Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

South African Slang Video


I've been Twitter pals with Clint for a long time, but don't think we'd ever met before. What better way to do so than by filming a "collab"? (Ooh, one of those YT terms that grate me, but I can't help but use. Like "collective haul" urgghhh, I digress).

Once I get a new cord for my camera I want to film a lot more - for work too, which is exciting (phone camera is excellent, but doesn't fit on my tripod very well). So if you're a YouTube-enthusiast head over and subscribe to NicetiesVlog.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Meeting Offline

Last Monday after work Charlie and I met up with Caitlin and her husband Rob who have been visiting New Zealand from New Mexico, and were in Wellington for one night. After excited/awkward meeting-people-from-the-internet introductions we wandered down Lambton Quay to the cable car - which is so expensive now! I'm sure it was a dollar each way the last time I used it. The weather wasn't great and there's a lot of scaffolding at the top of the cable car right now, so the view of the city wasn't spectacular. We walked back to the city via the Botanic Gardens (which they'd totally heard about h/t FoTC/The Simpsons) and Parliament, then around the waterfront to get beer and pizza at Lovelocks. Which I know isn't the classiest choice but the main reason is that it's two-days-before-payday and I knew gluten-free wasn't a problem there.



I've known a lot of people 'online' over the years and have met and befriended quite a few of the New Zealand ones, and one who came to live in NZ from the UK. But this was the first time I'd met someone who I'd got to know online and was just visiting. It was so much fun just chatting about their trip, our lives, comparing countries. You can read about their whole holiday over on Caitlin's blog - always interesting to see a visitor's perspective on the country, and they did a lot of hiking and exploring rather than the tourist hotspots which is awesome.

Five days of work to go until my Christmas break. I absolutely cannot wait, but this week will probably be pretty intense. Also, up until Christmas I am doing a sort-of Vlogmas on my YouTube channel - I'm not sure they're terribly interesting but it's great speaking practice and putting them together every few days is pretty fun. Watch them below, or watch the whole playlist here.





Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tattoo talk

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Mini Rambly Update

My sister Emily graduated from Massey University today! My aunt has the photos on her camera, so I'll post those at a later date, just a couple from my phone for now. Dad's face in that last photobooth picture is cracking me up. It was a beauuutiful sunny day, this weather is so ridiculous and amazing for May. The graduation ceremony itself was actually really enjoyable, I suspect it wasn't as long as those some of my friends have attended because it didn't drag on at all. Emily looked beautiful as always, and it was lovely celebrating with the family. Super proud of my little sister!



I ended up coming back to Wellington after dinner tonight rather than going to my parents' house. My birthday on Friday is going to be pretty busy with a couple of medical appointments (lucky me!) and just celebrating with Charlie, so I think I'll do some big time cleaning around home tomorrow and hopefully some drawing once my workspace is tidy again... Busy weekend ahead with another Arthritis New Zealand event on Saturday (I'm speaking on a panel) and a family lunch on Sunday. May is mad.

I'm being really common and listening to this song a lot lately. Those of you overseas may have already heard it after it got some Buzzfeed attention. To be honest I didn't see what the fuss was about when I first listened. And something about her face reminds me of someone from my past I have no good feelings towards. But after that one listen I had it stuck in my head and went crawling back to it again after a couple of days of  repeating 'royyyals... ruuuler' under my breath. I love her hair in this video so much. Super styled I guess, but it still kinda sorta makes me want to stop damaging my hair with straighteners and let the curls go for it... When I was at high school I used to wear it curly a lot, and it formed such nice ringlets. It's so damaged and dry now that no matter how many treatments I try, the curls just frizz apart. This post is going somewhere really boring so just watch the damn video and goodnight. Haha.

 

Friday, May 03, 2013

Lil Dicky

Our Friday night soundtrack, hilarious (fair warning; naughty language and bums).

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Perfect Sense

If you're viewing this in a reader, click over to my blog and let me know what you think of the new look.


A few months ago now, I was intrigued by the film trailer for Perfect Sense on YouTube, mainly because it stars Ewan McGregor and Eva Green. Hello. It's also directed by David Mackenzie who was responsible for one of my all time favourites (and another starring McGregor), Young Adam. Sold, I had to watch it immediately.

The trailer reveals next to nothing about the plot, but it's one of those films where you can't really spoil all that much by telling people about it anyway as shown in this concise tagline from IMDb; a chef and a scientist fall in love as an epidemic begins to rob people of their sensory perceptions. It's sort of a film you see to enjoy the experience, rather than to follow an amazing twisted story - though the story is excellent!

I thought it was brilliant, and if you haven't seen it then I recommend you do so. I hadn't really heard anything about it before stumbling upon the trailer, but I'm not sure whether it wasn't heavily promoted or whether I just had my head in the sand at the time of its release.

Regardless of whether you've seen it yet or not, the idea of completely losing your senses one by one is pretty frightening, and an interesting idea to consider. If it were inevitable that you would soon lose each sense, what would you want to experience before it were gone? I've made my own little list below (have alphabetised them so they may or may not be in the same order as in the film - spoilers are no fun) and would love to know what would make your sensory bucket list.

HEARING
  • Voices of all my loved ones. And maybe a recording of my own voice, too, since I don't get to hear what it "really" sounds like all that often. I probably wouldn't mind blocking out Wallace's early morning meows, but I'd definitely want to hear his purring
  • I'm fairly sure I would listen to as much Rufus Wainwright as my ears could absorb
  • I'm not really a classical music fan or anything but I'd want to attend something with a live orchestra. Ooh, like a concert of a film score? That would be perfect

SIGHT
  • Obviously people's faces, as many as possible
  • The night sky
  • I'd want to see as much art in person as I could - I'd, probably selfishly, want to see more art than I'd want to create my own
  • I'd want to see as much of the world as I could, which wouldn't really be possible if sticking to the film plot's time restraints. Thank goodness for my beloved Street View
  • If I did have enough time, I'd want to see New York, aurora borealis, and Guanabara Bay

SMELL
  • All kinds of foodie smells - bakeries and espresso and... ooh, frying bacon
  • Orange and sandalwood essential oil
  • Farm smells, beach smells
  • Dior Homme Sport

TASTE
  • The Marlborough salmon dish I had at Ortega recently - so good!
  • All the chocolate
  • I think I'd miss the taste of beverages more than the taste of food - so many beers, coffees, and milkshakes!

TOUCH
  • Obviously again, hugs and kisses and the like
  • Cuddles with Wallace, who is pretty much the softest fluffy cat I've ever met (also known as the most pampered)
  • Walking on sand and jumping in shallow waves
  • The feeling of taking off in an aeroplane, if that counts
Let me know what you think if you watch the film! And tell me what would make your list below.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Rufus on Ellen


Rufus was on Ellen last week (the episode aired here today but I totally cheated and watched it online. I am too impatient). Watch the whole performance here, and check out the video for the song if you're a Helena Bonham Carter fan. If you're not familiar with his music and this song isn't your cup of tea, I strongly urge you listen to the rest of the album, or better yet his earlier work - Release the Stars is probably my favourite. I have to confess I've bought the Out of the Game single on iTunes, but have only been listening to the album itself online so far... I'll definitely buy it when I'm back on my feet financially. Also on my shopping list will be a pair of those floral pants...

I need to start buying Lotto tickets so we can go see him again in Australia this September. Wish me luck.




Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Vlog: Ankylosing Spondylitis & Humira



What can I say, I'm a rambler! Have cut it down as best I could, but if anything doesn't make sense or you have questions - let me know! The blog post I refer to can be found here.

Saturday, April 07, 2012

Things that have kept me entertained

Hi, friends! Happy Easter, et cetera. I am feeling pretty good today, thank goodness. And thanks so much for your well wishes. I need to work out how to enable the 'reply' function on comments... I tried following a tutorial but it didn't seem to work for comments in a pop-up window, which is what I prefer... let me know if you know how to get around this, and I'll do some Googling at some stage too. Otherwise might just have to change the comment display setting, because it is a great feature I should use.

So, over the past couple of weeks I've spent a LOT of time alternating between sleeping and trying to prevent boredom. I've watched several movies, but I think I'll do a brief review of each in a separate post.

I watched the six episodes in the second season of Miranda, because I'd only seen season one on NZ TV - such fun. And Tom Ellis is so cute, but in a very charismatic kind of way... in that, the Google images I just looked at make him look like Ted from HIMYM, but he's far more attractive on the show.

I sat with my phone and read through many, many pages of the STFU Parents blog, lol-ing all the way. I am probably just totally slacking on this one since the site recently celebrated its third birthday, but this shit is hilarious. The term "mommyjacking" fills me with glee (and despair, I suppose).

I also read a lot of xoJane articles on my phone - not sure whether there's an even better way of reading it, but their mobile site on Safari is great; just a list of articles and super easy to skip way back in time.

I try and watch Ellen every day even when I'm healthy, but haven't missed an episode the past couple of weeks (although they seem to be playing repeats for the school holidays which is annoying. I hate how television schedules outside of normal school hours change... by all means, put cartoons or whatever on 8-3, but why do we all have to suffer in the evenings, man? Clearly when I'm housebound I get even more passionate about what's on the box). But anyway, I love Ellen - I don't know how anyone could not. And I have most definitely been known to spend several hours watching her hidden camera segments on YouTube.

I've been playing a lot of Draw Something, although it irritates me that despite parting with a couple of dollars for the upgrade, I'm still getting the same words over and over again. It's fun though, those interactive games are so great for super-boredom - always a bunch of games waiting for you or the last resort of starting a new one with a random player. My favourite is definitely Scramble With Friends, which is the Bogglesque, less-popular sibling of Words With Friends. If you want to play me on either my username is NicetiesCoNz haha. I'm not sure how you can find me on Draw Something, because I stupidly signed up through Facebook, so I'm just Alice J, which is obviously no help.

I really don't know what I would have done without YouTube on my phone and our relatively-new unlimited broadband plan during this time. I've discovered so many new favourite channels, but I'm incredibly bad at remembering to subscribe to those I like, which later leads to searches like "facebook rant blonde girl" and such. I mostly watch beauty gurus, but Charlie and I watched a lot of mostly-'90s music videos together on Thursday evening which was fun. And I came across Sophie Madeleine's Pumped Up Kicks cover, which I mainly love because she reminds me of Marie Schrader from Breaking Bad, not gonna lie. But she does have a beautiful voice, too.

I've watched wayyy too many beauty gurus to list, but I'll make special mention of Shannon from Palmerston North who's going to be featured on NZ 20/20 in the coming weeks. Those of you who are local may have to get past her strong accent as I did, but she's pretty entertaining if you enjoy that type of thing, and I'm envious of her on-camera confidence.

Yesterday was Friday, and Charlie moved my computer and art supplies into the bedroom. Which I know is probably super bad feng shui, but we have a small house and too many computers! And mine's the desktop that can pick up wireless, so it makes sense. I also think it might be good for me in terms of creating more artwork, since I won't have the distraction of the TV and the view - though the light isn't as great... but to be honest I do most of my painting at night anyway.

Not that I've picked up a paintbrush in several weeks now, though I have used my sketchbook quite a bit. I started a portrait a few weeks ago and then abandoned it, incomplete, and when I pulled it out of a pile of paper yesterday I discovered a Wallace tooth-shaped hole in the bottom right-hand corner. So either I have to adopt that as my signature, or bin it. Bugger.

Also yesterday I imported most of my CDs into iTunes, which was great because the only other time I attempted to do that was on an ancient triangle-box shaped Mac and each disc took like and hour so I gave up. I thought having my own computer would be handy in stopping those times when Charlie and I both need to use his PC, but it's also really fun personalising it.

Congratulations if you made it to the final paragraphs of this post! I know it's not terribly exciting, but as is my life lately! I'm spending some time with my sister Emily today - we're going to do some shopping and then film a video together, so that should be something interesting to post here! I'm not sure how soon it will be ready though, as editing it will be my first attempt at using this version of iMovie so we'll see how it goes. I also have a video to edit and upload of me getting my Humira shot... but no, I didn't do it myself. I tried. I really wanted to do it. But I had to call Charlie for help in the end, and it stung like a bitch this time too which won't help my confidence for next time.

Anyway, fingers crossed I'll be visiting my parents tomorrow for Easter Sunday, so very much looking forward to that. I hope you all have a great Easter break, and scoff heaps of chocolate.

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Aimee Mullins: How My Legs Give Me Super Powers

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Oh, hey there.

Hey everyone, I am alive! As I say in this video (which has the worst thumbnail shot to date), I haven't felt like blogging for several days now, but it's definitely not a permanent thing. Just needed time out to avoid this blog becoming miserable like me... not my most exciting video to date, I sound pretty sleepy and say "um" about 50,000 times. But I added two seconds of Wallace climbing down the wall at the end.



  1. What is your favourite colour?
  2. What is your favourite number?
  3. What is your dream career?
  4. Where do you see yourself living when you are on your own?
  5. Where is your favourite place to travel?
  6. What do you do in your free time?
  7. What are your favourite clothing stores?
  8. What is your dream car?
  9. What TV shows can't you live without?
  10. What are three things you need in your life?
  11. What can't you sleep without?
  12. If you were given one million dollars all for yourself, what would you do with it?
  13. Who is your celebrity crush?
  14. What is your favourite treat to eat?
  15. What is your favourite wild animal?
  16. What is your favourite season?
  17. What were your favourite childhood TV shows?
  18. Why did you start making YouTube videos?
  19. What do you hold close to your heart?
  20. What is one musical artist you are in love with?

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Purchases and Such



Irregular Choice shoes.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Miniblog


My friend Dylan just linked me this video and I figured you guys might appreciate it too! Sorry for my lack of updates, I've had a shitty week. Reveal of my Monthly Painters' Submission tomorrow, so make sure you check back to see that- really pleased with what I did this month.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Flash Haka


This is so badass! Filmed at a large mall in Auckland. If this is any indication of positive things to come during the Rugby World Cup, then maybe I can stand to tolerate all the negatives.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Gotye & Kimbra

I'd never heard of Gotye before this song. I've listened to a bit more of his music on YouTube since, though it's not really my thing so far (by all means, recommend me something though). But this song, with Kimbra of all people, I'm crazy about. I'm really looking forward to Kimbra's debut album next month, and I absolutely hope she blows up- I think she'll be someone New Zealand can be genuinely proud of. I often feel we're a nation of rather negative people when it comes to our musicians' success, so it's quite fantastic to have hardly seen any bitter comments on her videos and websites that mention her.

Check out this song below, when you have a spare four minutes. And if by some crazy reason you don't like it, link me something better because I'd love to hear it!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Blackout Friday

Since Blogger decided to have some Friday the 13th fun, I'm reposting this from yesterday.

I finished this painting last night for Holly, of her adorable dog Squirt! I have both this and a painting for Anna to mail off early next week- I really need to find a good source of cheap-but-sturdy flat mailing envelopes to fit A4 paper- any suggestions? I think I'll do the rounds of stationery stores over the weekend and see what I can find. That is, of course, assuming I don't get any sicker! I've been feeling pretty miserable all week, and now I seem to be getting a cold, just in time for the weekend! Joy! Oh well, I'm really looking forward to sleeping and eating and watching TV (Breaking Bad through for the third time, and maybe Sons of Anarchy which Charlie has watched right through within a matter of days) and painting pictures and being lazy this weekend. I even hope the weather's shit now that we have heaters, although I wish we lived on the top (or only) floor of a building- rain on the windows is just not the same as rain on an iron roof.

My latest Etsy purchase arrived yesterday from the Monocerus store- didn't I warn everyone this would happen when I got a debit card? At least it's my own money I'm spending. And it's not like I really enjoy shopping in town anyway. Hermit retail ftw. So anyway, it's a small pendant of an painting by one of my favourite artists, Egon Schiele- Sitting Woman with Legs Drawn Up- and you can buy one of your very own right here. I also have a gift, another pendant, and a book on the way. Tehe. The book I'm really excited about receiving, I'll definitely be blogging my thoughts on it once it's arrived and read.

If you haven't yet heard of Jack Vidgen, click here right now to check out his recent Australia's Got Talent audition. So amazing, and so adorable! Although I hope they fix his Bieber 'do. And if you've already seen it/once you've watched it, check out his cover below of You're The Voice, one of the greatest songs, ever. I really do want to be an Australian...


Happy weekend!

Friday, May 06, 2011

Watch this!

Dear readers, you're about to be introduced to an extremely cute short film, and I think as thanks for this you should all go and follow the dude who introduced it to me, my flatmate Matt. Otherwise you totally can't watch it. It's only fair. It's 12 minutes long, but it's totally worth it I PROMISE. It's a little 500 Days of Summer, but with out the indie kid cliches and below par conclusion. And the leading lady is far foxier than Zooey, I swear.



Adorable, right? And I was super excited to recognise the girl as the ferocious Nat from Satisfaction, whose name I've now discovered is Kestie Morassi.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Out with the bath water.


I really hate every month that's not summer. We're in autumn at the moment, and I'm so tired of wearing lots of layers for the freezing walk to work in the early morning, then sweating by lunchtime... or vice versa. I think I'd really love winter though, if I had all the contents of the bathroom above. My one qualm with our house is that it doesn't have a bath tub.

In other news, last night I watched the September 11 section (Part II) of the film Zeitgeist. I'd heard about it on a student radio station in the past, but it came up again following the death of bin Laden so I finally got around to checking it out, and discovered it's on YouTube which is super helpful. Watch it here. It's another of the US-Government-blew-up-the-Twin-Towers theories, but the carefully-selected evidence is pretty fascinating. I don't know what I believe, but I love learning about conspiracy theories. My life is becoming a mixture of days where I learn about new events at work and obsess about wanting to find out everything I can about them; and days where I learn about new events at work which make me throw my hands in the air and think 'fuck it, we really don't know anything!' Sometimes I wish I was a person who could just stick their head in the sand, and ignore everything outside of their own little world. I feel really lucky to be in a job where I'm learning so much about so many different things, but at the moment my brain is still learning to filter out the crap.

Image source.
Zeitgest link.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Adults

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Avalanche City


International readers; this NZ song is just so pretty, and you need to listen to it!