1. So this latest season of antm has been brilliant, I'm really liking the direction they're going, especially in regards to how they're putting the effort in to becoming a legitemate modelling competition again! They now have guest judges who are actually significant people in the world of fashion (Chanel Iman this cycle and next cycle they're going to have a permanent judge who is/was a Vogue editor), they're elimentating the right girls (the ones who did badly in photoshoots over the ones who aren't making drama) and they're actually giving really helpful critiques!
However, above all of this... Nicole. Talk about the best winner they've ever had. Flawless head to toe, amazing personality, she really had it and I hope that she doesn't fade off into the sunset like 99% of the girls who came before her.

2. I finished tafe for the year! It's been so crazy recently, I didn't even know how much stress I was under until I woke up yesterday morning and breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in about 8 months XD
Anyway, I've got a week left of feeling like this before I start at my new job! It's at Santa's Cave and I'm going to be a photographer (or elf? I must admit I'm not entirely sure) so it'll be a lot of getting little kids to smile when they don't want to, which I see as good training for getting emotions out of people that they don't want to give as a fashion photographer.

3. ( poll )

4. ( the final batch of tafe photos for the year )

5. Now finally, can somebody help me find (preferably HQ) caps for Get Smart? I have no doubt they exist but I have no idea where to begin looking, usually I just make my own... :/

For helping me, I offer up a referral to this hilarious failblog_rss spinoff: odlyspecific
For those of you who won't help me, you're hereby banned from any and all failblog associates and affiliates. Nah, I'm just joshin' ya, I don't have nearly that much internet pull. But... just help me, ok

1. So I entered a professional photography compeition the other week and a I won an award with this:
I was hoping to get better scores overall for the four prints I entered (knowing what I do now about what they're looking for I would've entered an entirely different set) but watching the judging I learned a lot about industry standards and was reminded that I have a good technical eye but I just need to trust myself more.

2. ( motorized meme )

3. ( tv meme )

4. ( poll )

5. ( wallpapers )

1. I've been rewatching it and decided that everybody should go and get a copy of We Can Be Heroes right now (GO! HURRY!). It's essentially the Ausrtalian version of the Office season 2; very cute, eerily realistic but with a hint of crazy. The characters are delightfully well-rounded considering how many there are and that it got a six episode span total. But seriously, if you want to know what it's like to live in Australia just watch that. I mean, It's not like that for me personally because I live on the internet, but you get what I mean :P

I suspect that Chris Lilley didn't have as much creative input (or was perhaps given too much) for Summer Heights High, because I think quality-wise it's a SIGNIFICANTLY worse show. It's fun, but it misses a lot of the depth that We Can Be Heroes had. I'm excited for his new show with the American funding though :D

2. Community is kind of rocking my comedy world at the moment! Every week is really hitting it out of the park and despite having about four seasons less episodes, it's already above How I Met Your Mother and American Dad. Bravo Joel McHale! I am now a fan (he's also really funny on The Soup).

3. So I've slept about eight hours in the past four days and it's kind of working for me! I'm getting a lot more done and I suspect it's because I'm too tired to care about what people think of me but I've started being able to function like a normal human being in conversations and not like a weirdo robot person! :D
And see, I probably would keep it up, but I kind of worry I'm going to kill a whole bunch of people in a car accident falling asleep at the wheel.

4. ( icons )

5. ( new tafe photos )

1. I can't believe it Joss is going to direct an episode of Glee and he said he's been watching every episode multiple times. I kind of feel like he's blessing Glee for me :P I've obsessed with the Jossverse for so long and now it's time for the reign of Glee.

2. ( meme )

3. ( icons )

4. ( poll )

5. ( surprise photoshoot )

1. New York happened, it was awesome. A post is it's half-written, it's just taking ages to edit the photos and convert my random jibberish scribblings I wrote while I was there into legible English :P

2. So it kind of seems like Supernatural doesn't known how to make a wrong turn. Since season 3 it's been getting better and better with each passing week and so far this season is no exception

3. My mum got married this last Sunday (yes, on daylight savings day, what a foolproof plan ;))

4. ( meme )

5. ( textures! )

1. Well well well Glee, it looks like you weren't six months of worthless hype over nothing like I suspected you would be. I'm not quite ready to put you on my favourite shows list yet, you've only had three episodes after all, but GOD they were fantastic weren't they? To hell with every other show coming back, I just want to watch those three episodes again and again.

2. In less than 24 hours I'm going to be in New York. I plan on documenting my travels this time so that I don't just come back with a few halfbaked memories or -worse yet- nothing. I'm currently not that excited because I've heard a lot of hype but I don't really know what I'm supposed to be excited about. However we're going on a tour of NBC studios so I'm definitely looking forward to that :D

3. ( meme )

4. ( tafe photos )

5. ( textures )

1. I finally getting around to watching ANTM cycle 2 last week. I'm so sad I didn't do it earlier because it's brilliant. I'm in love April and her journey to become romantic because she reminds me a lot of myself (because I'm a sexy Asian model obviously ;)) in the sense that I'm very analytical about art. Also I find her determination is admirable.

2. ( meme! )

3. ( wallpapers )

4. ( icons )

5. ( a long overdue spam of pics )

1. I made a mathbook-style layout for one of the challenges that have been running recently at theskilltester if anybody wants to use it :)


live preview

( codes 'n' stuff )

2. I've shown you my favourite 25 icons by me (which is already out of date :P) and now here are my current 25 from everybody else

( be warned, extreme undiluted awesome can be found beneath this cut )

3. I've been rewatching The Inside and thank god it's just as good as I remember it being. I first watched it four years ago when I was young and naive and fell in love with how incredibly dark and sinister it was. It was definitely one of the shows that has changed me from who I was to who I am.

For those of you who are persuaded to watch shows based off of the prettiness, it is INSANELY pretty. The lead actress is Rachel Nichols and she's pretty much flawless. The lighting is really fantastic and much like the overall style of the show, very dark. It reminds me of something Joss Whedon said in the audio commentary about whoever lit Serenity and how they don't just light the scenes with light, they also light with shadows.

Also it's written like a dream. Everything is so psychological and the writers are always thinking a step ahead. And while it's very dark (I know I sound like a broken record, but I can't emphasise it enough. Blood and gore everywhere, but it's not traumatic at all if you're not into that kind of thing) it still has ingenious little flashes of humor that somehow don't break the mood at all. Jane Espenson and Tim Minear are behind the writing of it and you can tell. Neither of them has ever failed to deliver.

4. ( icons )

5. I just found some very fantastic textures here. They're very similar style-wise to elli's infamous paint/grungey textures (if you use the paint/grunge/wood tags), but they're a lot bigger and a few of them are seamless so you can use them for large and unusually sized wallpapers without any problems :D

1. Torchwood week: well, that happened.

2. ( icons )

3. ( do the concrit meme! )

4. I've done a little more investigating and come up with ( a few more icon tips )

5. ( school photos )

1. I'm rewatching Grey's Anatomy and I'm actually quite impressed! It has that wonderful balance of drama and comedy that I find most shows lack. Buffy will always live on in my mind as the show that did it best, but Grey's is definitely holding its own.

2. ( cut for pictures of my cats )

3. Poll #1425839
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

I'm thinking of doing a voicepost soon, what should I include in it? (Specific words and phrases and answers to questions are all accepted)

4. I've been doing a lot of analysing (to an absurd degree) of what I consider to be the greatest icons of all time and from that analysis I've compiled a list of tips that should be able to bam any icon up a knotch
( icon tips for all! )

5. ( here lies my moodtheme in progress )

1. Funnily enough, unlike usual when I don't post because stuff hasn't been happening, I haven't been posting recently because too much stuff has been happening! And this is despite the fact that I've only got two shows per week now (SYTYCD and Burn Notice) and we're on holidays for three weeks. I've just done a crazy gigantic clean of both of our houses and had a five-hour drama in regards to my brothers appendix and I'm completely exhausted.

2. Check it out you guys, I'm a prophet and I didn't even know it!
No, seriously, I'd like to say I'm with everybody with the grieving and the angst (angst is my favourite emotion afterall. Check out my icons if you don't believe me) but really I've never known any of his songs. I've never known anything of his dance. Up until now all I've known about him are the negative chiches and while I didn't take any of them seriously, they're definitely not enough to make me get up off of my couch and weep.

3. ( wallpapers )

4. ( icons )

5. Surprise! We've spontaneously decided to go on a holiday to New York for a week at the end of September! At first I was nonplussed because I figured a city's a city and I can drive to one in fifteen minutes if I want to. However then I remembered that New York is the fashion capital of the world and I could potentially bump into my favourite models! Or my favourite actors! Actually the whole world I'm obsessed with is based in New York so I've decided to use this week-long trip to decide whether or not I want to move there once I've finished with my photography course and live there forever. :D

1. OH MY GOD, YAY! FUTURAMA IS BACK! :DD
I'm marathoning it now to get in the mood, despite the fact that we've still got a year before it comes out :P

2. ( icon meme )

3. Remember how I was addicted to Plants Vs. Zombies last post? Well I have reached a whole other level of that. Seriously, other than sleeping, eating and going to school I have done almost nothing else since making that last post. It's just really clever and funny and timeless. I feel like it's the kind of game I can pick up in 10 years and still have loads of fun with, but also I could give to my kids in 10 years and feel confident that they'll both enjoy it and learn a little something along the way. Definitely give this a crack if you haven't already, I honestly can't endorse it enough :D

4. I'm so excited about these new Monkey Island games, you guys! I have loads of awesome memories from my childhood of the original ones, it's brilliant that it's being brought back. And it's being brought back in less than a month!! :D
Haha, would you look at me? All of the good TV goes off the air and suddenly this turns into a gaming blog ;P

5.
I'm so crazy about that scene. It's so intense and dramatic, I'm just in awe of it. Natalie is so fantastic and atypically beautiful, I really hope she comes back for season 6, but I get a feeling she won't :(
( some other .gifs )

1. I rewatched Studio 60 and I LOVED it so much. Well, up until Matt became a drug addict and everything got kind of weird but I'll choose to pretend it only ever had 14 episodes. Those first fourteen episodes are so cleverly written, and I've only ever heard good things about the other shows the creator has made: The West Wing and Sports Night, so they're definitely next on my list. Right after I marathon all of So You Think You Can Dance that is ;)

2. ( icons )

3.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V8BDP41Z

another texture (and .psd) made for theskilltester (and if you can't tell by all of my no-so-subtle pimping I want you all to go there and enter)

4. I've only played the demo so far, but I'm already completely addicted to Plants vs Zombies. Damn you Popcap and your ability to make addictive games!

5. ( yes/no meme )

1. YouTube seems to be punishing me for watching this a million times (because it's not on YouTube :P) and it won't let me watch this now, which is incredibly important to me because Kasia Struss is one of about 5 models at the moment who make me absolutely giddy every time I see them and I haven't heard her voice before and I need to hear it.

2. ( tafe photos )

3. There's been a texture challenge running for the past month or so at theskilltester and I made a few entries I'm rather content with:




4. I've been re-watching The Knights of Prosperity and it's as brilliant as I remember it being. Basically for those who've seen Leverage it's a half hour comedy version of that; rediculously well written, but disappointingly average men. It's a shame viewers never gave it a chance.

Poll #1408045
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

what was the brilliant short-lived show you loved but apparently nobody else did?

5. ( picspam )

1. I was thinking of doing Judgement Day, but I trust you all to tell me your honest opinions and constructive criticism all the time, not just when someone decides to roll out a meme.

2. ( pow! lots of photography! )

3. ( gifs! )

4. BOO YA! NEW PHOTOSHOP TECHNIQUE!! Did you know that using a gradiented selection you can apply a filter with gradiating levels of effect?

( here's an example of what I mean )

5.
Poll #1401194
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

What are your favourite 5 things in the world, excluding family and real life friends?

6. This had me laughing for hours

Real post on its way, but I just couldn't hold back my glee. I had my very first studio photoshoot today and check out one completely random result. HOLY COW! Look at that picture quality! Look at the lighting! Look at the colours! It's like a professional shoot of a celebrity, except I took it!! :DDD

And my favourite part? That's not even the best picture. In fact, it's one of the worst. I'm saving the good ones for later ;)

1. ( GIFS!! )

I've figured out a size/system that works for me so hopefully they won't be a jumbley mess next time :P
I'm really happy with the colours I'm getting because usually ANTM caps are really difficult to work with :D

BAM! Check it out! It took me several hours longer than I should have, but there it is: my first .gif. I'm so proud :P
You'll have to cut me some slack when it comes to colouring and stuff because I was experiementing with a lot of things. It's probably not going to be this wild/small usually (unless for some reason people want it to be :P)

1. Aw, poo. T:TSCC was cancelled :(
Oh well, at least it ended on a fairly epic high *goes off to rewatch the awesome scene in 2x14 in which Weaver kills a whole bunch o' people and then blows up the warehouse*

2. Perhaps to apologise for cancelling several of my shows recently, the universe has given me a present. A present of Leverage, which I shall go on the record as saying is the best show ever. Well... okay, technically I've only seen seven episodes, but they're certainly the best first seven episodes of any show I've ever seen!
It's incredibly well written; the plots are character driven, there are loads of plot twists, it's always very hilarious and intriguing, all of the characters are very well developed and surpringly ALL of them have brains. The one thing it's missing is some sexy male cast (some people have a thing for Christian Kane, but dunno, I really don't see it :/). Luckily Gina Bellman and Beth Riesgraf are amazing enough to make up for it ♥

3. Maybe it's because I just discovered fourfour, but I'm feeling the itch to use animated gifs on a daily basis. ( but first I have a few questions for you guys )

4. ( icons! :D )

5. ( and now for your regularly scheduled picspam of hotness! )

1. okay, I really need to remember to post more often because I build up more and more things to say and then the list gets so long I don't want to post. Damn vicious circles!
Now just to clarify something from last post, I was excited because I'd gotten back into Bond music, that's not James Bond, that was Bond Bond :P

2. I went for my first unassisted drive the other day on my P's. I'd been having a sucky day because of theskilltester and parental dramas so I don't think I was driving the safest I ever have :P It was really weird because all of a sudden I couldn't remember any of the road rules I'd learnt over the past year because apparently I rely on the registered driver sitting next to more more than I thought. However despite my rage and confusion it was actually kind of fun. I just went down to the beach and took some terrible photos for a tafe assignment :P

3. this amazingly coloured picspam has inspired me that it in fact is possible to do a large, well coloured picspam :D

And speaking of picspams, don't forget to check out this incredibly sexy picspam made specifically for me by gigglemonster :DD ♥

4. theskilltester isn't getting loads of entries (a few, but not nearly as many as challenge #1), but that's fine with me because it's inspiring me to try exciting new things. At the moment I feel like if people aren't entering, they're the ones missing out because I honestly think I'm producing some of my best work because of it :D

There were a few accusations of me cheating this week, which left me in a somewhat sour mood. I don't want to go into details because I don't want details to be remembered by me years in the future when I'm re-reading this, but basically I had incredibly few happy thoughts for approximately 2 days this week.

5. I've been somewhat interested in design and stuff over this past week because I accidentally discovered dustbowl
( here are some of my favourite designs and stuff that I want to buy )

6. It's easter Sunday today! YAY! And... I'm sick :/
We had a family picnic lunch thing today, which was incredibly boring but I'm glad it was because it forced me to take some fun photos to amuse myself. There was a very large ant stealing a piece of cheese from us that I tried to take a photo of, but they were mostly blurry because ants are rediculously quick. However I did manage to make this video of it being surprisingly adorable considering it's an ant

7. I finally figured out the hairstyle I'm always subconciously trying to recreate. It's this!