I’m taking a big step into the world of work and generally for the future.  For me it’s a big change because I’ve never experienced independence.  All my life I have been home or staying with a relative, even during uni.  I’m excited by the prospect of finding my own way through life and being elsewhere in the world.  Don’t get me wrong, I love England but this is my chance to experience life a bit more.  Also I’m nearing my mid-twenties (O.o) and wish I’d have done this earlier but hey-ho…

Fingers crossed it works out well.

It has been a long time coming: I have finally graduated.  Any other person studying an art-based course would have graduated with a PhD by now but not me.  Nope, I spent five year at uni, taking on three courses on the way but still only leave with a BA.  Nevertheless all the hard work and travelling hours I put in has paid off.

Teddy of the mascot.

Yes, I finally own a university hoody, which is proportionate. My SoJ hoody has a short bodice but normal length sleeves. :/  Now, where’s my name…?

Uni. hoody.

Congratulations to fellow graduates of BIAD.

Image © www.advancedmp3players.co.uk

I have had this video/mp3 player for about a month so thought this was an adequate time to review the product.  I should note that I am a bit of a Sony fangirl but will try and keep the tinted glasses off, and give a fair perspective.

Firstly the specification (taken from the Sony website):

On first appearance the player is a nice size, similar to an iPod Nano¹, just not as slim.  The packaging it comes in is nice and compact but no charger is supplied so you’ll either have to purchase one or stick with the USB.  Quite light but the weight is noticeable when strapped or hooked onto the body.  On the touch screen is a sticker, with no important information, just be careful when peeling that you’re not trying to peel the protective layer off…like I did. -_-  Oh yeah, and there is no CD for the software included.  Probably for the best really it having downloaded it from the Sony website I found Content Transfer absolutely pants and unnecessary.  The interface doesn’t leave a good impression either, a little bit like Winamp in it’s early stage².  I should also note that files can also be transferred via bluetooth so you’re options are open.

Right, onto the more technical stuff.  Though is is a touch screen player it still has a “Home” button with the volume, play and hold button on the left side of the player.  The player is quick starting up and the touch screen is very responsive.  To transfer files is literally as simple as drag-and-drop.  The sound is beautiful, with the option  to set the VPT (i.e. studio, arena…).  If you’re into karaoke you can set the track to that mode and sharpen or flatten the keys of the songs.  Note that with karaoke mode you can still her the main vocals of the songs, they’re just more subdued.  The downside is you can’t create playlists on the go, playlists can only be created with  a computer – just sync a playlist from your computer to the player.  Again, don’t bother with Content Transfer.

I haven’t put any videos onto the player but from the default ones provided the quality seems quite impressive for an mp3 player – this is only in comparison to the Zen Mosaic, Sony S2 Sports Walkman and Zen Micro, which I have previously owned.

Hmm…what’s this?   SensMe™ channels is interesting and quite brilliant.  If you’re feeling in a certain mood (e.g disco, emotional, extreme…) the player will play the songs according to the chosen mood type.  Clever.

What else…there’s also voice recording.  Oh and despite popular belief³ you can easily sift through song/artist/etc lists, the letters denoted by dots on top of the screen.  There is also a “123″ icon and “etc” before and after the dots.  The only issue you will find, not surprisingly, is trying scan through songs which are more characters-based than letter.

Overall this Sony Walkman is nifty with great sound, as you would expect from a Sony product.  However, the price might be off-putting as it does seem dear for what it includes.  Currently, the price stands at £259⁴.  Also, if you were to buy the charger that would set you back another £8, roughly.

1. Having to mention an Apply product really hurts… [↩]
2. That’s an injustice to Winamp though. [↩]
3. Well, in short reviews I’ve read. [↩]
4. It was £299, mind. [↩]

An ego pampering moment whilst I reflect on the year.  Please bear with me.

The Good

• Winning an award for my pendant.
• The work experience at Charles Green.
• Getting to go to Germany for Inhorgenta with my friend and getting one final chance to go to our favourite takeaway in Passing – the food is so good¹.
• Completing the final year of university and having a degree.  I felt that I wasn’t going to achieve a good final mark but I’m extremely happy that all the hard work and travelling expenses paid off.
• Getting a few chances to work on commissions, which I love.  Nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than turning a collation of thoughts and ideas, of the ideal jewellery piece, into an adornment they can actually wear, or give to their loved ones.
• Completing my website/shop².  Thanks to my host’s help I finally have an EPOS to actually sell my jewellery.  Now, all I need to jewellery to sell…
• Getting to go back to Hong Kong and staying for more than two weeks.

The Bad

• Nothing worth mentioning here.

The Forgettable

• Tonsillitis.  In particular getting is so close to my trip for Germany, where is was too cold.
• It was also kind of the reason I missed the awards ceremony.  Not good at all.
• My final exhibition.  My pieces weren’t bad, they just weren’t finished trying to get them perfect was not going to happen.  However, it tough me one valuable lesson: to keep the precesses less and simple!
• Eh…some of the football results…

Oh how rude of me… Happy New Year everyone!  If I drank I’d virtually clink glasses with you but since I don’t I’ll give two very Asian “victory” signs.

1. That is good pronounced with elongated o’s. [↩]
2. Designed and imperfectly coded by me. [↩]

A couple of days ago I found, or at least thought I had, a legit boxset of Boys Over Flowers. With excitement I headed over to the cashier, whom then offered me a better quality version. At first sight the DVD box looked like a special edition one, all glitzy and shiny, and the price was a bargain compared to those that I had found online. The only thing that made me question it was the actual case, it didn’t resemble any of the ones I had found online. Nevertheless the price was great so I though I might as well.

When I got back to my aunt’s appartment to test it out I took a closer look at the glamourous box. Upon inspection, I realised that the cover is missing one of the main actors’ name. That gave me the first clue that this was not a legit copy. The second clue was the actual DVDs. There were four in total but placed in plastic sleeves, two in each sleeve – not to mention all discs were scratched. No wonder it was cheap…but…I wasn’t going to complain so long as the viewing was of high quality.

After inserting the first disc a wave of green pixels flashed across the menu screen. That, and the menu buttons didn’t match those that I had seen screenshots of. Also, the picture was not as high quality as was told to me (yes, I found it odd that a seller would use that as a selling point). After doing some research online I had deduced that the version I had bought was the Hong Kong version, AKA poor man’s recording.

I attempted to return it and get my money back but the seller refused and tested the DVD out, viewing it on what I guess is a 7″ screen, compared to my sisters 15.5″ laptop. She didn’t see anything wrong, of course she wouldn’t with that poxy size screen, anything would look HQ on that… It was pointed out that even on her small screen the quality looked low. After refusing to believe that, the pixilation issue was brought up. She tried to pass them off as part of the starry effect. What the – The excuse of the “green glitch screen” was that it blinked when the viewer was spending too long on the menu screen. Then she insisted that it was a clip before the menu. Amazing. In the end, I didn’t get a refund (she wouldn’t give one with a receipt!) so…either I take that DVD, take a different copy or choose something else. I chose a live tour DVD of Jay Chou, an artist of whom my sister enjoys and is known to have corrupted all things of technology within the house… Hmph.

The moral is: don’t by DVDs from Hong Kong shops, which are piled with assorted CDs, DVDs and the like that aren’t presented in an orderly fashion.