Ding! Ding! Round 8!

Super model Tyra Banks is back with cycle 8 of America's Next Top Model. This cycle seems to be the most ecclectic of all the cycles. Every girl seems to be an amalgamation of past characters times 10! We are at episode 11 and there are four girls left, cha cha diva Jaslene, mouthy mum Rene, Russian girl Natasha and talkative Dionne. All girls are strong and the competition is on. Usually the winners seem to alternate between black and white every cycle, last cycle Caridee won and so i'm expecting that either Jaslene or Dionne could take the America's Next Top Model title home. oooh it's a hard one, but we'll have to wait and see.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004,^[1] refers to a perceived second-generation of Web based communities and hosted services — such as social networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. O'Reilly Media titled a series of conferences around the phrase, and it has since become widely adopted.

Though the term suggests a new version of the Web, it does not refer to an update to World Wide Web technical specifications, but to changes in the ways systems developers have used the web platform. According to Tim O'Reilly, "Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform." ^[2]

Some technology experts, notably Tim Berners-Lee, have questioned whether one can use the term in a meaningful way, since many of the technology components of "Web 2.0" have existed since the beginnings of the World Wide Web.^[3]

The 'Eye Candy' era

As my mum says, "Today's music has gone to the dogs!"

Well, I don't agree entirely with my ma, but I do think that music has gone down hill, it's not about the quality anymore, just the looks. Take for example, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross, all are powerful R&B singers whose careers have lasted. Their voices tell a melodic story that encapsulates everyone who listens, no one can can doubt their talent.

But nowadays singers seem to come as often as the 197 bus to Peckham, they all seem to look the same and they can't carry a tune! Unlike our (or our parents ) most loved singers, today's artistes do not have any individuality. There's a whole lot of quantity but not a lot of quality.

MTV and all the other music channels are churning these generic artistes out one by one and the shocking thing is people are buying it! But you know what? They all fit into today's fashion conscious, aesthetically pleasing society, where a pretty face sells more than good music. It's disappointing because it means that people who can actually sing but don't 'look the part' won't get a chance.

Take Cassie for example, pretty face but can't sing, Lumidee (for those of you who remember Busta Rhymes featured in her Uh Oh video) can't sing and most recently Mr Sanjaya, can't sing! amongst others.... All have a look, but no voice.

I'm not being mean at all just stating the obvious.

Maybe the meaning of singing has changed.
Lets take a look:
1 make musical sounds with the voice, especially words with a set tune. 2 perform (a song) in this way. 3 (of a bird) make characteristic melodious whistling and twittering sounds.

Maybe now it's:
1. To dress well and have a pretty face 2. To have have basic knowledge in singing, nothing special 3. To have limited talent, if you are already well known, this is a bonus

It's undoubtedly all about advertising. Record labels are basically selling a product, these Eye Candy artistes can earn stashes of cash without actually having a 'good' voice. Appearance comes first and voice comes secondary to that.

I remember browsing through You Tube and finding a video of Cassie singing 'Me and You' live. It was horrendous, I had to laugh. (I'm sorry) Firstly the singing was off key, she had two backing singers to support her voice and the track was playing in the background. I'm not being funny but, the song isn't a Mary J Blige hit where backing singers are there to compliment and harmonise the song, no, in Cassie's case they were there to cover up her lack of vocal talent!

Now Mary J Blige, Faith Evans, Kelly Price are all singers who definitely don't need back up singers. Their voices are and still is amazing. However these 90's female singers were not marketed on their appearance, though they looked well, their voice sold it for them, it wasn't about looks at all.

Long live the raw classic talent.

The Pursuit Of Happiness

The Pursuit Of Happiness stars Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith. This is film is an accoint of a true life story, where a single father is left homeless after his divorce and struggles to make ends meat selling his inventions. At the same time he pursues an unpaid internship in hopes to get the high paying job at the cost of living out of a suitcase and finding a place to sleep every night.

I can honestly say that Will Smiths performance in this film is incredible, this is the best acting i've seen him do so far. His real life son is obviously following in his fathers foot steps and skill, he too does an excellent job.

The film makes the everyday reality of life apparant, it's struggles, ups, downs, everything. I think that everyone who has seen this film can relate to it in one way or another. It could make you cry, make you realise that you're not alone when you've been through the heavy times in life, make you thankful to God that you've made it through alive and encourage you not to give up. I love the biblical undertones of the film that tells the audience not to give up because the hardship is only for a while and even though it seems like it won't end, it will and when it's over you'll appreciate the fruits of it even more.

Definately one to watch if you haven't already watched it.

Spiderman goes emo!

I wouldn't say that I'm a huge spiderman fan, but I've watched the first and the second one and so I had to watch the third. This is all courtesy of my little brother who use to eat, sleep and drink everything Marvel, not anymore though, he's eleven now and so finds Yu-gi-oh and Drake and Josh, a little more interesting.

I was looking forward to the film because the previews looked so good. I was ready to see some fighting action.

Warning! Here comes a spoiler for those who haven't seen it yet-

BUT, I wasn't expecting to see Peter Parker sporting the emo look and bustin' John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, moves. It was funny...suprisingly funny. It was kind of weird too, because, as you followers of Spiderman would know, the character of Peter Parker is the total opposite. Well I suppose that's the whole point because he changes from the red Spiderman to the black Spiderman and this transition is not only physical but mental too; he changes into his alter ego. Geeky Peter Parker turns into an arrogant womaniser (with a side fringe and black eye liner) who thinks hes 'all that and a bag of chips'.
The producers obviously took advantage of the change by adding some humur to it. But I'm not sure if it fit in, but it was funny, my mouth was open in shock for about 5 mins.

Anyhow I liked the moral themes of the film. They stood out. Commitment, being yourself (and not letting power change you) and forgiveness. There were a few lines with pearls of wisdom for they guys, so pay attention men.

Modern Design

Design*Sponge is a blog that showcases cool modern home and product design, trends, design reviews and sales as well as promoting any other type of design you can think of. If you want to get the latest information on whats hot in the design world, this site has it all.


The site is run by NYC based writer Grace Bonney and has been running since 2004.

The eye candy elements of the site are made up of cool pastel and rich colours in the banner, the same colour scheme is used throughout the blog. The font of the Logo and the pebble shaped images, compliments the colourful design.

The photographs of the various products also compliments the design of the page, as they too can be seen as elements which add to the pages creativity, it's almost as if they are pieces of artwork themselves.

The square, boxed allgined composition of the page makes it readable and easy on the eye, everything is spaced pretty evenly and set out in a way that makes it easy to see. The font used for the main writing suits the blog well. It's plain and simple.

Each page has the same pastel green back ground in it which again pulls it all together and keeps it simple. The navigation at the top are clear and have the same font as the mast head, only smaller. The design sales promotions are on the right hand side of the page and there are adverts of other design products on the left hand side, ranging from designer handbags, furniture, keyrings and paintings.

I think what this site shows is that less is more. It lets the content speak for itslef. If it had a lot of graphics, I think it would look confusing and wouldn't create the minimalist composition that it exhibits.

Artistically Brilliant

When I was searching for blogs I liked, I came across a blog with a title that stood out called 'The French Toast Girl'. I thought it was a funny title so I clicked it and was immediately presented with a colourful, creative page of art work.

This blogsite is a portfolio of art in all it's forms, Abstract paintings, sketches and fine art.

The artist Elena Nazzaro is a illustrator and water colourist. This site showcases her talent in a relaxed, enjoyable and fun way. French Tast Girl- (as she calls herself) keeps her artist lover audience up to date with her work with a laid back account of what she's done, how she did it and what she plans to do next.

French Toast Girl has lovely, colourful and fun illustrations of people from different races and dream-like abstract art. She mainy focuses on the human form and expressions.
Her artwork actually reminds me of Roald Dahl illustrations, it has a very child friendly appearance and I could easily imagine these being illustrations on a childrens book.

This site is not a rigid portfolio of artwork but it's like a journal of the French Toast Girl's everyday life, as she mentions her motherly tasks when tells her readers about a page she found in a magazine, that she took advice from, which had the writing 'Be gentle with yourself'.

In the 'about' section she mentions'
'The basic philosophy of the french toast girl site is this: life (like french toast) is made up of simple ingredients that combine to make up a marvelous concoction we often take for granted. It's time to relish all the wonderful flavors in your life. And by the way, if you aren't crazy about the way your life tastes, remember: you're the one who controls how much sweetness goes on top, or if it's soggy and underdone'
I think this is a cool analogy of seeing things. It's inspirational and makes me want to get more out of life.

When I use to do Art and Design, it was a neccessity to always make a written and illustrated log of my thoughts and ideas to show my progression throughout a project. This site is kind of like an online logbook of the bloggers artwork. It's probably an online CV of her work too.

I would give this site a 9/10. It's eyecathing and inspiring, it makes me want to pick my paint brush up again. It's easy to navigate and the blogger gives the viewer external links to other works that she has done.

A creatively cool site!