guard down, it looks like we will be heading to our 3rd play-off in 4 years. Having lost to Watford (for a chance to get back into the Premiership) 4 years ago, and then to Doncaster last season, we must make this one count. We have a good set of players, which will have to show the fight and passion to earn this promotion back to the second tier of English football. I think if we don't go up this season, it could be devastating for the club, as many of our stars including Delph, Howson (pictured) Beckford and Becchio are all likely to attract interest from other clubs.

Obviously, we need to secure the play-off place first, its still very tight at the top and anything can happen, just hope we show the right character to finish the job. When and if that is done, there will be the semi-final of the play-off to contend to before the finale at the home of English football, Wembley. So, its all down to the players now to show us their worth and give their all for the club, to take that first step closer back to the big time. I'm already quite nervous, we can't fail this time. Not much else that us fans can do now but pray an hope and get behind the boys and march on together til the very end. MOT

Leeds boy Jonny Howson Scores Leeds winning goal.