My second posting tonight. I'm posting again because apparently tomorrow or thursday whenever it comes out, in the Adelaide "City" Messenger there is going to be an article about bloggers/blogging that myself and
Jen were interviewed for. So my picture will be in the Messenger and all, how exciting. So I thought I better write something as I havent posted in a while and my last posts have been well, kinda bland and I don't want people to base their opinion on my last posts. A while ago I was contacted by the lovely
Petra along with
Jen and met up at the crown and anchor and was asked some really good insightful questions about why I blog, how I found out about blogging, do i ever worry people i know will read it and other really good questions. The interview process was really good and fun and
Petra was easy to talk to and she had done her research/knew what she was on about as she also blogs, check out her blog it's well worth a look, funny and entertaining:
http://blandcanyon.blogspot.comUm a little about me, 23 male, lives in Northern suburbs (would rather be living in city or south) I work at
Bridgehead as a
Web Developer, meaning I build websites. By the way if anyone wants a website
contact me and I will be able to sort you out for a reasonable price. I looooove music, mostly uk indie, synth pop, electro, but well anything that's goood, but i am very fussy.
Here is what I listen to mostly. I can usually be seen around Adelaide most weekends, usual hangouts being the Crown and Anchor or Shotz to a lesser extent or somewhere that plays good music. Yeah um
I love shoes and have a womanly affection for good sneakers.
I like creating things, creative activities, um making stuff like music, cartoons, moulding anatomically correct men (and woman) out of blu-tac.. stuff like that.
Thanks for dropping by, If you want to bookmark my wonderful, insightful all time greatest ever blog in the world then you can.
For all those tech savy heads out there you can subscribe to this blog via my rss feed, here is feed url:
http://www.nathankowald.com/atom.xmlThanks for dropping by, feel free to comment,
contact me or not, watever.
Oh if you want to start your own blog, its really easy and fun, i recommend
www.blogger.com which is the site I blog through. Get into it.
Here is a great website
Adelaide Index which lists Adelaide blog's for you reading pleasure.
Now with all formalities are out of the way here are a few things Ive had on my mind lately:
- That show Temptation on tv - channel 9, i never usually watch tv, theres usually nothing worth watching (apart from Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, Rage, Little Britain & South Park). But I was feeling tired after my hard days work / squash game so I turned on to Temptation (sale of the century). That Lavinia chick is so dumb, It was actually pretty entertaining though. Her and that constantly grinning host I don't know his name ask the contestants the stupidest questions / comment dumbly. I know its only conversation to try to ease contestants, make conversation or watever but they do a bad job of this. The contestants tonight were really funny. The champion of the show was some super brainy lady who had the best expressions/mannerisms ever, she was a real character, she had this awkward grin which greets the world on behalf of a superior mind. The host would say 4 words and she'd know the answer. So good. I love characters, people with different, abstract non normal personalities its great, I love listening to talk back radio for this reason. Especially 5AA with Bob Francis. The later in the night it gets, the dumber/drunker/higher the callers gets.. its so good. So while watching some tv tonight was kinda entertaining I did feel I was getting dumbed down by the second.
- Actually that's all i feel like blogging for now, take care, thanks for dropping by.
I don't smoke but I want to call Quitline the cigarette quitting hotline just to see what they say. What are they going to say? I really want to know. It seems a really dumb idea.
[me] Hi, yeah uhhh Im feeling like a cigarette
[quitliner] Oh really?
[me] uhh yeah um its been 1 day since may last smoke, I want to quit because uhhhh because... oh yeah its not good for me
[quitliner] yes well identifying what triggers your cravings is the first step to quitting
[me] What triggers my cravings?
[quitliner] *cough* yeah you know, triggers. Do you hate your job? Are you stressed alot? Is it more habitual?
[me] I dont really know um I just get cravings, you know
[quitliner] yeah well identifying what triggers your cravings is the first step to quitting
[me] yeah i know you just said that
[quitliner] ok, you can do it i believe in you, why don't you try sucking on a popsicle stick instead, pretending its a cigarette
[me] What? are you.. are you serious?
[quitliner] yeah sure, a lot of people find this helps
[me] what people?
[quitliner] people
[me] Im not going to do that I'll look like a knob. Besides I don't have a popsicle stick on me, why the hell would I? who carries around a popsicle stick with them?
[quitliner] Are you getting smart with me? Listen, I'm a trained professional, I know what I'm talking about
[me] I don't think you do, why did i even call this quitline, you do nothing, oh yeah im going to talk to you and you are going to help me stop smoking, what a joke
[quitliner] yeah watever, listen you sound like your getting worked up, you should learn to relax, jesus have a smoke or something, your starting to get on my nerves.
[me] yeah uh you know what, you have been a lot of help, thanks alot Im going to really enjoy this cigarette now.. hey uh same time tomorrow then?
[quitliner] Ok well just remember, identifying what triggers your cravings is the first step to quitting
[me] click
What are these trained professionals going to say to a smoker to help them stop smoking? I cant see how this would help someone. Has anyone called up a quitline before? what do they tell you? Does it help in any way?
So I finished that song I started tonight, I now have a chorus which Im pretty happy with. The chorus bit goes:
Dancing to the Human League tonight,
We are young and we will fight for love
That second line is a sort of Initial D homage how they use popular basic engrish words in their crazy dance pop what have you.
Anyway here is the finished mp3 for your listening:
Download:
Nathan Kowald - Fight for love - 4.22Mb 192Kb Mp3
The vocals were recorded with my webcam mic.
Today I stayed home sick with a cold, blowing my nose every 2 seconds.
I watched High Fidelity and drank lemsip. mmmm lemsip.
This afternoon I started a new song in Fl studio 6 armed with some new tips and techninques from none other than
Matt. Its turning out to be ok. I even recorded vocals (with my webcam mic) so they sound dodgy. However now Im stuck for lyrics, I don't know how to follow this, which was lyrics made up on the spot.
I, I've seen you here before,
I don't know your name,
but if its all the same,
I think I'd like to talk to you
so yeah don't know where to take this. The basic theme is boy meets girl in a indie club ummmm...blah blah dancefloor dancing to Human League stuff like that.
So yeah, heres what I have of the song so far, song = 192kb mp3.
If anyone has any ideas for lyrics or musical direction or watever please "talk to me".
Download "
Talk to you" - 2.05Mb Mp3
I can make 2 packets of cough lollies last 10 minutes.
Ive got a cold and a wisdom tooth that insists on sending me stabbing pains in my mouth region every 5 seconds. Something I have noticed is that when I feel like total crap I usually get really good ideas, think better and have more things to say and generally feel alive as apposed to a flatlining zombie creature from a land where not too much is alive. Generally my wanting to blog/draw/make music/be an idiot comes from some emotional state, whether it be excitedness about a new band or tv show or feeling like total crap from staying home and not doing too much. Back at school I would always leave my work to the last minute, I'd love those late night kamikazee last minute assignments, id thrive on the intensity of the situation. So If one is charged/feels alive when in various emotional states would one not always want to be feeling some sort of emotion? Is this the angle of a drama queen?
On the way to work I thought I had a good idea for a south park episode but it was probably one of those seemed good at the time ideas. The plot line would be something about kyle being really good with his money and saving and stan being really bad with his money. This would allow Cartman to further rip on kyle for being jewish and promoting the stereotype of all jewish people being tight with their money. Cartman could blow things totally out of proportion and make it into a jews vs gentile war with conspiracy theories being explored. At the end there would be some witty yet commonsensical, "you know what, I learned something today" that would explain why some people are good with money and others are not. Like I said, i thought it was a good idea at the time.
Ever wanted to know who links to your website?
I wanted to know this and so today I finally googled it and found this great free service:
www.wholinkstome.comYou simply enter in your url and it will tell you what websites link to your website. Easy and informative.
Tonight I made a dedicated page for Jam Jar my comic, I created this as the description:
Jam Jar represents the naivity of boyhood continued into the early 20 something, peter pan syndrome, he has a heart of gold. His mother says he has a mild case of autism which explains his intense focus of spoons. However his romanticising of the spoon is not understood by the town folk who tease him for being different, he questions the spoon and paranoia sets in. His love of spoons soon turns into a hate/fearing/loathing of spoons when his mind tells him that the spoons hate him. Thus the journey, the epic tale begins, will he overcome his spoon phobia or will he sink into the shadows like all the men of the jar bloodline before him?
Check out the page!
Jen tagged me with this cd mix meme, the task being to construct a CD mix according to the following criteria, here's mine:
(click on song for lyrics)
1) A favourite political track.
Burn Hollywood Burn - Public Enemy2) One of those tracks that will get you on the dance floor no matter what.
Planet Earth - Duran Duran3) The song you’d use to tell someone you love them.
The Bad Touch - Bloodhound Gang(Not really, I just would'nt tell someone I love them via a song)
4) A song that has made you sit down and analyse its lyrics.
Sever - 3115) A song that you like and that a two year old would like as well.
Doctor Jones - Aqua6) A song that gives you an energy boost.
Heart Beat - Initial D7) A song that you and your grandparents (would probably) like.
Danke schoen - Wayne Newton8) A song that you really liked when you were 14-16, and still really like now.
Spaceman - Babylon Zoo9) A sad song that would be in the soundtrack of the movie about your life.
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - The Smiths10) A peppy song that would start the opening credits of the movie about your life.
Heart like a wheel - The Human League11) A good song from a genre of music that no one would guess that you liked.
Mandy - Barry Manilow12) A song that you think should have been playing when you were born.
Happy Birthday13) A favourite artist duo collaboration.
L.A. Today - Alex Gold Featuring Phil Oakley14) A favourite song that you completely disagree with (politically, morally, commonsenically, religiously etc.)
Dear God - XTC15) The song that you like despite the fact your IQ level drops several points every time you listen to it.
La La - Ashlee Simpson16) Your smooth song, for relaxing.
Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie17) A song you would send to someone you hate or are mad at.
I Hope You Die - The Bloodhound Gang18) A favourite track from an outfit considered a “super-group.”
Love Gun - Kiss19) A song that makes you reminisce about good times with a family member.
Runaway - Real McCoy20) Your favourite song at this moment in time.
Repair Machines - VitalicThis was haaaard, try it I
double dare you. Took me ages and these choices probably would'nt be my absolute final best choices, just ones that fitted the questions.
Check out
Jen's cd mix meme on her online journal.
In the spirit of the meme I shall now tag
REECE!!
Come on baby we aint gonna live forever,
Let me show you all the things that we could do,
You know I wanna be together,
And I wanna spend the night with you,
These are the words which are going around my head as we speak. There's something about the Veronica's piercing high pitched vocals that just stick in your head, well my head anyway.
Driving to work today I noticed something which really annoys me. Custom number plates which describe the model/brand of a car. Like FORD GT etc. Why do people do this? You pay to customise your plates and what do you do, you waste the space by putting down what the car is. How literal. Im sure people who are into cars know what sort of model/car you drive. Everyone else does not care, me included. What is the point?
So last night I finally purchase my really short adidas shorts. Ive wanted a pair of really short shorts for ages now as whenever I see 80's movies and stuff I always go wow that looks cool when i see guys wearing short shorts. The whole longs shorts, 3/4 short. 4/5ths shorts is dead and needs to die. Theres nothing worse than seeing an over 35ish dude wearing really long shorts also. Shorts, short. So I buy a Medium pair cos they LOOK cool, they are kinda tight though and am kinda worried they might not provide the movement that I need when playing squash in them. I tried the Large's on and they did not LOOK cool, so whats the point. Also last night while walking around TTPee I was looking for some cross trainers/squash shoes. God Dammit why dont they make any stylish good looking running shoes! In all the 5 stores I checked out, I found none that actually looked any good. I was given the spiel about flexibility asics gel, blah blah and I got the point however the asics shoes that the sales dude were showing me looked like shite. I cannot bring myself to buy "functional" shoes if they LOOK like shit. I will always pick Looks over functionality anyday. This is kinda sad but its how it is, ive come to accept that now. If it looks like shit, i dont want a bar of it. End of story. I did see a pair of okay nike air max's which should do the trick.
http://www.carls-corner.com/temp/WeAreSinking.swfThanks Graeme
The link has been updated, as the link implies.. this one is probably temporary also so don't be surprised if it doesn'nt work.
Today I created a group on
Last.fm called "
Right Brainers".
Its for people who identify themselves as more right than left brained. If you are right brained and want in, join here:
http://www.last.fm/group/Right%2BBrainersRight Brain.. huh? what is right brain you may be asking. I'll tell you what it is but first I require something of you. I require your seed. Give me your seed, give it to me!!! ok now the pleasantries our out of the way we can proceed.
Follow this link, it will tell you all you need to know and by the end of reading the information contain therein you shall have a knowledge of left/right brain functioning and come to an assumption of what preference you yourself have. SILENCE! Here is the link:
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/dominance/index.htmI generally tend to hate labels as I find them limiting but the one label which i do agree with is that of a right brained person. All of the characteristics in the descriptions I STRONGLY agree with and consequently all of the characterstics of a left brain person I lack (apart from organisation).
If you are lazy and have not clicked the above link then shame on you, where is your life going?, shave those sideburns, where did you hide the remote control?
For the unninterested here is a brief list of characteristics a person of right brain dominace may have:
* Holistic
* Intuitive
* Synthesizing
* Integrating
* Emotional
* Interpersonal
* Feeling-based
* Kinaesthetic
* Random
* Remembers Faces
* Views and responds to pictures
* Creative
* Imaginative
* Problem solves with hunches, looking for patterns
* Looks at wholes
* Looks at similarities
Still not sure as to what side is your dominant side? take this online test -
http://www.testcafe.com/lbrb/lbrb.html
Today when I try to type, the words come out wrong. What I mean to write I cannot connect with my thoughts. See, I did it then. I don't know why, got lots of sleep.. my head feels heavy. But alas, the proceedings shall commence the words to be written must go down. Have found so many good things which bring me pleasure lately, not in a sick sense, things which make me happy I mean. I tend to gravitate towards things which make me happy and run away from things which cause pain, as does everybody I guess. When I find something which makes me really happy I want to tell everyone about it. Here are a list of things that are making me happy as of late.
*
Garth Marenghi's Dark Place* Song: "
Black Celebration - Depeche Mode"
* This Website:
Modular People* A.R.E. Weapons - especially the song "
Don't be scared"
* My
Presets tshirt* Song: "Electric Shake - Be your own Pet"
* The extra features of the
Last.FM Beta site which you can use if you are a last.fm subscriber
* The song and film clip "
Bull in the Heather - Sonic Youth" (the pause bit)
That is all for now my pretty gingers.. if you want to know of more cool and exciting fun filled content then you are going to have to open your eyes for a change and look around at the people and places that you spend your time with/in.
