Paintjoy - an Android application.

Hi everyone!

I actually meant to start this month with a creative Adventskalender, that is to say to create something everyday until Christmas. If you don't know what an Adventskalender is, you can google it and find loads of information, but it is essentially a countdown from the first day of December to Christmas's Eve, typical from Germany, where you have like 24 small windows with chocolate or small gift inside. Everyday you have to open the window relative to the day (they're numbered) and fin something new - without cheating!! ~ which, given my love of chocolate, is not that easy ~

I meant to, but things happend which stalled me. so I made only some works for some days.. mainly drawings, and I'm working on a bag.

The thing is ~ hence the title ~ I downloaded this free app for my phone: Paintjoy.
I have recenly bought an HTC Wildfire which runs Android and now I have experimented this app.

my fingers are not really tiny and the canvas are quite small in this free version, so the results are limited, but I must admit I am quite satisfied with what I achieved.
Here are some drawings I have made:

(( first is the Nerdilicious Nerdy Man - I like how it turned out.. it was the second try I think, a bit sketchy but I could not not show him here ))

(( second is one art nouveau ispired female character. could be a self portrait, it is not actually. I experimented with flowing lines - which I adore drawing ))

((third is a random female character. I wanted to try my chubby style on this app. the round shapes I like so much are a bit limited by the canvas size and the size of my fingers but I'm rather satisfied with this one ))

In conclusion, the app is fun to use, but not ideal for "art". Well, probably who wants to create art this way shall use a tablet device like an iPad or something. Rita Flores is an artist who paints on an I pad and does some amazing stuff, you can check her stuff at her homepage here: [ l.i.n.k. ] or you can follow her on twitter @ritaflo.
Another thing you may need to create art is obviously some artistic talent and technique, both things in which I lack, but then again.. I'll never claim to be an artist in this respect.

have a nice evening/day all,
hugs,

Indil ♥

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Update on Kim Boekbinder's album release

A little but important change about what I wrote in my last post. The release date of "The Impossible Girl" has been delayed. The full album will be released on 15th December - exactly in a month from now.

More info at Kim's blog.. follow the link below.

Kim Boekbinder has your heart: Important News - New Release Date: "In the fashion of many beautiful and difficult women, The Impossible Girl is late. Not terribly late, but late enough that I am pushing bac..."

Ps. In the post below I forgot to mention that on the Geeky Side (given the theme of this blog) Kim has a song called "Sex Drugs and Nuclear Physics" that comes with a very funny video - check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR_5qpwz0rE

{for some reason I cannot embed videos from youtube anymore.. just click on the link!}

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Portraits. Kim Boekbinder - the possible wonder.(about music, love, people and stuff. )

I've been wanting to write this blog for ages but I didn't manage to come up with something for some reason or another, and now that I am up to it I'm not really sure what I want to write.

I've wanted to revive this blog for a while now.. and I had such great ideas which - as always - my laziness made me turn down..I hope I will still make it. Sooner or later. Some of the things I wanted to do were weekly features of tutorials, crafts, items mainly from threadbanger (it was supposed to be my way to keep the community going on) and the internet in general.. and a series of portraits.

portraits. this was going to be the name of a feature where I wanted to introduce extraodinary people with an ordinary life, i.e. people I have met (mainly on the Internet) who are special or interesting to me for some reason. artists, supporters, every-day-philosophers, people I admire on different levels and that have had an impact on me in these last few years.

The first portrait of the series is one which is really dear to me.
Today, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to talk about Kim Boekbinder - the impossible girl - a possible wonder.

Many of you already know how much I love this incredible artist, how fond I have grown of her music in the last year and a half, but there are probably a lot of you whodon't know her, and that's a pity. You should, you really should.

I stumbled upon the Vermillion Lies (the duo composed of Kim and her sister Zoe) pretty much casually on one of my last.fm rushes about one and a half year ago. Their music hasn't abandoned me ever since, as a matter of fact I am listening to them as I write. Their music was simply the perfect combination of styles and genres (in the literary sense) which I had always liked, it became straightaway the soundtrack of my days at home, or in the library while I was writing my masters' thesis. They are also one of the reasons why I have joined twitter (as I may have written somewhere before). I never cared about the fact that nobody seemed to know them - actually it was to me like I had found some little treasure I wasn't sure I wanted to share with everybody; of course, my room mates had been overexposed to their music willy-nilly. And I must admit we had some real fun time jumping in the kitchen and singing along "Global warming - It's Hot!".

One of the first thing which drove me to adore these girls is that they offered their music for free to listen (and partly for download) - and the fact that they did so made me genuinily want to buy their stuff. It's a bit of a paradox, but that's how it felt, and feels even today. So that is the story of how I got to love Kim and her music.

In August 2009 the duo decided to go on a hiatus to allow the sisters to explore a solo career. Somehow I got closer to Kim's efforts, probably helped by the fact that at that time she was in Berlin and webcasting, and sharing the same time zone is crucial in these matters.. and it was so that I literally wrote parts of my thesis while watching her webcasts and interacting with her and other fans in a chat box - that's how she got into my thesis'credits. But this is supposed to be a portrait not a random rambling, about her not about me.

The thing is, Kim has now a new album coming out called The Impossible Girl which she was able to record and produce thanks solely to the love and pre-orders of her fans who donated thus buying the record in advance. Depending on the amount donated contributors got several prizes, like the download code for the digital version of the album, a physical copy of the CD, signed postcards, t-shirts, goodies songs written by request and much more.. this is a link to the video she made to sponsor her fundraiser/pre-order.. it urges to support art as a process rather than a product, it makes you ponder on the efforts that go into the creation of an album, it gives you an insight of her take on art and - to some extent - life in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9-MCDYE4-w

The way she went through all this process, with her ups and downs, the way she communicated constantly with her audience, her perseverance in following her goals through thick and thin, the freedom of her soul and the beauty of what she creates have been for me a great source of inspiration.

She is to me the emblem of strength through rought times, of tenaciously wanting to accomplish something, of the ability to live your own dreams and make them real. She is the "don't dream it, be it". I may sound like an obsessed fangirl, but this is one of those positive "obsessions" which invite you to be a better self. My worst flaw that I have big dreams, but I am then too lazy to fulfill or follow them, and sometimes I don't believe enough in myself.. but the inspiration I get from Kim is that I can do it, if it really means something for me. And for that I am thankful. I feel like I should talk about her music, but her music talks for itself.

These are the first 3 chapters of her first solo album, the 4th Chapter will be realeased in few days, on December 15th 2010. [new release date!]




Kim's music is so rich and full of different hues and colours that it is impossible to collocate her in a specific genre (I don't like to do it in general anyway), on the other hand it makes it easy to be appreciated by very different people. Her music is versatile and manifold, she has both haunting melodies and funny and witty rhytms and lyrics (she even has Explicit Lyrics - hide your children!).
I could write for hours about her songs, and about each one of them gives me so many different feelings, but music is very personal and intimate, and I prefer that you enamour yourself in these wonderful songs through a personal journey. My personal journey was amazing, and I was lucy enough I could share it with people from time to time.

One of the things I am proudest of is when I am listening to some artist and someone in the same room tells me "this is really good, who is this?" and I can hand down my passion for that artist to them. It happened thrice with Kim in the last few weeks, and I was more than happy because she deserves it all..my room mate, a guest we had and my couchsurfing host in Leipzig (this is another topic I am going to discuss some other time).

Yes, Leipzig - Germany.
I travelled some 650 km across Germany (I live in Freiburg, by the south-western border with France and Switzerland) to go to Kim's concert.
It was a long journey, it was a very tiring weekend, I've travelled alone, on trains by night, I've waited for 3 hours at the Frankfurt station.. but I'd do it all again. It was such an amazing weekend, I had a great time, the concert was just incredible and Kim is amazingly sweet.

She played at the FrauenKultur in Leipzig, a small women cultural centre, the atmosphere was very intimate and cozy.. I haven't counted the people in the audience, but I don't think we were more than thirty. Kim appeared on the stage dressed like a modern Snow White in sequins. She looked like a character from a fairytale, impossible though extremely real. Her energy filled the room with magic and wonderous talent. Oh the beauty of witnessing the making of the songs while she plays them, playing the most unsual instruments to create the right effects mingling together to become a perfect though completely experimental result. She created music, we've experienced the art as a process live. I laughed, I cried, I was deeply touched, everything was so new and famliar at the same time. And yes, she even played on a squeeky toy alligator!




I'm sorry I don't have better pictures, but I was too busy enjoying the show ecstaticly to take more. And after the show she has come to me and asked me "Are you Floriana? Thank you for coming!".. isn't she she just great?
I only regret I wasn't able to stay longer, for a chat and maybe drik something.. my host was invited to a party and - as a guest - I had to second his choices. But it was a hell of a party - cross dressing fun! therefore, it's good nonetheless..

It's very late now.. but I leave you with another encouraging message from the impossible world of Kim Boekbinder: WE BELIEVE IN YOU!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiD3soB4bZ8&NR=1

lotta love,

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Creativity makes people beautiful

Authentic Passions.
They make people beautiful. They make people intense and worth admiration.
Today I've been struck by this in different ways.

Listening to music, watching art, pondering on artists and performances. Pondering on words like 'pondering', which sounds beautifully in my ears, words like 'Guadalajara', spoken in a correct Spanish pronunciation.

I was watching pictures of some of my favourite artists and found myself thinking, why are they all so beautiful and shiny!? Are they just beautiful, all of them!?
Maybe they are, but then I came to the conclusion that that's because they are expressing themselves at their best, because they do things they like and love, because they find ways to express, because they are talented and they don't waist their talent.

And this makes me a little sad because I can't do it. I'm a time-waister, I don't have a proper talent, nor am I able to foster it. I'm not the kind of person who fights, I'm one who lets herself live by life, not the other way around.

the most creative thing I have done so far is finishing a wallet I started almost a month ago.
it is just a prototype, so it has many mistakes.. i messed up the top hem and i used a bias tape instead of a ribbon, which gives a worn look, but it will also get ruined sooner.
The seams are very approximatives, but I am pretty satisfied of how it turned out in the end.
I have learnt a lot from it..

And, ouch! I have conjuntivitis, or pink eye.. it's been days now and it's really annoying. I was thinking of making a pirate eyepatch for my right eye.. and Gothictany is endorsing that.. but I can't find the right fabric/ribbons to do it like I have it in my mind... I'll have to wait for that.

well then, I'll leave you with a song by the marvellous Marian Call, which is called "I'll still be a Geek After Nobody Thinks it's chic (the Nerd anthem)". A song about passion, and obsession.



after that.. please comment!

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Being Human - The Musical (extreme blogging edition)

Hello all,

I've been absent (now tell us something we don't already know! )..

I know, it's always like that.

Anyways.. I have been recently sucked into a tunnel called BEING HUMAN.
As I told in my previous blog I've been totally absorbed by this British TV series, which aired on BBC3 Sundays and ended last Sunday.
A very sad thought, but I've been in good company mourning the end of this little TV jewel thanks to the BBC BH Blog [check it here - warning may contain spoilers].

Those bloggers are amazing! XD
At first I found a little hard to get into conversations especially because they post so much it's hard to keep up.. but after a while I got to understand how it works "the ancient machinery of the world" and it's a blast!

I am the unlucky one who couldn't follow the live blog due to regional restrictions, but I can follow the blog =) And I am so glad to the BH Production and BH Blog Team for always putting all the videos on YouTube so I can see them!! thank you!!!!

Well, the thing is.. we (users from the blog) created our own music score to the series through a song game where we put songs we think might fit the different characters. The results are very itneresting and made me discover a lot of great songs..

I decide to post the final playlist here in order for me to update it whenever needed.

ANNIE

knockin of heavens door - bob dylan
The Legion of the Hungry Ghosts - Kim Boekbinder/Vermillion Lies
there's a ghost in my house - r dean taylor
There's A Ghost In My House - The Fall.
you can't touch this - mc hammer
see right through me - mobile
thank you - jamelia (for owen)
I'll be watching you - Police
Moonlight Shadow - Mike Oldfield/ Maggie Reilly
oughta know - alanis morrisette (with Owen)

ANNIE AND OWEN

the thong song

DAISY AND MITCHELL
one way or another" - Blondie
we made you - eminem
Bad Things - Jace Everett
Your Missus Is A Nutter - GLC.
Bodies – sex pistols
blood on the tracks - bob dylan?
run this town - rihanna etc!

DAISY
kill you - eminem
Stab your back (coroner mix) – the Damned
Crazy - Patsy Cline (in memory of Ivan)
Wicked Ways - Garbage

GEORGE AND NINA
i will always love you - whitney houston
please dont leave me - pink
wolf like me
Love song - the Damned
Howl - Florence + the machine
Bang bang - Nancy Sinatra
The killing moon- Echo& the bunnymen
I try - Macy Grey (before the scratch)
First time ever I saw your face - Ewan MacColl
Hurt - Johnny Cash (George trying to leave Nina)
should I stay or should I go - the clash (pre-scratch)

GEORGE
go wild in the country - bowowowow
Sign of the Wolf - Pentagram.
The curse of Millhaven - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Bark At the Moon – Ozzy Ozborne
Blue Moon - too many to mention
hungry like the wolf - duran duran
can't fight the moonlight - leann rimes
Neat Neat Neat – the Damned

IVAN
Death is not the End - Nick Cave and the Bad seeds

IVAN AND DAISY
we'll meet again - vera lynn
The Lovecats - The Cure (in the eighties)

KEMP
religious - r. kelly
all i do each night is pray- take that
God was drunk when he made me - Jim White
please, please please (let me get what i want) - the smiths
living on a prayer - madonna
Losing My Religion – REM

LLOYD
She blinded me with science - Thomas Dolby
coward - american head charge
Inflammable Material – SLF
it wasn't me - shaggy

LUCY
Bitch - Meredith Brooks
Christian Woman - Type O Negative.
Papa don't preach - Madonna
the Bitch is back - Elton
The sex has made me stupid - Robots in Disguise
Liar - the Damned
Loo – the Cult Maniax*
bad boys - alexandra burke
im a ***** ((female dog)) - alanis morrisette
stop – jamelia (for Lucy and Mitchell)

MITCHELL
down in the Tubestation at midnight - the Jam
Smash it up – the Damned (Coroners office)
Black Eyed Boy - Texas
Love Will Save You (But It Won't Save Me) - Swans.
sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
time is on my side- rolling stones
with black eyes - placebo
red right hand - nick cave
blood on my hands (used)
love stinks - adam sandler
My way - Frank Sinatra

NINA
If you tolerate this (then your children will be next) - Manic street Preachers
She wolf - Shakira
Nina is a Punk rocker - the Ramones
under pressure - david bowie and freddie mercury? (in the compression chamber)
scarred and scared - rod stewart
torn - Natalie Imbruglia
Temptation Waits - Garbage (first change)

TULLY
redemption song - Bob Marley
Born to be Wild - Steppen Wolf.
if i could turn back time - cher
the message - grandmaster flash and the furious 5.
Parklife - Blur

MISCELLANEOUS
Train Guard/Sparky: Sick things – Meteors
Trevor:Tuna Fish by Emiliana Torrini
:Stuck/Suck on you – Lionel Richtie
All in the “Facility”: Sanctuary – The Cult
Decompression Chamber: The Mercy Seat - Nick Cave
Episode 8: The Final Countdown - Europe
Censsa: run to the hills - iron maiden
The Three/Four-some: Stand by Me - Ben E King
The Fab4: monster mash - Bobby 'boris' pickett & the cryptkickers
Annie/Mitchell theory: Earth Angel - Chuck Berry
Any and all: Iris - the Goo Goo Dolls

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Life,Twitter, TV shows & more

Hi!
after a period of hiatus I'm writing back on the blog.
I want to do this tonight, for in the next 4 or 5 days I'll be pretty busy and have no time to do so.

I have a lot of things to say, this is really going to be a "life" post, rather than a "craft" post..as I haven't been crafting for long since my sewing machine foot decided to flee from my house and it seems almost impossible to find a new one =_="

Well, btw..
not much has been going on lately, and the new year hasn't brought the enthusiasm back into me.
I just feel like I don't have the drive to do anything, I don't know what I want to be "when I grow up" (and given I'm almost 28 it's probably a bit late to re-think my whole life).. I graduated almost 2 months ago and I didn't really sent away any CVs to any company or so.. it's just I don't feel like I really want to take my life into my own hands..probably I don't feel like I am able to face the "real world".
I've studied translation for som 8 years now and I don't feel like I can or want to do this as a job,but I can't do anything else.. so it's pretty fucked up.
I sound a little emo, don't I?
I know the problem it's me, my lack of self-confidence, my lack of focus and goals.. I know nobody else can help me but myself, but again I'm not sure I really want to.

They say "the only way is through".
I know it's right.. but I'm afraid of moving the first step.
I shall repeat to myself Bilbo's words to Frodo:

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."

Maybe I shall read again LOTR, it's always been a book f wisdom to me, "a light, when all other lights go out", quoting Lady Galadriel's words.
And again,

Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

My mum always tells me I was born to do something great, that I wanted to come to this world at any means necessary. But I can't see what it is. I really can't.

Stop ranting now.

If you've been brave enough to read up to this point you win a big prize: reading my ramblings about social networking and my favourite tv shows.

First, lately I've been pondering a lot about my relationship with the internet and social networks like facebook and twitter.
I started to use the computer and internet when I was a little older than the avarage internet user of these days ( I was like 19-20), I remember when Internet was a brand new thing, google didn't existed yet, chatrooms were something mysterious and blogs were even more mysterious. The first time I used to internet for some sort of social interaction was back in 2003, I was on an Italian Tolkien Forum where I met some of the most amazing people i've ever met. I loved everything about that place, we were a small and very tight community, we met fairly often, we fell in love, we fought, we had a great time. Then something broke.
It was only on my side, I was disappointed by some people, and I simply cut the wires with everyone.. at times I tried to get back, but then I just felt I didn't belong there anymore somehow.
And that's what happens to me everytime, especially in RPGs I used to play, although I kept in touch with more people there.

And that's typical of me, I just can't keep in touch with people. I really just can't. Even people I love so much, I live in this sort of limbo, looking to everyone in a nostalgic rearview mirror, my thoughts are always there but I can't stretch my arms to touch them. And that's how I lost a lot of people, I know it hurts but then I don't change. I am pretty much similar to the literary figure of the inept, the worthless man of many authors from European literature of the beginning of the 20th century.

Then social networks came.
You may think, wow! a great chance to keep in touch with those people you lost. Well, theoretically it is so, practically it is just some sort of superficial contact you have with them. And even so..I use them to talk with those with whom I speak every day via msn or skype.
Anyway, for me social networks have never been a way to know new people and just to track people I already knew. That's why I usually don't add people I don't know in real life..

..that was before the Twitter Era.
I saw twitter the first time some 2 yrs ago, a friend of mine used it. I didn't find it interesting, or easy, and I couldn't really work out its ways.. but then some months ago I started following some actors from HEROES (Brea Grant, Greg Grunberg and James Kyson Lee), to get updates and it was funny.
Than I started tweeting, basically my fb statuses translated into English, and after that I started using it on a more regular basis, now I use itmost of the time! XD
This shows how social networks can get addictive somehow.
Going back on the subject, it was only when I started following Kim Boekbinder (Vermillion Lies - check more info on her and her solo album project here, and on the posts below) and her webcasts, that I started adding before unknown people on twitter (those I met on her webcasts). And later people from Thread banger, the first forum I followed with interest in years after the Tolkien one.
And I found some very wonderful people.
some poeple I can laugh with, I can share thoughts with, some people I really like, even though I cannot really say I know them, but I have feelings for what they say, I care if I read they're sad, I try to help as far as I can..
That surprised me.

I read a tweet by someone random that read something like "I really pity those who use twitter to pretend they're friends with celebrities".
I don't think that's the spirit. I mean, I follow lots of celebs (as of today i'm following only 73 ppl), but only thos who interest me. But i wouldn't say I'm their friend. I just like to know what they say, and if I have some thoughts to share i just write them although I know they couldn't possibly read them all..
I must say some of them are really sweet, and do their best to answer most of their @ tweets. I really appreciate that, and they make me sympathise even more. the most "answering" are Kim Boekbinder, Sinead Keenan from one of my favourite TV shows (Being Human), the staff from BurdaStyle, Wendy Linn Avignone the make-up artist from Heroes..

...and this takes us to the TV shows bit of this neverending post.

I've been following some 3/4 series lately.

1. I'm waiting for LOST last series so badly.. and on february the 2nd is finally coming again. I'm counting the hours!!!

2. HEROES - I loved the show. I would love to see a 5th season, if they do something about the screenplay. This 4th season is turning out a bit awkward.. I don't see where they're heading, how this could end in an effective way..I'm not sure I'm loving it the way I used to. Of course there are some characters I will always adore (thanks for bringing Adam back for at least one episode ♥ - I love David Anders Holt).. but I don't know what to think of the whole show.. I think I watch it more out of affection than out of interest.

3. BEING HUMAN -I watched the first season in 2 days (6 episodes) and I instantly fell in love with it. The concept is original: a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who share a flat in Bristol and try to live a normal life. The atmosphear is very British (and that's something I really loved), which makes it very different from all American series, and very peculiar. Season 1 is a great blend of thriller, irony, brilliant comedy, great villains, great cast(the actor playing Herrick was incredible), good plot. I love the choice of actors for the main roles. Season 2 has started on Jan 10 and it's quite different from the 1st in tone but it gave me the opportunity to appreciate the acting skills of Sinead Keenan (who plays Nina), I didn't pay too much attention to her in season 1, but she's doing great in this one and I think she's being my favourite so far. Amy Manson is also very good ( I liked her in DESPERATE ROMATICS too) but she seems like always being a bit over-acting, I still don't understand if it's her character's way or if it depends on her.
That being said, I'm sorry we won't get this in Italy, because I think that's a quality show, and I 'm afraid of how tha American version is going to be, as I love so much the Britishness of it!

4. THE BIG BANG THEORY - As a self-proclaimed nerd I can't help but love it.
I love everything about the show, the characters, the lines, the situations.. I've watched the 3 seasons in like.. 4 days? Well! Now I'm pretty addicted to this! BAZINGA!

Well I guess I've written too much this time, you'll have 4 days to read this.
If you made it until down here, you should know I love you ♥

Goodnight.

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