Schmap Guide!!! Photo Inclusion

I have a Flickr account and if you don't already know I am a keen photographer..... a few weeks ago I received an E-Mail from Schmap (An online travel guide) saying that one of my photos had been chosen to go through and be included in the guide....never really thought much more about it until again another e-mail came saying my photo had been chosen and published in the guide.....


www.schmap.com

The photo in question is on my Flickr site and is named "Stadium Gates"!!

Photography Update!!

So....... I mentioned in one of my first blogs about a growing passion for photography......think I am getting the hang of it now and will soon be posting some Photoshop Elements tips for the Mac in a separate blog.

If you want to look at my work so far please click the link to Flickr or click here.


My first tip will be how to create aperture, if you missed the capture on your camera!!

The Power of Twitter!

On talking to my brother about smartening up my Blog, we also discussed the new photographs i had put on to Flickr!, he soon after gave me advice on how to make my Blog look more presentable (hope its worked) but also used twitter to praise one of the photos he had seen - www.flickr.com/photos/mickyboyc/3863210082.

Before the "tweet" this photo had only 8 views! now only 8-10 hours later it has 100 views!!!!

How the power of Twitter and Macjasp can project your passions to unseen levels.............well that's what I think!!??!!

Creating your own ringtones for the IPhone on Mac

 

1) First of all you need Garage Band.

2) Load this in and click New Project

 

3) Ok. Now you need to go into your music and select a song ( I have chosen Alive and Kicking!), drag this into Garage band. (drag the orange song timeline to “1” if it is not already there!)

4) Now Click Cycle Region (the button next to the forward arrow at the bottom of the screen), you should get a yellow strip on the time line now. (see below)

5) As you can see the Cycle button is Blue from where you pressed it and there is a yellow strip on the timeline.

6) Now you need to adjust the yellow strip at a point in the song which you want as the tone (Please note this only gives about 38 seconds of song which I find ample for a tone), drag the strip to where you want it in the song and then click and hold the end to extend it to approx 38 seconds, I have chosen the chorus which starts at about 38 on the timeline and have ended this just before 55.

7) Nearly done! now go to share and click send ringtone to I Tunes, then in I tunes rename the file to the song title and drag the song onto your I phone from I Tunes – sync and bingo!!! Tone on your I phone…

8) Any questions just leave comment!!

(The Great) Depression

This subject is difficult to talk about in many ways;
How does it start?
Did it ever start or have I always lived with it?
Why did it start?
Is it just me, am I alone?
When will it end?
Will it ever end?
Why can I not defeat it?
I could go on with these questions, but will add my own point of view/experience.

How Does it Start?

I think it just appears; all of a sudden its there when it wasn't before. You sometimes find yourself talking to your own thoughts and attempting to answer them. You feel compelled to reach back and try to associate your feelings with a time, place or event, you then try to justify the association and relate it to how you feel.

Did it ever start or have I always lived with it? and Why did it Start?

I cannot remember when I started to feel depressed,or if I even was! but different times in your life call on different emotions. Loss, Loneliness, feeling low are all but a few. I suppose there is no “trigger” that I remember but surly there must be something that starts it off. Of course there are tablets to control it, but I always believe that man/woman has a will and a mind stronger than any drug.
Divorce, death, heartache could be possible triggers, all of which have an affect on our state of mind.

Is it just me,am I alone?

Nobody is alone, and it does hit many people in many different ways, the problem usually is that we can feel so terribly alone and feel desperately isolated “no one will know how I feel, or understand”. I often find that being frankly open to complete strangers can be somewhat refreshing, you have no worries of what they might think because they don’t know you, they can pass opinion without bias. This can give a totally different perspective to how you feel!!

When will it end/ Will it ever end?

I think people can have good periods and bad periods in the same way you can have good day’s and bad day’s. The length and quality of these periods can vary from months to years. Depression does have an end but when that is I can not say at this point in time that I will ever know.

Why can I not defeat it?

You can be happy doing a hobby, you can be happy playing with your children, you can be happily in love with your partner/wife. – are we depressed during these times?? or do we just not think about it. If you suffer from depression is it always there and do we just throw it to the back of our minds. I tend to think we do “hide it” and its only rears its head through triggers or events.
But as we know when we are doing hobbies or playing and laughing with our friends or family the body can release endorphins which naturally combat stress. This can only be a positive approach to living or trying to combat depression.

Live each day to the full, make positive steps each day, if you feel depressed, play with family or see friends even just hug or kiss a loved one. Never be regretful or look back, seize each day, take strength from what you have shown and learnt others and draw strength from the beauty of life.

Billy Bragg Moving the Goalpost Tablature / Chords

As Promised in the post Guitar’s, some tablature.

I will include only a few for now but will update later…hope you enjoy!!

This first song below is by Billy Bragg from the “Don’t Try This At Home” Album.

The tabs are only noted once below as the chord progression just repeats.

Moving The Goalposts

[intro]:

C C/B Am D C C/B Am G
e-------------------------2-----------------------------------
B-----------------------3---3---3)----------------------------
G----0----0----------(2-------2-------0----0------------------
D---2----0----0---0------------------2----0----0--------------
A--3----2----0----------------------3----2----0--(2)----------
E-------------------------------------------------3-----------

C D
I put on my raincoat to make it rain

Em D
and sure enough the skies opened up again

C D
I dreamed of you as I walked to the shops,

Bm Em
you were dancing with the wallies on Top of the Pops

C C/B D
once in a while

C C/B D
Gennady Gerasimov drops his smile

C D
and you can see that his aim's

Bm Em
a portfolio pregnant with gains

C C/B D
he's been up all night

C C/B Am G
moving the goalposts

Bm
like a jackdaw with a fiery brand,

Em
spread the news all over this land

Am
robin hood and his merry men

D
are never never never coming back again

[xylophone solo] :

G G C D

G G C D

[flugelhorn solo]:

Bm Bm Em Em

C D
I don't believe that love should be pain

Em D
so would you please rub my back again

C D
I think it's safe to leave them in the park

Bm Em
let's blow out the candles and kiss in the dark

C C/B D
heavens above

C C/B D
could this sticky stuff really be love

C D Bm Em
don't get dressed yet not yet

C C/B D
we've been up all night

C C/B Am G .||
moving the goalposts .|| x 2

Photography

I have always liked taking pictures, but I guess since I met my beautiful wife this became more of a hobby!

My passion became more amateurish than a hobby at friends weddings and parties etc, I found myself taking some really nice shots and then fiddling about with them.

I am currently using a Fujifilm S9600 still not totally competent, but I have taken a few good pictures!!!

Below is a shot of Washington Old Hall I used Photoshop CS3 to get the effect

My brother is also becoming a good amateur photographer you can visit his Blog to see some stunning shots of his home skyline he took by chance!!

I do need help in how to use the camera to its full potential, so any input would be greatly appreciated….

Sunderland Afc

I am an avid Sunderland supporter and try to get to the match as much as possible, since I think twelve years old when my dad was persuaded to take me I was hooked.

I seem to remember the score and scorer that day 1-0 win (Eric Gates) sat on the bar of the Roker End!!

Since then I was even more hooked and try to get to the games as much as possible, we have one of the best stadiums i think in the country and one of the best chairman’s (Niall Quinn).

Recently me and my wife had my daughter’s christening at the Stadium of Light!!

A fab day was had by all!!!

Guitar's

I have been playing guitar since the age of twelve my first guitar was a little classical thing that my dad had, dont think it had a make or name to it, I think its colelcting dust in his attic somewhere! those nylon strings set my fingers up good and proper for future playing....

Mt first electric was an Argos special fender strat/telecaster copy which I truly loved and spent hours learning, at the time my dad had acquired a Fender F50 and I honed my acoustc skills on this.

One of the first songs I atempted to learn was "Marie's the Name Of His Latest Flame" -Elvis Prestley, I remember my dad showing me and then playing it on those nylon strings for hours...............(appologies for the quality and singing)


So I finally parted company with the fender copy and decided to purchase a quite beautiful guitar the Gibson Epiphone, chose this mainly because one of my heros Johnny Marr
was playing something that just looked similar.





GIBSON EPIPHONE














I purchased a new Semi-Acoustic a couple of years ago a Tanglewood Odyssey nice to play, sounds better through an amp then without.


Well that my guitars, I am going to create a blog with some tablature on for people to use etc....

Me and Morrissey

Who put the "M" in Mancheser?

In 2004 me and a band of friends went on a venture to what would be and probably never relived the greatest concert ever seen....On a Saturday morning I arose to a street full of snow to spend an hour phone-to-ear in the hope of securing tickets to the home comming of Manchester's hero.

Alas 4 tickets were mine! and on the 22.5.04 we set of to Manchester to witness the man himself.

Supported by Franz Ferdinand this was to be a superb show with a DVD to follow which........I happen to be on!!

Mickyboyc

Why Mickyboyc? I here you ask........ well its the only user name that I can seem to find useable when registering on differant site's!!

So here it goes erm.....typical 33yrs old married with kids.

Working, underpaid as we all are in an almost satisfactory job, which I find quite unusual these days, is there such a thing as being satisfied in work? well it pays the bills.

Sport I love, football of course but also have an affection for Snooker but this seems to drain every year for some reason.

Music must be my main passion, listening and playing (Guitar) I love to do...since the age of twelve I have been strumming and plucking or at least trying to.

Lately I have been trying to learn photography...........