SPERM

No, the title of this post wasn't just to catch your eye, it is actually relevant I promise.

So this is an Ad campaign that I think even those not even remotely interested in Advertising will enjoy.

It's for a Japanese music channel called “Music saves tomorrow”. The brief was to show this music channel was the number one for new and emerging talent.  It was a TV and website campaign that displayed the future of music in an extremely literal way, highlighting the idea that the love of music is an innate, ingrained part of us from the very start of our lives.

That's the boring bit. 

The fun part is that they did it through the medium of DANCING SPERM. The logo they form at the beginning is for the music channel, after that the way they dance depends on who's sperm you get and what track you choose. It's all fun and games until you watch the 'making of' video, putting a face to all that potential offspring makes it a little bit awkward. 

WFC

As part of yet another job application I had to have 'an image that sums you up'.
After thinking long and hard about how to portray myself as a sensible, hard-working and efficient gal I ended up submitting this.

Really I think it was more about my disappointment upon hearing that there's a KFC opening in the student area of Sheffield  now I've left (I do love chicken). And the fact that I am very jealous of those hormonally  gifted individuals who can partake in Movember.

On the Road

I've just seen the new film of Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road". It was never going to live up to the book, but it did a pretty good job trying. One of the best parts was finding out that 'Slim Galliard' isn't actually a fictional character in Jack's mind, but an actual musician. A quick look on Youtube and I found the tune they use in the film Yip Roc Heresy. Music like this is the reason why I've re-started playing my trombone - it will be cool one day.

For anyone interested you can actually view the original manuscript Jack wrote at the British Library. I accidentally walked into the exhibition and was pretty excited when I realised what I was looking pensively at. He wrote the whole book in one sitting, taping pages and pages of paper together so that he wouldn't have to get up and interrupt the flow of his creativity. Now that's pretty cool.

Galavanting off

This was a lot scarier than it looks.

Graduating marked the end of a time when everyone I knew would be free for 6 weeks of the year to ramble off exploring. So we decided to head over to Sidari to catch a tan and eat as much Backlava as humanely possible. Pastry covered in honey and nuts is just too dericious to say no to. I plan to get a recipe that can do the real thing justice and then eat it continually.

Once it reached the point where I had forgotten what the words 'cold' and 'rain' were we arrived back in England and headed down to Cornwall for an extremely damp camping trip and an attempt at catching some surf. After a week I had spent a grand total of 3s actually upright on a board. I think it's safe to say the closest I'll ever be to being a surfer gal is my artificial dip-dyed hair.

Truth telling magnetic letters.

Watching the folk sessions at the Eden Project.
The Green stripe meant I was obliged to leg dance with
anyone and everyone who had a matching stripe,

T H E E N D

Today marks the end of my student life. I had a particularly lovely (aka extremely stressful and difficult) Neuroscience exam to finish off the academic side of my student life.

In true Sheffield style I came out of the exam hall instantly enveloped in fog, dispelling any hopes I had of enjoying the sunny weather whilst it was about. I consoled myself with the thought that sunshine doesn't really suit Sheffield anyway.

I will love you no matter how much precipitation you shower on me

The Hunt Continues

Raspberry and white chocolate macaroons and an orange and sultana  Panatone.
Photo taken with an extremely high quality camera phone.

When applying for creative-type jobs it's hard to gauge how 'kooky' you should be.

On one hand the applications encourage you to be original and memorable. But there's a fine line between memorable and just plain weird.

Today I applied for a job where I have listed my

"...ability to make delicious cakes despite my lack of smell" 

under the question of 

"What is your most unique characteristic".

I think the combination of a endless days/nights in the library and a diet that justifies cheesecake and a food group has finally got to me.

Being a Science Geek

This is a giant tube worm, normally found in deep sea hydrothermal vents thousands of meters below us. These guys live in complete darkness, not only surviving but actually thriving under enormous amounts of pressure and temperatures that range between 2°C and 450°C.

But what is most fascinating about them is that they have no mouth or anus. They get their food from bacteria in their blood utilising nutrients in the surrounding water and store the waste products at the bottom of their tube.

Throughout revision period the fauna of deep sea vents have kept me very much amused and I'm particularly proud of a little joke I've come up with.

Giant Tube Worm: "Do you know I have no mouth of anus?"

Vent Shrimp: "You're full of shit".

I here all week guys...

Saatchi&Saatchi

I realised at the end of summer that da studnt lyfe will soon be over and I should start pondering what I want to do post University. Advertising caught my eye, as it intends to, and the more I find out about the industry the more I think of it as my future career.

Long story short Saatchi&Saatchi are one of the agencies I had heard of before I started googling things. I applied for the graduate scheme and went through 1 billion rounds (aka 4 briefs and an all day interview) before tripping at the finish line. Despite not getting in I'm glad to have got from >3000 to the final 25 and I'll put the experience down under 'character building'.

We were sworn to secrecy for parts of the application, possibly just for dramatic effect, but here are probably the most interesting parts of my application.

Possibly the most well known part of the application is Brief 1. We had to make someone an 'internet celebrity'. I chose my dad, 'Papa', and the page is tribute to the sound advice and reasoning he continually comes out with. He is a hilarious man.

Brief 3 was a critique of an advert you don't like, and a remake of one you do. The first 90s are me monologuing about Matthew McConaughey looking like I have the plague//the flu. The last 90s are the acting talents of some of my most dedicated Uni friends.

*****Disclaimer, all the gals you see in this ad are respectable members of society***** 

ART SOC-ING

Experimenting with Inks

For those of you unaware, I'm currently in the last year of University. It's a hot pot of emotions really. Really excited to be joining 'the adults' and looking forward to not hearing the word 'student' banded about like it's something dirty. The prospect of a full time job is amazing too. The chance to spend all day doing something I love and on top of that getting paid for it!

But I know when the time comes - and it seems to be racing towards me - I'll be upset to leave. It'll be strange to live in a house not occupied with 5 other girls; strange not to spend every day with my course mates in the library (and every night complaining about it); strange to be doing a job that doesn't involve standing behind and bar; and strange to be leaving Art Soc in the (extremely capable) hands of someone else.
It was the annual AGM last week and I'll officially be handing over the position over the next month.

I made this in one of the recent sessions, and uploading it now made me realise it's one of the last things I'll have done as a member of Art Soc. End of an era.

GAY PARIS

A sculpture from the Louvre.

 We went to see the Mona Lisa and, not realising you had to pay, walked straight through the ticket gates. Unfortunately I mistook the staff's disgusted looks for our general appearance and didn't realise I was receiving the glare reserved for thieves and scoundrels.

We had a bit of a photo session in the hostel with the beret, the above are sketches of Matt Lee and Matt Pickles. Perhaps the former Matt's Napoleonic heritage is why he seems to rock the look with a lot more confidence than the latter Matt.

Slutty Brownies

One of the ways I find time to endlessly wile away the hours is by trawling the internet. More often than not this results in a lot of cat videos and hours of my life lost forever.

But occasionally I find something life changing that justifies all those lost hours watching moggies.

The Londoner has created one of the best recipes I've tried in a long time. Slutty Brownies, so called because they're easy and a little bit filthy. 

Unfortunately by the time I found my camera there were none left, so here's a picture from the original source.

Oh my are they good. 

A base of cookie dough, covered in Oreo cookies (I usually wouldn't go for these but they just work amazingly in this) all covered with brownie mix and baked together.

I've made them a few times and they go down very easily with one and all. They have even been used as bribes for forgiveness, I am thinking about writing a letter to MI5 about their use in negotiation. 

 The only alteration I'd say is to make the cookie dough and brownie mix from scratch as it's super easy and cheaper, although it does take a bit longer, it's definitely worth it. Dericious!

HO HO HO

You know Dasher and Dancer

And Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid
And Donner and Blitzen.

A sketch of a Reindeer, and then some editing in that high tech programme Paint - hence the poor resolution in the second image. Really need to get some good editing software, and a scanner. But until then we'll have to settle for intermittent posts with low res images. 

CRAB FISHING

                          Brachyura

Just a quick little sketch/ink of a Crab to the tune of Weezer. I've been having some trouble getting to the scanners in the Library, busy time of year study wise so expect some delays...

I'M HAVING A BALL

The Societies at the University of Sheffield put this together last Saturday. Not bad for a few hours work. ArtSoc provided some of the signs/banners you see and BiologySoc are dancing about ~1.20. You'll see me at ~1.28. I guess this would be my 3seconds of fame Warhol predicted.

WHO'S BEEN EATING OFF MY PLATE?

Nobody takes my porridge

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I can't look at any stencils or cut outs without thinking of Rob Ryan, a combination of fairy tales, poetry and ridiculously intricate paper - what's not to like?

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ON YOUR BIKE

Start your engines

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Just because I find this hilarious and very cute. One of my post-uni plans is to get a motorbike licence, so this could be me in 6 months time.

WPP PLEASE HIRE ME

I'd like to think this is pretty self explanatory. 

Today was the closing date for WPPs' Graduate scheme and on the off chance they look

 at the link to my blog I thought I'd do a little shameless self advertising. 

Obviously I can't take the credit for this idea, it's a scaled down version of Matthew Epsteins' Google Please Hire Me site. I hate to sound like a broken record so I'll just direct you towards my first post about stealing ideas. I'm going to say the sketch is of an unemployed man who's perusing the wanted ads, makes it a lot more applicable I think you'll agree.

MUSICAL MATHS

"Don't you cherish me to sleep

Never keep your eyelids clipped"

The sum of Bon Ivers' self titled album cover and a sketch of a sleeping woman from an issue of National Geographic. I saw him perform in Manchester, it's possibly one of the best gigs I've been to and I can definitely say I never seen so many beards in one room.

TREE SPARROW

                                   Passer montanus.

I spent my summer in Hong Kong. Seeing sparrows everywhere was one of those small things that reminded me of England.

Listening to Simon and Garfunkel - Sparrow and playing around with some computer editing. Originally I was trying for a Salvador Dali - Melting Clocks, but I may have been a little trigger happy with the effects. 

THE BEGINNING OF A BLOG

"GOOD artists borrow, GREAT artists steal..."

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This blog will be an amalgamation of images and words, some conceived by myself and some stolen from others, but all of them charming, or at the very least amusing.