Blue teeth and good music

Like millions of other squeaky clean individuals, I like to sing in the shower. What makes this aquatic opera more enjoyable and probably a whole lot more bearable for others in the vicinity, is music to sing along with.

My usual set-up was an iPod dock, an Auxiliary cable and my Samsung Galaxy Note2. A little tricky as the auxiliary cable didn't fit the headphone port when the phone case was on, so it did involve removing the case every time I wanted music in the shower, not a huge problem but it was a bit of a pain to do.

Today I got a solution to my cable-heavy set-up, in the form of a small blue speaker. Introducing the Bluetooth Splash Speaker.

Purchased from IWOOT for £22.99, (Originally from Thumbs Up UK) this handy little gadget:

• Lets you listen to music in the shower (It's splash-proof, NOT water-proof)
• Is rechargeable from a Micro USB, the same most modern smartphone chargers (Supplied)
• Can also be used with an 3.5mm Auxiliary cable if bluetooth is not an option (Also supplied)
• Has up to 5 hours of music giving life
• Has an impressive range of up to 10 metres (May differ depending on walls and doors)
• Has a built in microphone to let you take hands-free calls (May not be recommended while showering)
• Four nice big rubber buttons on top for Power, volume up & down and answering/ending calls.

A handy little speaker, with a tough, rubber case as well. Not just for showering, it's great for outdoor use too.

It was super easy to connect and start using, my phone found the speaker immediately and after 3 seconds of pairing, was sending my music to it. Even turning the bluetooth off and on again, my phone automatically reconnected to the speaker. This may of course vary depending on phone model and manufacturer.

It also has a series of fun sounding noises along with a red/white LED to let you know what it's doing; from "Your phone is ringing!" to "I need a charge!" to "I'm dead now!"

The volume and quality it pumps out music is incredible as well, I tried to stress test it to see if there was any crackling with louder songs, but couldn't get so much as a snap. The hands-free mic is a good quality, not crystal clear, but for a hands-free, splash-proof shower speaker, it's nothing I'll complain about.

The only thing I dislike (And this is serious nit picking here) is the strap, it doesn't have a clip to allow you to hang it up in the shower unless you have a hook available. The rubber does come away from the metal stud, but getting it back on is a pain.

I'm really happy with this product, definitely something every shower Soprano needs!

Paper scribbles & Digital doodles.

I've owned 3 Graphics tablets in the past, my 1st was what looked like a bog standard 11" x 7" Wacom tablet; it was blue and generally blank but it was good.

My 2nd was a much nicer black Wacom bamboo, the same size of the previous but has an added bit on the side for scrolling which was a nice novelty.

Unfortunately, they both broke during house moves. My fault as I didn't keep the boxes for them. And not a tablet was had since then.

Until earlier this year after a generous American customer got a bit tip-happy at the Casino and inflated our paycheques something rotten, I splashed out £400 for my significantly bigger Wacom Intuos4 Wireless (Bluetooth) tablet.

The wireless is a definite help, being short of USB ports and desk space, also having a Bluetooth adaptor already in place, it was meant to be.

Strangely though, I've always worried about running out of paper while sketching, I like to use my sketch pads for my leisure sketching as opposed to using it for something requested/commisioned. It was only shortly after buying the tablet that I was told that using something like Firewors or Photoshop as a digital sketch pad is úber handy.

So I gave it a go and, by God, is it a lifesaver.

The benefits of sketching digitally rather than on paper is that I can practice as much as I like on as big a canvas as I want; and if I make a mistake I can delete it with the other end of the Stylus without wearing a massive hole in the paper or degrading the paper's quality.

It's not that I'm saying Digital is better than paper, Both have advantages and disadvantages.


For instance: I wouldn't teach someone to draw on digital, I would use paper, learning the original way is always best, also a graphics tablet can really only be used on a PC, for outdoor drawing; a laptop could be used but in my experience, tablets don't transport well.

With paper, I'm restricted to the size of the page, the kind of Pencil I use or how much of said pencil I have left. With digital those worries don't exist, but paper drawing is by far better feeling. You wouldn't be too excited to see your favourite artist at Comic-Con using a graphics tablet to do a sketch, it just doesn't feel the same.

Also a nice sheet of good quality paper with your own personal sketch on is yours, a digital copy can be duplicated, but that sheet of paper is the only one and it's yours!

So in closing, paper sketching is good, but digital sketching is always worth a look.

Karate kick to the entrails

So work's been slow but I blame that on nightshifts at the Casino were I used to work.

Now, after a move to Glasgow I'm without work but it's all good, I can survive for the time being. Job hunting commences in the New Year.

Just before moving I was asked to help out with a project my friend is working on, he was asked to build the website for a startup Martial Arts school and asked me to do the graphics for it.

Score!

This could be the project that gets me into the Professional lanes of graphic work, ooooh sounds delicious!

Anyway; back to work!

Ciao.

"Satan's Furry Jamhats!" - Bill Bailey (Tinselworm)

A wonderful Shoppe!

Our shop has grown into a wonderful little store for T-Shirty artworks! There are only a few designs available, but it's still young days, we're still growing!








Have a look [HERE]

-Ciao

Internet Irritations

New work! Once more; Not a Penis! ^_^

-Ciao!
"I baked you a Pie! What flavour? Pie Flavour!" -AsdfMovie

Manchester 2011

Last night I got back from Manchester (8.5 hours on a bus, nae fun!)

All I can say, from the Thursday afternoon that I arrived to the Sunday lunchtime that I departed, it was probably the best 4 days of my life so far.

The people I met, the banter that was had, the random 5am pillow attack, the getting banned from the Chinese Buffet, the trouserless photo shoot, the drinking, the last night of the meet, EVERYTHING!

Sunday was hard, made no easier by the raging hangover, but that wasn't anywhere near as painful as leaving was, I honestly wanted to just miss the bus and stay.

But it's not all sadness, we all had a fantabulous time and are all eager to meet up again, in fact, I'm already looking at flights to Malta. =D

And as a result of spending time with BodyModders such as the crew I was with, I'm now stretching my ears, only going to 4mm for the month, then I'll go up by 1mm or 2mm a month Til I have the size I want.

Not gonna get really big ones, just somewhat medium, ones. =D

Chest offing time

(I wrote this on my DeviantArt page a while back, just felt like getting it a bit further out).

YOU ARE NOT RANDOM!!!

Simple as, neither am I. At least, not in the way that everyone who claims to be 'random' goes around babbling about.

RANDOMNESS: Having no definite aim or purpose; not sent or guided in a particular direction; made, done, occurring, etc., without method or conscious choice; haphazard.

When you think of random, you would probably think of something happening that you weren't expecting, like a Random number generator.

Unless you know someone so much that you are able to predict every single action that person is going to make down to the detail, then that person will be creating movements and actions that are 'random'

However, when you see people running around going "I'M RANDOM LOL!" what does it make you think? That they'll then proceed to shout "WHALES! CUSTARD! CHIMPANZEES!" to me, that's not random, that's just vocalizing basic human thought, if you really listened to your thoughts, that's what they'd sound like;

"It's cold in here I'm really hungry the sofa is kind of uncomfortable still hungry are there crisps left I think I left bathroom light on"

That's how we think in our heads.

So shouting 'random' words out isn't 'random' it's just shouting words that happen to flow in this stream of thought, most of the time, put there yourself deliberately, thus eliminating the 'random' part.

So, in short, Everybody and Nobody is/are random.

Next person I see saying "I'm a bit random, lol" I'm gonna punch them!