XMAS BLOG PART 2: A farewell to 2008

This second part is a bit belated, sorry. Had quite a bit of stuff on and wasn’t really sure what to write or how to write it.

After deliberation and thoughts about it last night, I realised that 2008 was one of the worst years of my life. It truly sucked, big time. That’s not an attack on anyone in particular, but it did suck for several reasons, mainly because of my own actions…but there you go.

So I’m back in Stoke now and tonight I’m going to the Sugarmill to meet new people and I’m going to raise a glass to wiping this year from my memory. 2009 will replace everything; I’ll face myself, to cross out what I’ve become, erase myself and let go of what I’ve done – as Linkin Park so brilliantly put it. Speaking of which…

So here’s to the future! Reno is wishing you all the greatest luck for the new year and hopes you all have a fantastic night tonight. Cheers :)

Tribute.

I wake up every evening
With a big smile on my face
And it never feels out of place.
And you're still probably working
At a 9 to 5 pace
I wonder how bad that tastes

When you see my face
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell

Now where's your picket fence love
And where's that shiny car
Did it ever get you far?
You ever seem so dead slow
Never seen you fall so hard
Do you know where you are?

Truth be told I miss you
Truth be told I'm lying

When you see my face
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell
If you find a man thats worth the damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool you're just as well hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell

Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself
Where did it all go wrong?
But the list goes on and on
Truth be told I miss you
Truth be told I'm lying

When you see my face
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that's worth the damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool you're just as well hope it gives you hell

Now you'll never see
What you've done to me
You can take back your memories
They're no good to me
And here's all your lies
If you look me in the eyes
With the sad, sad look
That you wear so well

When you see my face
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that's worth the damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool you're just as well hope it gives you hell

When you see my face
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell (hope it gives you hell)
When you walk my way
I hope it gives you hell, I hope it gives you hell (hope it gives you hell)
When you hear this song and you sing along well you'll never tell
And you're the fool I've just as well I hope it gives you hell
When you hear this song I hope that it will give you hell
You can sing along I hope that it puts you through hell

 

XMAS BLOG PART 1: ‘Twas the night before Christmas…

…and all through the house

No blogger was stirring

Not even James Grouse (who’s he?)

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

HOWEVER!

Reno WAS! Muhahaha

What’s new kids? I feel rather humbled at this moment. I’ve taken another step into letting go of being such a wound up prick tonight. I’m embarrassed to an extent but I’ll admit to this because a decision I made last night means that I have to – for the sake of me!

I’ll start with the decision that took me here. I realised that this last year has seen changes in me that I put into place for the sake of fitting in. Look into the days of old Reno; from the end of High School through college I was very… ‘emo’… and that’s how i identified myself a lot of the time, though I would always say that I want to stay away from labeling people – particularly myself.

 

 

Either way, that’s what I was (or trying to be) but at the end of college I thought it was time to grow up and move out of it before uni, so I cut all the hair off and I became a wanabe trendy mofo (as seen below…)

 

I know this is becoming an ego gallery here, but I’m getting to a point!!

SO! I got to uni, trendy Reno, shortish blonde hair… then the independence hit and I realised that the REAL Reno never conformed and officially I never would – I know that even in the future I’ll still be alternative in some way. So over the months I became more hardcore than ever, see below.

 

Damn I miss that fringe…

 

Then second year came along and I remained the chick magnet Xcore that everyone knew for a few months. But then, I began to fall back into that conforming mindset, mainly in an attempt to bag a particular girl – subconsciously to a certain extent; I know that’s why I did it, but I never realised it at the time. I cut my hair off, bleached it, bought trendy t-shirts, and slowly became something/someone that I didn’t even recognise anymore.

Then Katie and I split up, and I reformed into the summer Reno who likes to be very emo and stick to the same pair of shorts every day and goes back to black hair.  I dunno if it was summer that did that to me or if it was my freedom from convention on my relationship. But now we’re all back in Uni and what have I done? Cut my hair off and bleached it and remained in my conformed old self, I still don't recognise me – and that’s wrong. The most stupid thing is that Katie and I still aren’t together and yet I’m still keeping myself this way for some odd reason…maybe to impress her? I don’t know. Infact that isn’t the most stupid thing, Katie and I first met and showed interest in first year when I was mega emo, so why do I see it in my head as compulsory to try and be someone she (and my immediate friend circle) would accept?

Anyway, I realised last night that being myself is the most important thing I could do/be at this point in my life, and if that means being a 21 year old scene kid then so be it. Within this admittance of who I am, I covered up a lot of things I felt would embarrass me as a person, but now I can’t be bothered with keeping my barriers up trying to hide who I am and what my tastes are. I criticise enough things in modern culture (see blog below this one) so it’s only fiar for me to take criticism from others than try and hide from it. So here I am, telling you that I like Fall Out Boy and I like My Chemical Romance. I downloaded both band’s most recent albums and I personally can’t get enough of the song ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ and ‘I Don’t Care’ from FOB. The thing is, I would be ashamed to tell people this for the fear of looking like someone who is following a trend or not being hardcore enough, but my music taste is so open in reality that I listen to almost anything! As a future Radio DJ I don’t have the privilege to close my music tastes, and to be honest I don’t think I’d want to even if I did! Music is my love, my life, my passion. I wouldn’t deny myself that for fear of reprisal before, so why do it for the last year?

RENO IS BACK BABY!

 

I’m really sorry for getting away with myself on this post and it not being very Christmassy but I want to tell you all that I’m thinking of you and that I hope all your days are as good as mine will be tomorrow! In the evening I’ll be uploading pictures of my day and there’ll be a special gift just for you (here’s a hint, novel exclusive…oh that’s more of a giveaway than a hint…woops!)

 

Anyway, sleep well peeps and look for part 2 tomoro!!

RenoXmas :)

Fuck Society – Fragrance

Okay so it’s been a while since I wrote a fuck society blog, and I felt compelled to write this one today after watching TV. In under an hour I saw the advertisement below, watch it and I’ll explain my problem :)

I’m sick of the way that rich companies will exploit the trademark of a celebrity for their own benefit. I don’t know if that is what annoys me more, or if its the fact that Mister McGregor would sell out in such a way. Either way, it’s shameful that either parties would do this. I mean, does the smell of your aftershave really have anything to do with the fact that Ewen went around the world on a motorbike? If you were to buy this rip off bottle of alcohol and urea would you automatically want to go journeying around the world…or better yet would you feel like you already have done? I don’t see what this advert has to do with the fact that it’s just a fragrance. Please explain or get off my screen. Damn pop culture.

 

Okay, anyway! On the upside, the novel is very much on the way now. I’m taking a new linear look on things so I can’t skip forward anymore. I’m not allowed to write chapter 2 until i’ve finished chapter 1 and so on. This has been my problem before, get bored of the current subject and skip forward to something more exciting in the narrative. But ultimately this gives me more work to do, as adding new characters in a previous chapter means I’ll need to go back and re-write whatever I’ve done in the other chapters later in the story. So instead of jumping back and forth in this endless cycle I’d rather just write straight through, finish, go back and re-edit in the same order. Makes it much easier. So, the first chapter is now entitled ‘A Brief History of the Past’ and gives a whole new intro to the story including a narrator you’re left leaving questions about. He explains the history of the Earth leading up to that point, it gives less of a surprise later in the story but I think the reader will appreciate it a little more.

Anyway, here’s an awesome music video I just watched on Kerrang! :) Enjoy!!

 

CHRISTMAS POST COMING IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS!!!

It’s all over

Merry fucking Xmas everyone! Uni work officially ended today when I handed in my final 2 assignments. Worked my arse off all night last night to get it done and I’m very proud of how they both turned out, hoping for a first on them – though obviously unlikely.

I want you all to know that I’m fine. Despite all the stuff you’ve heard me say over the last few months and all the stress you’ve heard surrounding my life, everything is fine. Now all the work is over I’m much more relaxed and I feel genuinely happy for the first time in a long while.

There are people I’ve been focusing on a lot recently, and they know who they are, and I hope they know I’ve enjoyed all the time I’ve spent with them recently. I feel like a changed man, a whole new Reno, reborn :)

I’m currently working my way through a bag of aniseed balls (or as I call them – sambucca balls) but its tough as i have about a hundred and I suck them for a long time so they each last about a hour. Phil goes through about 4 in 5 minutes though, so he is assisting in destroying the stockpile of pungent candy quite well.

Now my work is all finished, I’m officially not back in Uni for 5 weeks. That’s right, FIVE! In which case, I can focus not only on my dissertation but also my NOVEL! Yep, A Far Cry From Reality will go back into production tonight, and I’ll have an update for you very soon!!

Stay happy everyone, new post in a few days :)

Album of the Year

This year I have discovered a lot of new music. When I say “new” I don’t mean in the conventional linear sense, I mean the fact that I only just discovered it. Call it selfish or that it doesn’t count because some aren’t albums released in 2008, but it’s my choice and my blog, so…you know…fuck off if you don’t like it.

You may have noticed in some of my newer blogs that I’ve been trying to take a grasp of the blunt, harsh, direct comedy that Gervais and Carr take on, but I' seem to be failing…oh well.

So, after much deliberation and decisions over bands such as Job For a Cowboy, Madina Lake, Ash, Feeder, Everclear, Flobots, Frank Sinatra, Sufjan Stevens, New Found Glory, Jef Wayne and The Red Chord (to just name a few), the Album of the year goes to…

Alter Bridge with their amazing album BLACKBIRD. Without a doubt, this album comes up top. The others were good contenders, but this record is a piece of musical genius.  If you don’t know, Alter Bridge are the remnants of US hard rock band ‘Creed’ – who I know my brother used to be a fan of. However, don’t let this fact fool you, the sound is SO much different, and in my personal opinion it out-does their old material in every way. Take the title track ‘Blackbird’ for example; the shining 8 minute star among the rest of the blitzing tracks – it has everything; fantastic structure, clarity, complexity, changes in tempo and pace, an epic guitar solo, absolutely fantastic lyrics and a sound that has a maturity that is rarely found amidst the rest of the albums that metal bands are releasing these days. The song is not only powerful in a musical sense, but the journey that it takes you on from start to finish is so powerful that it blows me away every time I hear it. If you’re interested, I’ve posted the song below from YouTube, many thanks to Joenage for uploading it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now you’re listening to this wonderful song, what else can I tell you? Rapture went well this week, I had two shows (Tuesday and Thursday) as I was filling in for Sam and Mel. It was really fun to get in there twice in 1 week and play some awesome songs. It was flashback week and I played some of the best songs I listened to when I was 15 through 17, but a few had to be cut – including Rasmus by Paul’s hand. Shame.

Here’s a nice photograph from my landscapes module!

 

Stay safe everyone!! :)

More musical fun

Not got much time to update you guys, way too much going on and not enough time.

Went to see my tutor Stephen about my anxiety problems today, it was so good to talk to someone outside my immediate friendship cirlce about what's affecting me, and to get some advice on what to do about it, so thanks a lot Stephen :)

Photography book arrived today and it looks fucking mint, I'm sure you'll all get a chance to see it either in person or in a vlog very soon. My research book is almost finished too, so that's something I look forward to showing Mort this afternoon.

Here's another beautiful track that brings me to tears at times, but also makes me VERY happy too, because it's so brilliant.



Stay awesome ppl :)

My best friend

I need to tell the world about my best friend in the entire world.

Her name is Katieface, and she's the most amazing person I've ever known.

Over the years I've had a rediculous amount of best friends, and some are still very close to me, while others aren't. Either way, Katie has stood by me - no matter what I've done or said in the past. She's the most supportive, loving, caring, wonderful person I've ever met in my life (bar my mum perhaps).

Katie doesn't realise it, but no matter what her mood is, no matter what she's doing, how tired she is, how upset she may be, how stressed she feels or how "off" she might be feeling - she is beautiful. And when I say "beautiful" I don't just mean a nice word for pretty - I mean absolutely breath taking. When I'm with her, I like to sit and stare at her, even if she isn't paying attention to me - I don't care because I can just sit and watch her. Everything about her is so delicate and fragile that you'd think a single touch would make her fall over, but in truth she's strong, willing and determined in every single thing she does.

Not only is she beautiful in a physical sense, she's an outstandingly beautiful person for because of her care for others. She always puts other people first, and never thinks of herself in a situation - Katie puts Katie last, and that is very rare. Not only that, but her inner beauty reaches out to how conscious she is of her self image and the way she acts when she's around people - when she's in clubs she's in her element and she really does shine (even when she's downing a shot).

Katie has always offered me so much, and I've not always paid attention to that fact, but I'd like her to know that I care about her more than anything and anyone (I've said that a hell of a lot of times over the last few weeks, and I really do mean it). For the time I'm left here with her at Uni, I don't want to miss a single moment of her life, because it's so precious when you think about how much time is left.

Wherever you go, whenever it is, I'm always going to be here - with open arms.

x

Smile happy people

This song has kept me going a lot today
So listen and SMILE :D

Emetophobia

A few days ago I opened up to the one person I love more than anyone, and I told her the darkest secret I've ever had. Nobody knew this before Friday, but now I want you all to know.

For the last 10(ish) years I have slowly developed a case of anxiety and a phobia known as Emetophobia. You can look it up on Google for a more in-depth meaning but in the basics it is a fear of being sick. It is something that has taken a stronger and stronger hold on me over the last 2 or 3 years. It never used to be a problem, but now it’s getting ridiculous. You wouldn’t possibly believe how much it affects in my life, but I’ll try and give you some examples of how much it has changed me.

Okay so what does it mean? Well it means that anything that has ever triggered nausea for me in the past is something I try to protect myself from – by not doing it. The biggest one of these things is travelling. I LOVE seeing family and friends, and I LOVE going to gigs and seeing amazing places, but I’m so scared of my feelings now that I don’t want to go anywhere, it isn’t like I can’t leave the house or anything, but my fear of travel sickness means I can’t drive far anymore because my mental anxiety kicks in and it causes me to feel the way I don’t want to – not because it’s really there! I NEVER used to get car sick until a few years ago, but now it’s all I think about when I leave my current area. So Mum, last time I was at your house and I said I didn’t want to go shopping all those times you offered, wasn’t because I was too lazy to leave the house, it was because I was petrified of what it would do to me. It’s ridiculous, and I hate it, because I love going shopping with you.

In the second year of Uni I was so afraid of my feelings that it became a system of myself losing out on so much. Not only in class but in love too. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail with the love side, but the fears I had meant that I had to be alone every night just to make sure nobody would see me if I felt ill, and I could beat those feelings if they came around. Being a film/TV student, I’ve always loved all kinds of films and television programs, but after one film made me feel ill a few years ago, I tried to avoid feeling that way again by stopping watching horror films, then almost any film, and now I skip any part of any film if I think it would have that affect on me. It’s stupid. But because of that, it means I miss some lectures at Uni because I’m afraid of what they might be screening, and when I do go to lectures I’m afraid of what I might see, so mentally I prepare myself for the worst and I just feel mentally terrible. It’s so stupid, and I hate having to admit to this crap. And I hate what it is doing to my life. That’s why I’m doing something about it.

I’m tired of letting this obsession run my life, and I’m tired of all the problems it causes. I lost Katie because of it, I lost trust from my family and I lost a great friend last year too.

Don’t worry, I’m getting it sorted.

Chin up

I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house
That don’t bother me
I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out
I’m not afraid to cry every once in a while
Even though going on with you gone still upsets me
There are days every now and again I pretend I’m ok
But that’s not what gets me

What hurts the most
Was being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was tryin’ to do

It’s hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go
But I’m doin’ It
It’s hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I’m alone
Still Harder
Getting up, getting dressed, livin’ with this regret
But I know if I could do it over
I would trade give away all the words that I saved in my heart
That I left unspoken

What hurts the most
Is being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do

What hurts the most
Is being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been
And not seeing that loving you
Is what I was trying to do

Not seeing that loving you
That’s what I was trying to do

Just another manic Monday

Good gosh, things go from bad to worse, then a bit better, then even worse.

Can’t get head-nor-tails of my situation at the moment and it’s really starting to do me over.

Can’t get my head around anything actually to be honest, my work is slowly suffering – photography front to be honest. Haven’t had the time or will to go anywhere and take photographs to be honest, and I don’t see myself doing much soon either.

Yesterday has to be one of the craziest days ever, the amount of emotions I experienced in a matter of 12 hours was insane. Thing is, I would go through those emotions again if I knew I would get what I want, so now I just have to wait and hope I will.

So much other crap I can’t be bothered to write about.

Here’s a nice new Rapture poster for you!

See you dudes soon :)

The longest week of all time

Okay, so that didn’t last long

I’m back

and so are you

 

OI! Okay so this week has been pretty fucking mental, I decided to unplug myself from blogger for a few days, otherwise I would have posted a blog (or two) that were far too distressing for you to read, and you’d probs be worried about me – but I’m okay! Honest :)

 

This week the election happened, one of the most exciting things of our time, and to be honest its a big blur among all the lost sleeping hours and endless time I’ve spent in my room thinking the same thoughts over and over, so I missed out a little – but I watched Obama win as it happened, so I can be proud of being a part of that historic moment.

Congratulations Barack, I knew you could do it.

While I was watching it, I recorded the following video of Ricky Gervais and uploaded it to YouTube, and its managed to get more views than all my older vlogs put together!!

Been playing a lot of NES games on my emulator, completed Mario Bros 3, that’s a bloody long game mate!!

Went LRV tonight for some refreshing time away from these 4 walls, and I got myself a stupid amount of photos. We managed to create the LRV metal cru, where we scream to all the cheesy dance tunes – recording coming soon. But here’s the cru in action!

Just pretend I’m there too :P

Catch you in a few days broods!

Unplugged

The amount of time I spend in front of this keyboard pressing these buttons is pretty crazy, its pretty much what my life revolves around - that or my bed. It's not right. So you probably won't hear much from me for a while, wana get my head around my situation and what exactly i'm doing with my life (coz to be honest, I really don't know!)



Anyway, stay safe, might speak to you soon :)

Safe

What election?

A lot of people don't really care about the USA election if they're living in the UK, but it's something I take a lot of interest in. I love America, it's an amazing country and (though to blame for all this economic bollocks at the moment) it's my favourite place in the world.

HOWEVER

I HATE how some Americans speak
Honestly, it makes me furious
Thankfully the person who annoys me most is the Vice Presidential candidate of the opposition to my presidential support.
Palinn, LEARN TO PRONOUNCE WORDS PROPERLY. I can't stand the way she says Iraq and Iran with the I pronounced capitally, as if its some kind of Apple product. "I'm gunna go grab my iRan, it's the coolest new media tool!"

Also, it's said NU-CLE-AR, not NUC-U-LAR. Moron.

Watch this, it'll help explain...



:)

Pinch, punch...

So halloween was awesome, but I don't want to go over that rubbish too much, as I'm sure most of you have already seen pics or generally don't care. But here's a pic of me in my mask with my housemate Paul as part of 'Budget Kiss'



Currently watching lord of the rings - fellowship of the rings, and as much as I love this series of movies and the general story, I have one stipulation. Introduced in the prologue, the backstroy leading up to the trilogy spans 3000 years, and yet there is no change in weaponry or civilisation. It doesn't make much sense to me, are they in a technological time lock or something? I mean, all it took was for Aragorn to invent the musket and the whole thing would have been so much easier...or they cudda just used those massive eagles from the end to just fly oer Mordor, that would have been much easier! As shown in the following comical cartoon :)



Also, have you ever opened a ready salted packet of Walker's French Fries and noticed how much they smell of piss when first opened? Still yummy though!



Reno

Well look who it is

It's you! Silly.

Oh my goodness, yesterday was a ridiculously busy day, including the purchase of my 21st birthday present - YAMAHA DTXPLORER ELECTRONIC DRUM KIT :D

Dad came over after work to go buy the kit



Then we had some tea and he went onto his next location, so Mike and I got down to work setting up the kit and it was ready in no time!





Then it was time to get down tot eh ceremonial first play!





Then Katie came over, and I taught her and matt some beats. Also, matt brought his guitar and we jammed together!





Matt tried to serenade me!



And I got a bit of a head erection



THEN (god this is going on for ages) me and Katie did our planned cake bake day deal of yums!



and all our cakies came out yummy :D



WINNER.

Best thing ever, ITV catch up website, infinate (actually about 20) episodes of Jeremy Kyle to watch whenever, what a winning idea! Writing about it in my dissertation. Speaking of which, better get back to it!!

Reno :)

Stuff in places

Today was really cool, Bexox and Page came over, it was fuckin amazing to see those guys again!!

Here's a nice pic of me and Page, reunited after over a year :D



Just saw an advert on E4 for pregnancy tests that are buy-one-get-one-free in Boots. Now it hit me that this isn't a good idea, coz it suggests you might need 2, because the first one wont be good enough to tell you that you're up the duff. Why else would you need two pregnancy tests?! Teenage mothers having a piss on a stick party? Or is it to stock up for the next time your body doesnt leak fluids like it should do? Sorry lol.

Saw this video yesterday and it put the biggest smile on my face! Cant wait to have my own house and a few pet ducks :D



Also, what's the deal with the people who bought mums house in Bewdley selling it?!?

Check it out, someone buy it for me? :P

http://www.propertyfinder.com/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=502694331

More junk tomoro :)

The Test Tube Project

So I had a brainwave a minute ago, I'm going to start a cool new project as a part of my online media junk. It's called The Test Tube Project and here's how it works;

There's loads of places in the world I've wanted to visit but the money and time just aren't on my side. So instead of going to these places, I'm going to bring them to me! "HOW?" I hear you cry! Well it's pretty simple, I'm going to buy a load of glass test tubes off ebay and get them shipped to me. Then, when they arrive, I'll send individual test tubes out across the world to anyone who'll be a part of the project (will be included in my vlogs) and then it's their job to fill the test tubes with a natural object from their part of the world (like earth, grass, leaves, sand or water) and send it back to me! If they want, they can start their own arm of the project and I'll be happy to ship a test tube of Stoke stuff to them! If you want, you could even have two or three test tubes if you can think of lots of things to send me! Stuff thats more out-of-the-ordinary (like bird feathers) is still welcomed, anything you think represents your home.

Remember, shipping it back to me will cost you a few bucks, which I can reimburse is needsbe, but the charity side of it is part of the love for the project lol. Would love to hear from you if you're interested, drop me a comment here or send your emails to reno_is@hotmail.co.uk

SAFE!

Photogenic

Got a new camera, and I've been using it loads to take pics of random crap for the last few days, and what a delight it's been!

The day I got the camera, I went a bit mad, here's a few pics i took!







The reason i purchased my new camera was because I went to Feeder (and fightstar) and loads of the pics came out shit coz of how bollocks my compact camera was! So I took it upon myself to buy my new camera, but anyway, here's some of the shit pics I took :)









Sorted out my drumkit deal for my Birthday thanks to a certainw ebsite beating the Hanley store's price, and now Ive got an awesome deal coming my way :D Pics of that coming soon!

Oh, and look what was dumped outside our front door today...



We're half way to a doorstep baby...

Rollercoasters

Atm i'm on an emotional rollercoaster, and it sucks. I don't know whether I'm coming or going, and its a joke half the time because my mind is a hypocrit and I constantly contradict myself on everything I think and feel - I hate it.

I'm not going to go into detail because it'll be way too personal and it'll make me look like a fucking jerk, so I'm going to leave it at this - I'm cutting myself out of certain things for a while and I'm going to back off and focus on my education and a few certain people who mean the most to me, including the reconnection of friendships with certain ones.

Another thing, I miss a lot of people right now; I feel very distant from parts of my past that I dont want to let go of - mainly Bexox and Lito. I'm scared that this never ending loving connection that me and lito have is starting to fade, not seeing her for such a long time (along with us both changing so much recently) has made me realise that soon enough neither of us are going to be the people we used to be or had that connection with - it's one of my biggest fears right now. As for Bex, I dunno, I think about her a lot and I'm not sure why. I mean I love her to bits and I always think about her, as I do with most of my mates from home, but its different atm. I think its a part of the phase I'm in atm where I'm craving attention. It's stupid coz I always used to have attention from girls, its always been that way for years, and I loved it being there - like an insurance policy that says there's always a girl interested in me if I wanted someone to be there for me, bit of an ego boost I guess and thats arrogant and selfish and makes me look like a fucker but that's the way it is. Anyway, that insurance isn't there anymore and I'm lost without it, shares in Reno have gone down the tubes (not literally lol) and nobody seems to give much of a shit. The stupid stupid STUPID thing is I'm not even looking for a relationship atm, I just want someone to show some interest so I know I'm not a lost cause or something. I don't even know, like i said; rollercoaster.


On an upside to today, I went into town with Pixie for a bit and I got the new BMTH album 'Suicide Season' and tbh it fucking rocks. Here's what it looks like:



I've always supported the band and never downloaded their stuff (except one track from their first EP before i bought it) and I decided to support them instead of using a torrent - and I didnt regret it. Stay tuned for a full review soon :)

Anyway, go subscribe to my video channel on youtube, it'll make me happy, link below.
Click here!

Rapture is kinda fun

well I say kinda, i mean REALLY
and I made this

Shopping and Chilling

Took a while but today finally came, a combination of two days ive been waiting to arrive for quite some time!

Firstly came mine and Katie's shopping day that we've been waiting for since about 2 weeks ago - afternoon in Hanley exploring the shops and stuff - win! First though, I had to get my arse to a lecture that was completely pointless. We had a lecture for the module "Researching Regional Media Employment" about how to get your script to producers and production companies...if you're a writer...which I am, but a different sort! Speaking of which, the Novel will have a new installment soon, I decided I might have a cool section where you only follow one character through their battle in book 1, there will be 4 seperate character chapters to follow - then you finish the chapter and skip forward to the rest of the story - this makes the story more exciting and personal for the reader. Thoughts?


(That's the Ashley building - I was in the film theatre, close enough)

ANYWAY! Back to the subject, the lecture was slow and boring, and I was only there to fill the seat. I was waiting for it to end for the entire time I was there, I was so tired! I got back home and texted Katie, she was finished too and ready to go to Hanley, bu I wanted a nap for half an hour...I ended up sleeping for 2 and a half hours, oops!

Anyway we went to Hanley, weather wasn't bad, and I got quite a few things I wanted but some others couldnt be found. I ended up buying:

2 new sweat bands
2 new jackets (cheap one from primark for every day and an expensive one from TK Maxx)
and A new laundry hamper (what's so funny about the word hamper?)

I wanted so many other things but I'm sure I'll find it all over the next few weeks :) We got back and I looked at some pics Katie got printed, she went home and left them here by accident - what a silly Katieface :P

Then Emma aka "Pixie" came round, I wasnt expecting her for long, but she ended up staying for 6 hours haha! We watched friends, then Cliffhanger (what a movie!) and then I had dinner and we watched some Simpsons! It was a really really cool night to hang out with a new mate, and we've got heaps in common, we're gunna go to the park tomoro!

Yesterday I saw a report on the news about a kebab house in Wolverhampton that was still open and the owner was preparing kebabs while there was a dead body on a couch in the same room - wtf?! Who the fuck is that dilluded to think that's a good idea?! Read more about it here.

Done :)

It's all downhill from here...

It's funny, after reading Ricky and Karl's blogs, I realised that this sort of thing should be much more regular than me writing something a little funny every once in a while. So from now on I'm gunna try and write a post every night on the general bollocks that happens in my life! WOW FUN!

So what happened today? Absolutely nothing. Nah that's not true, went to my lecture and we watched a video about lesbians...well kind of. It was that BBC drama Tipping The Velvet from a few years back, Stephen (our teacher) asked if we'd seen it before - I replied with "only certain parts", everyone found that funny.

A lot of people were bombarding me with questions as soon as I got into the classroom about my blog and about my novel. Well on the front of my novel, its all a bit crazy at uni right now with so many projects on, but I promise there'll be a proper update soon.

The BBC weather is on, that woman is stupidly pregnant now, get her off the screen please - I want to know about the upcoming weather developments, not the development of your womb, CHEERS! :D

This weekend I was at my Mum's house near Kettering (if you dont know where that is, it's nearish Northampton). It was a really good experience to get away and have some time alone in the green countryside, but for some reason whenever I go there I seem to get ill; and this weekend wasn't an exception. The tummy aches still haven't gone away and I'm back in Stoke! But it's not so bad now :)



So after seeing how low the listeners of Rapture has gotten, it's time to start the new Fame Objective! I really want to start getting big followers to everything I do, it's a bit of a whim really as I don't know how good my stuff is, but I have a lot to offer - Radio show, blog and...what was the other thing? The novel rubbish probs. Either way, I want all the angles of what I'm doing that comes under a group of media involvement called "Reno Explains it All" - note the name of my blog :P So if you can help out, please feel free. Search for 'The Rapture Session' and become a fan on the fan page and join the group. Also make sure you tune into my show this week, it's our SALUTE TO VIDEO GAMES - i'll be talking about the best video games of all time (in my opinion) and asking for your favourites! Tune in at www.gkradio.co.uk on THURSDAY at 9pm (UK Time - American dudes check your time differences!)

One last thing to add, can ANYONE be a movie director these days? I mean, I know Madonna has done a few movies (one of which - Evita - I love) but does this give her the credability to be a movie director? To me, something says no... especially with unitard thing she wore all last year *heaves*

Okay, now I'm mad!

So it's just officially happened - just seen the first (non-holiday based) CHRISTMAS advert. Granted, a few days ago I saw the one for Disneyland a few days ago but that's more excusable as you need time to plan holidays, especially at christmas, so that doesn't count.

So who was it that broke the cling film cover on the frozen christmas left in the tuppawear tub at the back of the freezer faaaaaaar too early? Who else but



Think sofas, think FUCK OFF.
May I remind the money grabbing, never-endng-sale-marathon creating cunts at DFS that it is the THIRTEENTH OF OCTOBER - there's almost 2 and a half months until Christmas day, and so to suggest that you can deliver a couch before such date would be pretty much expected at this point - if you couldn't achieve that then you'd be pretty shit, right?

The funniest thing about the advert was that all the trees in the background of the advert (through the windows of the happy new couch owner's homes) were all fully green and it was sunny - YES, VERY CHRISTMASSY!

I fear that now these adverts have started, DFS will continue their barrage of Xmas ads all the way up to the date, and by then the whole idea of Christmas will already have the fun sucked out of it. I'll be complaining if this happens.


Let's make it clear - it isnt Christmas until Coca Cola unleash 'The Trucks' back onto our TVs, okay? Until that day happens (which will be atleast late November) keep your crappy fake xmas advertising ploys off my screen and out of my life!


THANKS!!!

Reno :)



(PS - Leosta part 2 coming soon :) I promise!)

Leosta - Part 1: The Basics

Ever since my Mac packed it in last summer I've felt lost without it, and it really sucks coz as they say "once mac, never go back", and unfortunately I've been made to go back. As a compromise, I decided to buy a new laptop this year with my student loan - fully equipt with Windows Vista.

Now, since I saw the launch screenshots of Vista I was convinced that it was a total Mac rip off and that I would never touch it. I still remain convinced that Vista is a poor mans OS-X, but I used that to my advantage! Use the cheapness of a higher end Vista laptop and use freeware off the net to give your vista machine an operating-system-sex-change from basic Vista into the ease and beauty of a Mac while remaining that Windows functionality and compatability etc.

So the first thing I did was to download ROCKET DOCK. This is the coolest thing I've ever seen for a PC - a fully customisable dock that you can take beyond what you can do with even the latest version of OS-X (Leopard). After the dock has been installed you can choose from loads of skins that are already built in, but you can also download more from the Rocket Dock website and other third party locations. I got one that is identical to the one that can be found on Leopard and then I added my programs, folders, recycle bin and then finally I added several items under a special feature that comes with Rocket Dock known as "docklets". This is a special addition that you can download and add onto the dock which performs certain tasks such as a battery meter or a shutdown button (both of which you can see on the far right of my dock below). Then I downloaded new icons from the Rocket Dock website (of which there are hundreds) and fully customised my programs to make it way more personal and unique than something you'd find on a basic OS-X dock (though I admitedly downloaded 200 Mac icons to dip to and from on my dock :P) Here's the final version:


(See full size image here)

Check out the cool desktop wallpaper I made on photoshop too, how cool?

You'll also notice that I've added a new theme to vista so that the taskbar is white and I moved it to the top to follow the mac style. You'll notice that it's still got a windows start button though, let's not go overboard :P

This new mac theme I downloaded also changes the general windows that open in the system, check this one out below (note the coloured mac buttons in the corner!)


(See full size image here)

So that's the basic moderations for the mac theme, move on to part 2 for the more impressive technical stuff!!

HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?!

Major craziness, I've let it all slip recently and I haven't made a blog or vlog post in over a month (in the case of vlog, 2 months!)

Wowzers. So what's going on? Well everyone's back in Stoke for the final year and the final push towards the "I've got a degree!...now what do i do with it?" stage :)
It's great to have everyone back, we've already had some great nights out and a few dramas too - but that wouldn't be life if it all went smoothly now would it?!

I spoke to Mum earlier and we were talking about gifts for my 21st birthday (which is on the 15th of next month for your callendar ;) hehe) and both my main gift ideas she has turned me down on! Can't believe it!! Firstly I asked for Guitar Hero 4 and she said straight down no, and then I asked for money to go into my savings and she said no to that aswell! I also presented the idea of a new drumkit for my room but that didn't go down well either, so if you guys have any ideas on what to ask for, please feel free to tell me (email reno_is@hotmail.co.uk)

As for the rest of it, well what can I say? Lectures are alright, learning nice stuff, switched to Dissertation from Film/TV drama project and I've already got ideas for my Photography: Environments project (hint: abandoned warehouses...that was less of a hint and more of a "it is..." ....woops!)

Anyway! Rapture is back on too, we've had 3 shows already, each running a full 2 hours long and they've been awesome :D If you fancy yourself co-hosting a show with me then send an email to the above address with "Rapture Application" as the title and a little info about you, your music interests and what you can bring to the show!!

Sweet, catch you all soon, Reno :)

Fuck society - Get over it!

So I'm at Mum's at the moment, so I won't be posting a video blog for a while. Instead I'm going to write this lovely little blog about my frustration towards another part of "normal" society, and here it is; Celebrities.

I am fully aware that celebrities are unavoidable, and that fame is something that is (in a way) an essential part of society as entertainment not only brings it's main purpose of entertaining (duh) but the popularity of the stars of these media outpourings becomes inevitable, and thus people develop an interest in who these stars are as people off the screen or away from the recording studio.

Now personally, I can (to an extent) relate to this but only on a base level but only so much that I'd love to know some of my favourite musical heroes on a personal level, but that's as far as it goes. I do NOT see the obsession with stars on the level where magazines base their entire publishing on the lives of celebrities. I was watching the news earlier and saw the report that HELLO magazine paid over £7 Million for exclusive photos of their new babies. Now, it's a nice little thing if you want to tell people about it, but is it really THAT BIG of a deal? Let's remind ourselves, THEY ARE JUST PEOPLE. In my opinion it's crazy, because by this time next week the whole article will be forgotten and there'll be a new issue out, will they have made back £7 million and would it really have been worth it? They are just babies, unless Brad and Angelina weren't in the shots too then it could be anyone's children, and thus this obsession with people prooves that ordinary lives must be so boring that they have to pay for magazines telling stories of what is happening in other people's lives, are they really that sad?

The other side to this argument is the flock of "messy" photos that these magazines publish, where they send secret paparazi to locations where celebrities are and then publish the worst photo and make up a bogus story related to this.



For example, I saw a magazine with a bad photo of Britney Spears a few days ago with the tag line "Britney unfit to be a parent" simply based on this photo, as they couldn't have gotten much else from anywhere else as Britney was in a private residence. I'm not a Britney fan, but I'll stand up and defend her right to privacy, she should be allowed to live her life without sneaky photographers never leaving alone. It's a fucking disgrace that millions of people in this country would pay to read a magazine that invades privacy and critises people's lives, when they can't find anything better to do with their own lives than publish this shit.

Nobody is perfect.
Get over it.

The greatest cheat that never was...

So my love for Guitar Hero was reborn last week thanks to the greatest cheat that isn't really a cheat. The "cheat" is called HYPERSPEED!

The reason why it is not a cheat: The challenge of guitar hero is that the further you get through the difficulty levels in the game, the faster the note board moves and thus the quicker your reactions have to be. So, by the time you get to Expert mode, the notes are going really fast as well as the having a rediculous amount of notes on the board at the same time. So, when you activate Hyperspeed, you can increase the note board speed by another 5 levels (which you can choose from 1 to 5 in the cheat menu) - thus in theory, by speeding up the notes further, this effect should make the game much more challenging - not easier, which is generally what a cheat is designed to do.



HOWEVER! Once you've mastered pretty much all the songs on expert, you're pretty familar the the way to play the tunes, and it becomes a matter of timing that challenges the player to reach his/her best score. In my personal opinion, the biggest thing that gets in the way of hitting the notes in the right timing is the amount of notes that are on the screen in one go (as I always play in expert mode) because you're trying to focus on the notes that are coming down as well as all the other rubbish at the exact correct time. So, the best way to look at hyperspeed is to see it as ZOOMING IN! Because you still have to play the notes at the exact same time as normal speed, but it means you can focus more on the notes in hand and (although you lose the ability to know what is coming next) it makes it so much easier tho play; and this is where it is effective as a cheat.

Thanks to hyperspeed I've completely mastered hammering notes and I'm able to play songs that I could never pass (such as Number of the Beast and Cliffs of Dover) and tracks that I had troubles getting through sometimes (like Cult of Personality) without failing once! It's brilliant.

Its great because it doesnt make the game effortless - you still need to have the skill to play the game at the selected difficulty, but it means you can use that skill at a more effective rate :)

The best TV show on earth

It has to be said that 24 is the best television show on earth. There are other television shows that I love (i.e. Futurama, Simpsons and of course the Who) but nothing in the world can beat 24. The production, stories, acting and cinematography of the show is unlike anything on television. It has to be said that the first season was a little slow and not so interesting, but it was deffinately essential as it set out the style of the show and essentially set the pieces for the rest of the series - ones that just get better and better. Each season is amazing for its own reason(s), and for those reasons the seasons keep improving, though in my opinion season 2 was the very best.



One thing that should be noted about the programme is the reccuring appearances of characters that have featured before but then take breaks for a series or two, and then return with new objectives and character styles. It's a testiment to the actors and casting directors for what they bring to the show.

On the other hand, the introduction of new characters with high profile actors is also fantastic, because the increase of acting talent means that the enjoyment of the text is greatly enhanced. Of course, the only way to pull in good actors is to gain a good reputation as a show, and this is proof of what 24 has achieved in the progression of the 6 series so far.

I'm currently watching season 4 of the show, the only one I haven't seen so far, and it has reminded me of how outstanding the show is; whether you're watching it for the first time or for the fifth!

If you can, get a hold of 24 (best to start from season 1 but anything will do) and get watching, trust me, you won't regret it :)

REAL Rock'n'Roll lives!

Having only heard 2 songs by The Brian Jonestown Massacre before venturing to their Sugarmill gig on June 30th, I have to say I was optimistic if anything. Before The Massacre hit the stage, my friends and I sat on the cool rooftop of the Sugarmill attempting to enjoy our drinks and each others company despite the lack of heat and terrible Ska mix blaring its way out of the nearby speakers. We remained on the roof during the support act and listened to the faint sounds of drums and guitars muffle their way through 2 stories of the venue amidst the general chatter of other music lovers who were enjoying their summer beers and the fading natural light. Returning from the bar, my good friend Mike (who had persuaded me to come to this gig) pointed out one of the members of the band sat just a few metres away. Mike was going crazy in his semi-drunk manner, just being this close to him was something that seemed surreal to him, and it became clear to me how much Mike loves this band. However, this didn't really need to be proved by this point, as he had traveled over 300 miles just to be here for one day. We came to the conclusion that this tamborine player sat just a stone's throw away was, to him, like Jordan from New Found Glory (my favourite band of all time - which I was coincidently represting that night with my free NFG tshirt that Bex gave me) sat the same distance away in my eyes. The evening continued this way until we realised that it was time for The Massacre to make their appearance. Now back in the main venue hall, I stood next to Matt while the others pushed their way to the front. After a short while the band appeared on stage, and my apprehension grew even more, I've personally never seen a band who look so visually disjointed in my life (barr perhaps the time I accidently bought tickets to a Swedish yodle-core band, but that's a different story).



However, I tried to look past the material appearance of the band members and waited to hear what they would provide as a musical outfit, and I'm glad I did. As the band relaxed into their positions and fell into an orchestration (which took just a few seconds, and yet I've seen bands so unnerved by their audience that they aren't enjoying themselves or playing well together until atleast halfway through their set) they took command of the entire room. I, along with the rest of the audience, was compeltely taken over by what these guys had to offer. It was obvious that they'd spent many years perfecting their sound and general on stage persona, and lead guitarist/singer Anton takes no shit from anyone. From the very start, there were a few idiot in the crowd who were shouting stupid remarks just to try and piss off the band and/or look cool. Thankfully, a guy behind me decided to shout "shut the fuck up you dick" - exactly what we were all thinking. Half way through the set, the remarks from the crowd had upset tamborinest Joel so much that he "quit again" and left the stage. Strangely enough, the rest of the band managed to continue without him. The gig progressed further, and I realised that the fans around me were as mixed as the band members themselves; there were attendants that represented almost every age group and "style" - from trendies to indies and emo kids, everyone was there and everyone was enjoying this rich musical experience together. I haven't seen so much talent on a stage in a long time, and it has to be said that seeing The Brian Jonestown Massacre (even though I felt a little caught out in my appearance and that unnecessary apprehention followed me all the way up to the first note) has to have been one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. One of the best gigs I've been to by far, and I'd like to thank Mike for suggesting my attendance.

Some people

This weekend I learnt how pathetic people can be.

I don't want to go into this too much, because I don't want to make out like I give a shit about a few certain people's opinions. Their actions do bother me though, if you don't like the fact that I make video blogs then don't watch them. That's fine by me, I absolutely understand that not everyone likes that sorta do. But, may I point out, SOME PEOPLE DO! So why sit there saying "blah blah you're a cunt for posting this video" when you can just ignore the fact that it exists and get on with your day?



There a are a few people (some of whom I have always respected in their own way) who have treated me like shit for a very long time. But, I've decided that by letting this go on any longer I'm letting myself be walked over by whoever wants to. It makes me a weaker person and generally a tool. I wouldn't accept it from anyone else in my life, so me being used to these actions doesn't make it any more excusable for you.

Youtube, and in fact the whole internet, is based on the ability to voice your opinions to the world. Do you go onto forums of things you're not keen on just to ask them if they were "starved of oxygen at birth"? No, because you respect other people's opinions, except mine.

If you don't like who I am then that's fine, but I won't put up with it being shoved in my face every five minutes. Get along with me or leave me alone.

Thanks :)