Author Archives: Samuel

Where’s the city gone?

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photo 2It’s very rare that I leave the city, as even when I go back home, I’m only travelling from one to another. The only difference, is that Birmingham isn’t nearly as busy as London, and you don’t need to worry about delays on the tube.

For once, however, I managed to leave the city completely and see some greenery. After work on Sunday, I managed to get to speak with my dad on webcam to wish him a happy fathers day. He had received a card in the post and after chatting for a bit, I decided to get the train home on Monday and because my dad had plans to visit his dad, I’d have to be back before lunch.  Continue reading →

Go to bed, Sam

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photo-2While making a quick sandwich ready for tomorrows train journey home, I thought it would make things easier if I put my knife under the tap to help spread my butter more easier.

Anyway, I received a text from my sister and balanced the knife on an upside down colander in the sink so it could stay under the tap, gradually getting hotter. Once my reply was finally sent, I turned the tap off and went to pick up the knife but burned my hand and then subsequently stabbed myself in the same hand while I tried to catch the knife that I had just thrown in the air.

It might be time to go to bed, I’m probably tired.

Note: the image here is a recreation straight after I finished making my sandwiches… only to result in me further burning my hand and repeating the entire thing after I took the photo.

An attempt to clone myself

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I’ve used Final Cut Pro X to edit a number of videos across the months, but after having got it (or I should say, gotten the trial for emergency video editing purposes) I have been slightly more addicted to the program than ever before. Some short tutorials later and I began putting my chroma-cloth to good use and even began cloning myself. Continue reading →

A bottle an hour

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It became apparent, about an hour or so ago, that maybe I should tidy my bedroom. I say this, what I actually mean is that I thought about it, but haven’t done anything apart from playing Solitaire on my mobile – and shift a number of bottles.

Being a heavy drinker, I decided to take up Waitrose’s offer on their multipacks and carried twenty four bottles back with me on my way home from university. Together they weighed an awful lot and were the centre point in receiving weird looks from members of the public as they walked past. I didn’t care though, I needed the drink. Continue reading →

Writers block

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Writers block is something that challenges anyone who writes regularly. It’s spontaneous and can occur at any time, often with no warning whatsoever.

I recently discovered Plinky, a website that is trying to combat writers block with a series of scenarios and questions aimed at getting your thought process into full swing. Continue reading →

Blogging to hell

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It was nearly a month ago that I discretely added a ‘contact me’ option on my blog and it’s only taken up until now for someone to not only break the ‘first message’ barrier, but also the ‘first ridiculous message’ barrier too. I say up until now but the message came through last week but before I ramble too much, here it is:

“Hi Sam,

I just want to say that it’s becoming obvious that your posts are made up because nobody could lead a life not cooking properly and being this unlucky with girls. Anyone living this lifestyle is living in hell.

Kind regards…”

Well. Continue reading →

Sitting on the floor

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I have realised that most of my blog posts begin along the lines of ‘since I started uni…’ and well, this one is no exception.

It’s safe to say that since moving down to where I am now, music has been an ever-growing importance to me and well, a wonderful invention called CDs have made it something more. Perhaps now I have too many? Or I’d argue not enough, but regardless of how many I’ve somehow managed to squeeze on my shelf – isn’t it wonderful?

photo-3 Continue reading →

My bank holiday Monday

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It’s impossible to walk down Southbank in the early evening with your iPod plugged in.

It’s bank holiday Monday and I’m sitting enjoying a couple of buskers perform under the sunset outside the Tate Modern. The tide is out and just below me, are the pebbles and sand that usually form the river bed.

20130506-205221.jpgThe air above me is busy, with planes and helicopters flying over and of course, the setting sun to me left, blinding any turn of the head towards Blackfriars Bridge.

If anything, I should be in my flat revising for my upcoming exams but I’m not. Instead, listening to two guitarists and the many conversations around me – most of which in a language I don’t understand. Continue reading →

Nerd level up

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After purchasing a lava lamp Wednesday, I’ve noticed my mood chill out. The blue bubbles of lave bounce off each other in a kind of boring but weirdly relaxing way and have somehow inspired me to actually do something.

Considering the fact that my end of year exams are only a week away, you’d think that I’d do some revision, right?

No.

Well I’ll be honest and admit that I’ve been a little distracted. Continue reading →

Too much London can kill you (3 of 3)

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← Part 2

As I moved into my flat in student halls, I was too excited to care about all the nonsense people had warned me about. Nonsense like not spending too much in your first few weeks, look after your diet and more importantly, what James told me about getting out for a bit.

Instead, I overspent on everything, drank way too much and ate utter rubbish. The working side of things wasn’t an issue yet, I was settling in and meeting my new drinking buddies. I mean, I managed to get myself a part-time job the day after I moved in, but that was a weekend thing and the uni course wasn’t due to start for another few weeks. Instead, I became a student and followed all the routine student doings that new students do in a very student round about way.

For me, as we began to settle down on the course, the drinking slowed down and the Continue reading →

Too much London can kill you (2 of 3)

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← Part 1

Those six months went by fairly quickly with tonnes of end of year coursework and a dragged-out breakup but I made it to the door and rang the bell on the Monday morning ready to start work. I had no idea what I’d be doing and who I’d be meeting, so I was dressed smartly and prepared for anything. Or at least that’s what I thought. James met me at the door and showed me into a meeting room. We discussed what would be happening throughout the week and said that Metallica would be coming down on Wednesday and a phone interview with You Me At Six on Friday on top of the generic work experience jobs like sorting out the mail. Luckily for me, making cups of tea wasn’t a job in my task book!

WIN!

The mail job sounded pretty easy. Sort the post into piles of who’s they were before dishing them out accordingly. The only problem was, this is a music based radio station, that has a very popular unsigned show. This was also notably the peak time in the year for unsigned releases as they were sending in their demos ready for the summer and festival period. Postal sacks, yes, multiple, landed on my desk and I began to dig deep. It didn’t take me long to be overwhelmed with identical jiffy bags form unsigned bands trying to stand out from the crowd. Kind of ironic really.  Continue reading →

Too much London can kill you (1 of 3)

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Twelve months ago, I had my first work experience in commercial radio.

It was offered to me six months earlier in the weirdest of ways and despite it only been a week or so in duration, there are things which I learned there that I could not have been taught elsewhere.

I received a text from one of my then-teachers saying that there was a gaming careers talk at the other college campus, which meant nothing to me. Why on earth would I be interested in a talk about how to get a career into game design and the world of COD? My teacher replied back with a ‘lol’ before explaining that one of the guest speakers was ‘someone who ran a local radio station’. The message came days after he found out my passion for radio was a hell of a lot bigger than making podcasts for an independent record label and so he made a call and I was there.

Being honest, I hadn’t an idea what was going on and had my mind on a recording session the following morning at a recording studio in central Birmingham. I still hadn’t properly learned the song (typical for a guitarist…) and here I was, sitting in a hot and stuffy room, listening to a bunch of men talk about gaming. That was until the radio dude stood up. I sat forward and took out my little jotters pad and pen ready to make notes on anything interesting he says.  Continue reading →

Learning lots at uni

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Having spent £9,000 on my first year at uni, you’d think I’d have learned a lot wouldn’t you?

Well, actually, I have.

As I begin to contemplate revising for my end of year exams, I came to realise that I learned way more than what was taught in lectures and seminars. In fact, putting the food poisoning to one side, I believe that I have become a different person.

For example, the embarrassment of having the lyrics to Grease Lightening blue-tacked to my mirror seen by girl has made me more socially awkward and having nearly been shot outside MI6, well that’s made me realise that you can’t take pictures of their building at midnight, wearing all black, half an hour after a terrorist attack in America. Continue reading →

I’m usually more discrete

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For the first time in a while, I am really struggling to sum up the kind of week I’ve had.

Mixed feelings doesn’t really begin to describe it, but it goes like this.

Having been single for the best part of eighteen months, (and to the obvious question on that, I’ll answer ‘no’ with a cheeky grin and a wink…) it was difficult for me to break the ‘work mode’ I have endured since my last break up. You could argue that being single for so long has helped me get to where I am now, with an amazing job opportunity in my email inbox and near completion of my first year at uni, but when it came down to telling someone how I felt, I obviously screwed up. Continue reading →

Smoke bombs and puppets

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Last night, a ‘celebration of Thatchers death’ party took place in Trafalgar Square, London. Police gave themselves a strong presence in the area and being nosey, I thought it would be interesting to see what went on.

After things began to kick off a little, I took out my camera and began filming, only to find that the party began to stir up a little more as protesters continued to drink.

This is my video which is not only my experience in the goings-on last night, but also important experience/practice as a journalism student.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

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If I’m being honest, Brighton isn’t really my scene…

My reason for travelling down to the coastal town was for an interview, just a couple of questions with someone representing a company. I figured that by going the extra mile, or so, I’d be able to give myself a great opportunity for the assignment. Once the interview was over, it was my intension to explore and to visit somewhere new.

The train I was on arrived into Brighton station an hour and a half early and after briefly popping into an internet café, took a stroll to the beach where I spent some time taking photos and walking up to the pier. I noted the old pier too, which appeared abandoned and cut off from the shoreline. I remember seeing it in a presentation based on hyperlocal websites, where one of my classmates chose a site local to Brighton and a banner on the home page was a picture of the old pier. Continue reading →

I declare today a good day

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Today is a good day. It’s official.

The sun is out, I can’t hear any birds but that’s okay because it’s a great day.

For me, the day had been set in my diary as one that was going to be terrible because of an expected rota change at work, however after turning up at my new time, I figured that actually it wasn’t going to be so bad after all. Despite the stock-take happening tomorrow, the panic I was told to expect was fairly minimal as the senior staff shared out their checklists and left me training a new guy in hard-drives. In all honesty, I’m not sure how long he’s going to last as well, in a job where human interaction is well, necessary, he seems to not understand the concept of speaking.

I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt though, for now, as I guess he’s nervous. We all were when starting the job and yes, he’s a lot younger than anyone in the store – trumping my spot as the youngest kid in the team – but still, to not say a word? While introducing myself, all he did was nod and even after asking him for his name, I had to check the rota what it was. But he seems a nice lad, as you can tell he’s quiet, but nice. Continue reading →

What do you want me to say?

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I’ll begin by admitting my current state of existence.

I am sat on a green stool at a wobbly table along the main corridor at university. I have a bottle of coke to my right, and floor to ceiling windows to my left, overlooking the only patch of grass I know of in London. Northampton Square. I’m staring openly into my screen, awaiting for inspiration and that alone, kind of inspired me. If thats what you want to call it.

If nothing is expected, what is there to prove wrong? But on the other hand, if too much is expected, what is there to well, prove wrong? If that sideways view of looking at the world makes sense, who are we? The answer, nobody knows. I’m not even too sure where this is going, but it seems to make sense. Continue reading →

The guy with the hat

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When I travel, I prefer trains because they take one route to your destination. The only stop starting is between stations and that seems to be getting better of the years, but ultimately, it’s being able to sit down and watch the countryside pass from my window without having some bloke in the car next to you staring at you through the window.

It was my mums birthday over the weekend, the Easter weekend. As usual, bank holidays were awarded for no particular reason other than to make my life absolutely hell. Taking advantage of nothing different, except a day off uni, I got myself some train tickets for the Friday morning and a return for Monday afternoon. Two full days to relax and to not worry about work, coursework and anything else for that matter – I even saw some snow! Continue reading →

How full is your glass?

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We all know that some of us think that the glass is half full, and some think that its actually half empty. However engineers know that the glass is two times larger that it actually needs to be.

Politicians, on the other hand, have assured us that the glass will be more emptier if the opposition were in charge while Physicists say that you can never know exactly how much water is in the glass because just by measuring it, you change the outcome…

That’s not chicken

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Before I begin, I should say that this has nothing to do with the horse-meat scandal but instead the fact that tonight, I managed to cook something other than chicken.

DSC01382It felt like Christmas all over, as I sliced and diced a Turkey breast. As my usual cooking methods go, it wasn’t a standard roast or ‘pop in the oven’ job. Instead, a heavy use of spices and all sorts was added to the mix. I firstly marinated the meat in some sort of powdery thing that said “this will make any meat spicy” so, pretty self explanatory really. With some chips, coated in chilli powder, the Turkey then went into the oven for enough time for me to feel hungry. Continue reading →

Ready for home

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I’ll be honest, I’m a little exhausted.

From the 2nd of January, working has become a part of my natural routine. Whether I be preparing reviews, or writing blog posts. I’ve directed a music video, podcasted for 12 weeks as well as producing a new radio programme. Featuring regularly too on the CityOnAir news bulletins, studying full time on a demanding course and then, nailing down a part-time job at weekends – yeah, it’s been interesting.

A lot of people ask how I do it, how do I cope?

I think I’ve always said that I don’t cope, but then I think I have. Continue reading →

A different kind of pen-pal

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To cut a story short, I have a pen-pal. My pen-pal is actually a really busy bloke whose work gets mocked by his peers daily. To be honest, I don’t really care.

In fact, seeing the envelope in my postbox alone was enough to send all my worries someplace else – I knew what it was about and while that bit is personal, the idea of it is still pretty cool.

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And now he’ll get back to work, presumably.

I’m probably really mean

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Tonight I have decided that I am really mean.

I know.

There are two things that really stand out in any argument I have with myself or my closer friends on the matter and usually end with the conclusion that yes, I’m a mean guy. The first of these is slightly self inflicted. I have a way of bullying myself into thinking that working lots is fantastic and leads to great success, but all its done so far is given me a shift-change and broken my natural body clock so much that sleep? Well, that’s not a word in my dictionary. Continue reading →

What’s the point?

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The point of doing anything is the end result of personal satisfaction, apparently.

For me, however, not everything seems to satisfy me and instead, satisfies the needs of others around me for what only appears to be a short term basis before they begin to degrade my response. My situation isn’t unique. Personally, I’d describe it like a series of steps. I share a particular step with a few, or on a larger scale of thing, a lot of people. Each of us have our own agenda, our own ambitions and ultimately, we are all different people. My person, or the person within me, is not only looking up at the next step and figuring out how I can get there, but also looking at the step below and lending that helping hand to those who need it. Continue reading →

The blowing of minds

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I had a reality check tonight while at a gig. After finishing a conversation with a pianist who had just performed twenty minutes improv on stage and when introducing myself to a photographer. It was quite a surreal moment and it all began when he asked if I could play any instrument.

For an eighteen year old, to have been playing for ten years and to have done gigs at the Cavern Club, NEC, Symphony Hall, Jam House, NIA, O2 Academy, HMV Institute, Birmingham Ballroom, Town Hall, Villa Park and well, if its in Birmingham, you can sure add it to the list too. That’s not bad. I then began thinking about when I met Roger Taylor as a kid and having Steven K Amos buying you pints, that’s not bad.

But these don’t really hit me as much as the next thought that passed my mind. Continue reading →

The bad chef returns

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In a very Dark Knight Rises approach, I returned to the kitchen with a new ingredient at my fingertips. Chips.

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Okay, so chips are something I’ve cooked a few times before but surprisingly enough have never featured on my blog – so here’s their 15 minutes of fame. Also featuring in this article, chicken and baked beans with barbecue sauce. Continue reading →

An exclusive listen to Graffiti on the Train

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The Stereophonics are set to release their 8th studio album, Graffiti on the Train, this coming Monday. Despite three of the songs being released as singles already, you can listen to the entire album on the Telegraph website.

Listen here!

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Along with many other fans of the band, I have been waiting for a number of years since Keep Calm and Carry On for this new album and after listening to it online, I am not disappointed. The standard version, and the deluxe edition, are both on pre-sale in many places but In A Moment, Indian Summer and Violins and Tambourines are all out now and offer a great idea as to what the album entails.

The band are best known for hits including Dakota, Superman, A Thousand Trees, Vegas Two Times, Moviestar, Have A Nice Day and a duet with Tom Jones in his Mamma Told Me Not To Come.