Revolutionary?

Since i was about 15 years of age, i have listened to Blink 182, i am never ashamed to admit that they are, and always have been, my favourite band. I enjoy every single one of their albums and the bands attitude has always been an escape for me, as i imagine it has been for millions of people.

Its never been about songwriting, talent or anything the "critics" would mark them on. It always been a passion, a sense of understanding i have with the way they are. They are a band who talk about stupid stuff on stage, but on the other hand, go on political rallies with presidential candidates.

As you can imagine, when i heard the news that Blink 182 had gone on "an Indefinite Hiatus", i was inconsolable. I was like a teenage girl who favourite boy band had just broke up. The one silver lining to the break had been the formation of two new projects containing the 3 members of Blink, most notably for me, Angels and Airwaves. This isn't to say i didn't enjoy +44, i really did, i even went to see them live and "When Your Heart Stops Beating" is still a fantastic album.

I just anticipated the AVA album more. Maybe it was the "Second coming of christ" style remarks from a very strange, and mouthy, Tom. The first album to come from AVA, was of course "We Don't Need To Whisper", which i really enjoyed but it wasn't quite right. It had the anthemic songs, songs that put pictures in my head, explained a story but not all the songs grabbed me. "The Adventure" was the first song i heard from the album, and i loved it, i played it over and over, start to finish, day in day out.

When the second album "I-Empire" was released a year later, it felt like the missing piece to the puzzle. It felt like the first album was a taster of what they had up their sleeves. This was it, this was what the first album should have been like. I can personally say that "I-Empire" was my album for 2009. I never tire of listening to it, each song has its own sound and feel to it and no song feels out of place. I couldn't even choose a stand out song from it.

The new album comes out on Valentines day this year and is being promoted heavily to coincide with the release of the "Love" motion picture, which was originally mentioned before the first album. For an album titled "Love" then there is no better release day than Valentines day and whats better, its going to be a FREE release. Tom Delonge has said that most kids get their music for free nowadays but still come to gigs, purchase merchandise and therefore still contribute to the bands financial upkeep. They have been given permission from Geffen, to self release the album at an estimated personal cost estimated to be around $500,000.

Now as some of you are probably thinking, "Whats the catch?". Well there is one. You have to sign up to the Modlife website that is owned by AVA at a cost of $6.95 a month, you do get to have webcam chats with the band, member only gigs, merch amongst other things. Is this a good way to promote albums for the future? is it a revolutionary move that other bands will follow?
The revenue generated from customers signing up to the Modlife platform would far exceed any amount they would earn from royalties through a label so why not take the risk.

Personally i think the prospect of signing up for a monthly subscription of $6.95 a month, to get a free album doesn't make sense. Its a backwards logic. The album is going to be sold on digital retailers for around $5-$10 anyway so why not pay the one fee, and get the album anyway?

I think the idea's are all there to produce a method for bands to attract more people to their music, generate more income and make it a level playing field for bands and their fans financially. But charging them for something, and as a reward you get a free album, doesn't strike me as being a good financial decision for any consumer.

I may be proven wrong, only time can tell, but the jury is definitely still out.
The album is out on 14th January. You can see the article that prompted this rant here

Top 100 Fonts of all time.

Whilst browsing round the internet, looking at new typefaces and things i can do with them, i came across this site. Its all in german but its a compiled list of the top 100 fonts of all time. I think its pretty obvious which is crowned the best of all time, one of my personal fave's.

Have a look round, you might just find a new favourite. Die 100 Besten Schriften

Inkmonkey Designs

Just another quick post, my homie has had to re-do his blog so head on over to InkMonkey's blog here

7 Rules.

I saw this on one of my regular design sites i visit, and i just love it. I think the placement of all the "commandments" as it were, are just spot on. I really like this style of layout, somewhere in-between a wanted poster and a boxing poster.

If you want to buy this, its in €'s, then here it is

Wedding Invites

As some of you may know, i am getting married in 18 Months time to my fiance Jaime. I have decided to design our wedding invitations, one to keep the costs down a little and two, to give me something graphically to work on. Now i am not one for going with tradition, i want something a little different, and i would like to start getting things together now.

I've been scouring the internet tonight to look for ones i really like, so i can use these as a basis for my own design. Here's what i have managed to find so far that really stood out from the masses!

Location:Mill St,Boothstown,United Kingdom

Abu Dhabi Nov 2009

Just a few snaps of my time in Abu Dhabi.

2009

Well 2009 was a great year for myself, hope yours was equally as rewarding. A lot can happen in 12 months and it certainly did. 2010 is promising to be a busy and even more rewarding year by the looks of it. My new years resolution is to actively seek out new employment, i have been all over the internet scouring the web for new jobs. My ideal would be for me to apply to the police once again but they are not hiring any time soon, so i have to carry out my contingency plan, Sales or Retail. Fail.

Well its been a while since i managed to get on here and update where i am at. I have moved out of my parents once again, after Jaime and i made the decision to put our Australian expedition on hold for a few years. It just felt a little quick and we need more experience in what our chosen career paths have to offer. The decision came about after we visited Abu Dhabi, we realised that it was extremely hard for everyone to come to terms with family members living 1000's of miles away. We haven't cancelled it altogether, we have postponed it for a few years. Its still on our agenda.

One thing that happened in Abu Dhabi was we got engaged! Yes, thats right, i popped the question. I even got on one knee, how good am i!

We've not set a date in stone yet but we have September 2011 in mind. I'm even going to see a wedding planner in about a weeks time at a prospective venue in worsley.

I'm going to upload some photos of my Abu Dhabi trip very soon.

Bye for now. x