The Corvus Experiment

I spent the day walking from Saltcoats with The Corvus Experiment. The guy is one serious talent . Some pictures are up here but over the next few weeks I have exclusive access to take photos. There have been people who have logged on here and tried to leave abuse, all I can say is I know who you are and we’ll have a little chat at some point. I hope to get to know you.

Will is a fantastic local musician that is already through the later stages of the Live and Unsigned competition district finals, and is generally dedicated to music more than most of your zombie pop pricks these days. I mean who the hell likes Lady Ga Ga?

Have to wrap this up, mainly because I can’t function much longer. But this guy is awesome, links to follow.

Brain Information, Facts, News, Photos — National Geographic

Brain, Brain Information, Facts, News, Photos — National Geographic.

Fashion in James Watt

Emma Mcgrane;

Is a student at James Watt College who studies HNC in Social Science. Her favourite places to shop are Top Shop, New Look, River Island and Primark. Her look is inspired by what she sees celebrities wearing and what she sees in magazines. The celebrities she looks up to and inspire her look are Michelle Kegan and Cheryl Cole.

Today she is following a few popular fashion trends; her lace tights and animal print skirt are both very popular with the fashion conscious of today. Such items were seen on catwalks for the last Autumn/Winter shows, as well as being brought in for the Spring and Summer.

Her favourite shops cover a wide budget range as well as supplying clothes to suit every style and occasion.

Rachel Coyle;

Is an HNC Fashion Make-up student, and studying such a course puts a lot of pressure on her appearance. The 21 year old takes her time while getting ready to ensure that not only her clothes look fabulous but that her hair and make up do too. When we were talking to her she had just had a classmate style her hair as part of an assessment, this beehive-inspired look made her instantly stand out and catch our attention in the college canteen. When styling her own looks she likes to go for something a little different and be ‘out there’ taking her inspiration from the likes of Lady Gaga.

Admittedly her favourite place to shop is Primark as she feels that while staying on a budget she is able to get up to date clothing and also more unique styles that take her back to the 60’s and 70’s.

Andrew Boyd;

Is a student at James Watt College, he studies NC Media Studies and Production. His favourite places to shop are Primark and D2. Actors and the people around him inspire his look. If he sees something on other people that he is interested in and he finds it fashionable he will most likely go out and get something similar.

Today he is following a few popular trends; his leather jacket is a very popular choice for the fashion conscious people of today. His boots are very on trend with other students around the college. Andrew makes his own look stand out from the crowd by not following celebrity fashion.

Shelley Lindsay;

Is a student at James Watt College who studies HNC Early Education and Childcare. Her favourite on a budget shops are Primark and New Look. Her look is inspired by what celebrities are wearing, what’s in magazines and what her peers are wearing. She looks up to Cheryl Cole and is inspired by what she wears.

Today she is following in the steps of her inspiration, Cheryl Cole, and is wearing a brightly coloured nylon top, which gives her a sophisticated and classy look.

Festivals

Festivals by David Waddell

Summer is approaching and there is no better way to spend one weekend than sitting in a mucky field drinking booze and watching live music with thousands of equally drunk people. I am of course talking about the summer music festival!

For the last four years I have attended T in the Park festival in Kinross, Scotland and I have had the time of my life on every visit. As soon as it finishes you cannot wait until next year to do it all again. There is just a sense of freedom in the air, a feeling that nothing can go wrong and your only worry is do I have enough beer? T in the Park runs for four days, doors open on the Thursday about 3pm and it finishes on the Monday morning. If you have been lucky enough to spend roughly £200 on a Thursday weekend camping ticket then I would suggest leaving as early as possible on the Thursday morning.

We all meet at Irvine Cross at about 6:30am and set off in our hired mini bus. Although it is early hours in the morning we still have a crate of beer for the bus journey.  Regardless of the time, the mood is always high and a drink goes down well. The journey to Kinross from Irvine is about two hours max depending on traffic. When we arrive at the car park it’s time to get your weekends supplies on your back and carry them round to the entrance. This is about a two mile walk and is by far the worst moment of the weekend. It is important to keep thinking that things are going to get better because at that moment when you feel like your back may break and you cannot go on, you need to just power on through and it will all be worth it soon enough. After the long torturous walk we finally meet at the entrance and at this time we are usually not far from the front of the queue. This is the sole purpose of leaving at that time in the morning. Getting up early is worth it when you are in that queue, near the front and you are sitting on your little fold-out chair and there are still loads of people struggling on by you to get inside the campsite.

After the long wait for the gates to open it finally happens and it is met with a huge cheer from everyone waiting to get in and enjoy the weekend. Once the gates open and you make it through security, they search you for any illegal items. Sometimes the gate keepers are more concerned with people bringing in glass bottles than any other item and other times you will avoid the search completely which is always a bonus because pulling out all your neatly packed gear is a right pain in the arse. After we make sure the entire group, usually about ten of us, have made it through the security check we get together and all head for a good camping spot. Once we find a suitable area we get our tents put up in a circle with an area in the middle to sit.

We usually take about five or six tents, giving us our own wee mini village. We always take a large square sheet of tarpaulin that goes down in the middle area and that keeps the ground from becoming a swamp. This is an in incredibly innovative idea and you are a fool if you do not do the same. Once everything is set up it’s time to sit in your chair and open a fresh can of beer. That moment there is possibly the greatest feeling known to man. You know now that there is no more carrying loads of heavy gear about, no more queuing for hours and no more waiting to party. The time has finally come to get the weekend under way with no stress.

There are no bands playing on the Thursday night so it is all about drinking and having a good laugh. You would think sitting outside in a field for hours upon hours would be boring but with good company and good music on a portable cd player the good times keep coming. There are plenty of food stalls about the campsite for your dinner on the Thursday night. These places charge an absolute fortune so bring plenty of cash. After about eight cans of beer all you want to do is eat your weight in food and at £6 for a roll and bacon then you’re going to need some major cash. The next day is the first day of the bands playing and the drinking starts as soon as you wake up. The only way to avoid a terrible hangover is to get in about the drink as soon as possible. The next few days of the festival is spent drinking during the day and watching live bands at night.

I would recommend this experience to anyone and everyone. It can be a scary thought going to your first festival but once you are there it is excellent, regardless of the weather or even the bands that are playing. The overall party feeling of a festival makes it a must do experience!! Bring it on!!

Defenders of the Faith

When looking back on the summer of 2011, one thing sticks in my mind. Judas Priest. July 19 was the day I saw Judas Priest for the second time and remains the tied best live performance I have witnessed. At approximately 8:50pm the lights in Hall 4 went down and the modest crowd exploded. I stood front and centre, a position I had queued for eight hours to get. The curtain was still up across the stage when the taped intro of ‘Battle Hymn’ from the Painkiller album cranked up, the excitement level rose as in a few short moments the Priest would be hitting the stage.

Battle Hymn ends and the curtain drops as the twin guitars of Glenn Tipton and newly recruited Ritchie Faulkner power through the opening song ‘Rapid Fire’. Centre stage stands Rob Halford sporting his trademark leather, studs and sunglasses as he begins singing. Hammering through the song with pounding drums and ripping guitar solos it is clear to all in the room that Judas Priest are here to smash the faces of everyone in attendance that night with their style of Heavy Metal. Rapid Fire ends and turns into ‘Metal Gods’ the live set following for the first two songs the track listing for their ground breaking British Steel album.

The set list runs through every album with classic songs like ‘Heading out to the Highway’ into ‘Victim of Changes’ and songs the band have never played live before like ‘Never Satisfied’ and ‘Blood Red Skies’.  Every note pounds out perfectly, as does every guitar chord, tone and solo; drums and bass are as tight as any band there has been. Rob Halford, just five years away from his pension, patrols the stage with his larger than life persona, singing and screaming like a man less than half of his age with a controlled aggression that goes unmatched. The remaining classic line up members of Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton and Ian Hill are all into their sixties but by the way they come alive on stage no-one would ever know. Ian Hill never stays still, head banging for the full two-hour show. Glenn Tipton plays with a precision few can match.

The set-list closes with the thunderous ‘Painkiller’ and the crowd cheers for more. A few moments later the band return for their encore. ‘The Hellion’ and ‘Electric Eye’ are played from the Screaming for Vengeance’ album which then takes us into ‘Hell bent for Leather’ and finally Judas Priest’s arguably biggest hit, ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, to close the show. The smoke settles, the fire dies down and the lazers stop. Standing on stage taking their bow is, in my opinion, the finest band in the history of Heavy Metal. Judas Priest.

Tattoos

Graffiti or art

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ody graffiti or just pure art?, sexy or darn right ugly? , Like them or loathe them? These are the different views of many people of all ages, and cultures throughout the world. So I ask, “ What are tattoos??” and why in the 21^st century has tattooing (or inking as its known to many) become big business? I hope to delve into these questions and more to find out, also I will take a wee look back in time to the history of tattoos and the many cultures that use tattooing, and if that’s not enough I will put to rest the myths of tattooing and give you the hard facts.

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opular to self belief many think that sailors where the first to have and invent tattooing, to a certain point they did bring tattooing to the eyes of many, but in fact tattooing stretches back thousands of years.

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he word ‘TATTOO’ is believed to come from the TAHITIAN word ‘tatau’ which means to mark something. Legend has it that tattooing was discovered by accident, by our fore fathers in the Neolithic times 4^th to 5^th millennium B.C, and is diverse as the folk that wear them within the many cultures through the world.

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any cultures through out the centuries from the Bronze Age to modern day have embraced themselves with the embellishment of tattooing their bodies, either for status or to ward off evil. In 1991 a frozen body was discovered on a mountain between Austria and Italy. Through carbon dating scientists have put the body to be around 5,000 years old and have named him ‘OTZI’ the iceman. I hear you all ask what has a frozen iceman got to do with tattoos, well my ink fanatics I shall enlighten you, OTZI was well preserved, in fact that well that they found 57 ‘YES’ 57 tattoos all over

his body, some of these marks where found on the left knee, kidney area and the ankles, and simple dots and lines on his lower spine. Scientists believe that these marks where applied for therapeutic reasons, I suppose we will never know, but it does go to prove that tattoos have and will always have a place on the time line of life.

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he first tattoo was probably created by accident, when someone had a small wound and rubbed it with a dirty hand or got ash or soot from the fire on it. Only when the wound healed they saw that the mark stayed permanently.

Procedure of tattooing

This involves the placement of a pigment into the skin of the dermis, (the layer of dermal tissue underlying the epidermis). After injection the pigment is dispersed through out the homogenized damaged layer, down through the epidermis and dermis, in both which presence of a foreign material activates the immune systems phagocytes to engulf the pigment particle. As healing proceeds the damaged epidermis flakes away while deeper in the skin granulation tissue forms, which is later converted to connective tissue by collagen growth. This mends the upper dermis where the pigment remains trapped with fibroblasts, ultimately concentrating in a layer just below the dermis/epidermis boundary making its presence there stable.

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Attoos on mankind is classed as body modification, but on animals it is commonly used for identification purposes. In saying that during the 2^nd world war tattoos where forcibly tattooed on prisoners as a mean of identification in the Nazi concentration camps, but believe it or not the Romans used tattooing on their own soldiers and this was at the time required by law in order to make it difficult for them to hide if they deserted.

Since the 90s tattoos have become mainstream in western fashion for both sexes and for all ages between late teens and middle aged, right across the spectrum, the not so well off the high class folk are getting inked. Even toys have jumped onto the tattoo bandwagon. In2010 the makers of BARBIE thought it would be a great idea to release a Barbie doll, which was tattooed, and in 2011 the doll was put on sale and believe it or not was widely accepted. In general the latest research shows that 68% of the human population has at least 1 tattoo. I spoke to several students on the campus that had tattoos and most of them don’t regret getting them. One student Bryan Davidson had said, “ that he got his first tattoo that of a ST. Andrews cross when he was only 15 years old, and was not asked for I.D.” He also said “ I don’t regret getting inked, except for one which I have on my fore arm that for a puma. I have started to wear long sleeves quite often now to hide it, once I have enough cash I will get a cover up done on it”. My own personnal view is that tattoos are great and in a strange way helped me to build confidence within myself. At this present moment in time I have ten and would like more, I don’t regret getting my tats done but I would advise folk to think long and hard about getting one, AS THIS IS A LIFE LONG COMITMENT.

Report complied by Simon Bagley.

TOP TIME SAVING TIPS

TIME SAVING TIPS TO GET TO COLLEGE

By Bryan Davidson and David Waddell

In this day and age we all know that getting up and getting everything done in the morning can be a pain. Here are some of our favourite tips to help you gain more time in the morning in preparation for your day at college! We couldn’t narrow it down to our top 10, so here is our TOP 11 TIME SAVING TIPS!!!!!!!

• Sleep standing at the front door.
• Literally sprint everywhere.
• Wear roller blades.
• Listen to ‘Rack City’ to get pumped.
• Disposable pee bags to remove toilet stops.
• Seven showers on a Sunday for each day of the week.
• Be Nightcawler from X-Men.
• Invest in a Delorian.
• Apply for the job of Timecop.
• Invent Robin Williams’ kitchen from the movie ‘Flubber’.
• Shave all hair to be aerodynamic.

an opinion

Two gay penguins have been split up in a Toronto zoo. The gay penguins are gay because they nest together, groom each other and show general man-to-man penguin affections. Their species is in danger and they have been broken up in an attempt to get them to mate with females. My problem with this story is that the penguins don’t have sex. I wouldn’t consider a species to be gay unless they have sex regularly and mate for life. Otherwise, it’s merely a form of social interaction. Its encouraged a debate about homophobia and how homosexuality should be accepted as a natural part of the universe. This entire argument is based on a lie. So stop wasting my time with stories about two guys that are just good flat mates who might catch the odd west end show.

Speaking of much ado about nothing, the Frozen Planet on the BBC has been denounced as a fake after it emerged through information readily available on its website that one scene was shot in a Dutch animal park. The scene of the polar bears is a close-up of cubs nestling together with their mother. If you tried to film this touching scene in the wild you would be left with a bloody stain on the ice and camera equipment floating in the Arctic Ocean. I don’t fancy hearing Attenborough narrating When Animals Attack. On second thought, it would be quite amusing for five minutes or so. A politician has stated, after no doubt being phoned by some newsroom lackey or pulled up whilst walking to an important meeting, that this is a “disappointing development as the BBC shouldn’t mislead the public.” Why don’t they just put in an asterisk while the credits roll stating which scene wasn’t filmed in the wild. I don’t think the viewer would mind. If anything it would give an insight into the behaviour of the animals. It only takes a little common sense. I’m actually slightly offended that this was the lead story on the sandwich board outside the newsagents yesterday. And now I’ve spent 15 minutes writing about it, for shame!

Canada has pulled out of the Kyoto agreement because it wants to increase its oil production. Apparently the liberal behaviour of the government beforehand means it now costs the average Canadian family $1,600 to be part of the Kyoto agreement. That’s a holiday to Europe for every family out the window then. Maybe they could travel to Alaska when the ice caps have melted and re-create the beaches of the Mediterranean after Benidorm has turned into a blast furnace useful for finding God particles or whatever. China is wagging the finger at them and Canada should see itself as world leader when it comes to this kind of thing. They are well educated. They have a modern society. I struggle to understand why one country won’t take some responsibility on this and set a standard that shames the rest of the world. Canada can afford it, no-one wants to attack you do they? The US would rescue you if need be. So why not give it a go? I’m sure they are many counter arguments being lined up, but it would at least give the rest of the world some hope and perhaps raise a smile if they were to read a story about a large nation making great strides towards being adults.

*The US and China are not part of the Kyoto agreement

Jewellery From Fantasia

It has only been five short months since Simon Bagley started his Jewellery business “Jewellery from Fantasia” and already his products are a massive hit. His small business is growing fast and is sure to have a bright future with his eye catching costume jewellery and simple delicate designs already selling fast. I had the chance to catch up with him at the James Watt College Kilwinning Campus Christmas fair.

While setting up his stall, Simon confided in me that his business all started from boredom, from this boredom he came up with the idea to start making jewellery with the thought of earning a little extra cash while enjoying this unusual hobby of making beautiful necklaces, bracelets and pendants.

Sourcing his pendants, chains and charms from all over the world, Simon brings together the best of Australia, China and Japan to custom make his jewellery to order meaning his customers get the best possible quality of product that suites their personal taste. The result being that even before he has finished setting up his stall customers were surrounding him making sure they got some of his one off samples before anyone else.

“My personal favourites are my spider items” he smiles showing me two stunning gold and blue crystal encrusted arachnids, then producing one gothic black Swarovski crystal covered spider. These gorgeous pieces are one of his best sellers and really make the wearer stand out from the crowd.

But as well as selling his goods Simon was offering the chance to win some charming examples of his work through a raffle with first prize being one of the most popular items at his stall; a complete set of seven miniature Harry Potter books on silver chains. These intriguing little necklaces drew many Potter fanatics to the stall as well as those who weren’t.  He was also offering the second prize-winner a replica of Michael Jackson’s “Bad” necklace, with third prize being a beautiful copy of the Titanic necklace.

Looking around his stall you can see that the business has a great future as students are left in awe over the amazing jewellery they can get at such an amazing price. Simon is expanding his business rapidly with the starting up of his own website (http://www.jewelleryfromfantasia.co.uk/) and can be found on facebook by searching Jewlleryfrom Fantasia and his ambitions don’t stop there. Eventually Simon plans to open his own shop in Kilwinning, “It would be something new for the town and would really give me a chance to show off my work”. Also he is hoping to start making his own jewellery from scratch instead of buying in the parts and making them up, “I’d love to have my own kiln one day, melt down metal, create design and add my own jewels” a brilliant chance to let his creativity to shine.

By Robyn Mitchell

Photograph Of The Week

Photo by Tyler Menezes

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