deviantART: by:RealmKnight

http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/22702461/ Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:40:15 PST
Since half the images on the journal CSS I had been using for the last year and a half are broken, I figured it was time for a new one. ~Touch-and-Go's scratched and splattered dA appealed to me for some reason, so here it is.

January has been a mix of hits and misses for me. After struggling with paper-shuffing, countless forms, several meetings, a ton of mail correspondence and two months of wasted time, I finally got the local welfare/student finance bureaucracy to give me some long-needed support. For those unfamiliar with my situation, here's a rundown:

last november, my community college classes for english, photography, film and graphic design eneded. As such, my entitlement to a student allowance ended until my next course begins in early February. I had been unable to find a job immediately after school finished, but in the middle of applying for next years allowance, student loan and general paper-shuffling for 2009's finance, I stumbled across what looked like adequate employment until then.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get information about how much the job (general assistance in a kennel out of town) would be paying me or how much work I'd be doing, so I needed to delay my paperwork for the welfare office until I could be sure of what to actually tell them about my "employment status".

A month rolled by, my benefits ended completely, and the training day for the job arrived. Murphy's law dictated that when I woke up that morning I was sick and could barely move. After leaving a message explaining I'd be absent and they should get back to me to organise a new date, nothing happened. After a dozen more attempts to reach them, I just accepted the fact they'd ditched me.

So here I was, dropped by the job I'd been pinning my hopes on and was unable to finish my welfare applications over, essentially broke and with no income. I asked the welfare office what kind of assistance I could get until my course started, and they buried me under more forms and red tape, and told me to get back to them after the christmas break. Needless to say my family got second-hand and bargain bin gifts this festive season.

Several forms, letters, phone calls and such later, I had an appointment with a bureaucrat o discuss my situation. She fed me the same "fill in these forms" bullshit, said that they can't do anything for me until after their two-week stand-down period, and told me that they won't even help me pay my rent until I get an eviction notice. On top of that, sitting in her air-conditioned office and typing on a computer more modern than the ones I had at school, she had the nerve to tell me that I should go "get a job".

Two weeks later, and still completely broke with no sign of any assistance from the welfare gurus, I called once more to see what was going on... They wanted me to fill in more forms and send in more ID and assorted information and to book another appointment... But eventually they realised that between two previous years I had used their services, three recent meetings, seven assorted forms and letters, numerous pieces of identification and correspondence... I had long since provided them with every intimate detail they needed about my life, living expenses, living situation, plans for further study, vain attempts to find work, and all the numbers and barcodes they use to depersonalise their clients. Thus I can happily report that I can now continue to feed and house myself. For now anyway...

I received my school results summary for last year the other day. I already had my results for the majority of my work, since it was marked internally, but the results I was awaiting were for my level 3 design folio. As the deadlines approached, I sacrificed my film project and then my photography folio in order to get this finished and polished as well as I could manage. Ultimately, I managed to get a "merit" mark, akin to a B. I was hoping for better, but it's still a good result, and tops off last year's study well. Here's looking forward to my Diploma in Computer Graphic Design course.

Until then, I seem to have invented a new drink. What I'm entitling a "Canadian Cow-tipper" is made by shaking a shot of vodka with half a shot of maple syrup and a cup of milk through ice. Serve on the rocks or straight up, as per your tastes (I prefer on the rocks)

~RealmKnight obligatory holiday season journal ahoy http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/22180478/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/22180478/ Thu, 25 Dec 2008 02:51:00 PST

Merry pagan-ritual-marking-the-winter-solstice-bastardised-by-christianity-then-hijacked-by-neocapitalism. I've had a neat day hanging out with my girlfriend and family at a traditionally (for my family) CHAOTIC lunch. I got some neat presents, ranging from a Lapinator through vouchers, sweets, money and a stylish new hoodie. Although the run-up to today was laden with fail...

The prepaid visa I bought for online shopping didn't have enough money on it for the presents I wanted to order, I ran out of money for the presents I wanted to buy, I was sick on the day I was meant to sort out a job and subsequently can't get in contact with the boss, studylink/WINZ (NZ student finance and welfare organisations, respectively) have me wrapped in red tape somewhere between having no student allowance and no temporary unemployment benefit.

So... I'd like to remind everyone My services are for hire and my art is for sale. As my subtitle has said for some time - I "will deviate for food"

on a lighter note, here are some similarly spectacular christmas fails to entertain you:

[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]

So happy holidays: Wonderful winterval, merry christmas, brilliant boxing day, Joyous Yule, happy Hanukkah, fantastic festivus, and a prosperous new year!

Journal Layout and CSS
Made by Lily A. Seidel `Lilyas

]]> ~RealmKnight Commissions, sales and services http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/21691544/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/21691544/ Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:20:12 PST

I am now officially taking requests for creative work. Requests will be processed on a "first come, first served" basis.

Pricing is approximated based on New Zealand minimum wage for the reasonable amount of time a work would take, plus a little extra for any further resources I may need to provide (eg, items purchased to photograph or third-party stock used). Payment will be via paypal. I will provide a heavily watermarked and low-resolution copy of the work as a sample before requesting payment, then provide the full product upon receiving payment.

What kind of artist Am I?
I am an experienced art student with training in photography and graphic design. I have a 10mp Canon Powershot A640 camera which takes some of the best photos you can get from a non SLR. I use GIMP for photo retouching, photo-manipulation, and other design tasks, and also use Inkscape for vector editing.

What can I provide?

Stock Photography: Request anything within reason and I'll create a set of high-resolution shots for you to use as you wish. $10+(75% cost of items) for full usage rights.
[link]

Photo Retouching: Provide a photo and I can fix imperfections like red eyes, add simple effects such as sepia tones, turn a photo into pop-art, or simply improve the lighting and colours. $5.
[link]

Photo Editing: A step up from a retouch, a photo edit involves taking a photo and adding or subtracting entire elements. Was someone missing when you took that family photograph? I can bring them there for as little as $10
[link]

Photo-manipulation: This covers taking several photos and creating a work of art from them. Want an amusing shot of yourself as a superhero, or a spectacular image that could represent an entire ideal? $20-$40 depending on complexity, number of images involved and whether I need to outsource stock images.
[link]

Logo Design: I can provide simple to moderate logotypes and typography, conceptualisation and branding services. $10 - $40 depending on complexity, number of designs required and number of concepts.
[link]

Poster/cover design: I can work with images you provide to create poster or cover artwork in a style of your choice. $10 - $30
[link]

Anything else: I will consider any other kind of request as long as it is within the realm of photography or graphic design.
[link]

What wont I do?
I will not work on anything that is hateful, slanderous, pornographic, discriminatory or otherwise unethical. I will however support freedom of speech and peaceful protest. For example - There is a difference between saying you disagree with a country's foreign policies and saying citizens of that country deserve a gruesome death.

What can you do with your commissioned work?
This depends on what the work is, but generally you can do anything except claim the work was created by you.

What do I do with finished commissions? Generally I would upload it to my deviantART page and licence it "Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative-works", making it free to share as long as I'm credited and it isn't edited. If you would like it to be released into the public domain or kept private instead, that isn't a problem.

Any other notes?
I am only human - I can't guarantee my work will be finished as quickly as you might like, but I can promise to deliver a product that is as good as my skills will allow.

Prices are estimates ONLY. They might swing wildly in either direction due to pricing of additional materials, extra time required or further requests during the conceptual stages. But I promise I will be fair with my pricing and never ask for more than 133% of the estimated price.

Contacting me
Leave a message on this journal, note me, E-mail me, or call/text my cellphone: (+64) 027 636 4454

Thanks, I'm looking forward to working with you.
-Andrew, "RealmKnight"

My Deviations

~RealmKnight Political commentary ftw http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/21503454/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/21503454/ Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:21:11 PST

Congratulations to the United States for electing a man who transcends political ideologies, religious differences, racial tensions, social planes and class barriers. As he said in his own words, not everyone will agree with his decisions and he will make mistakes, but Barack Obama is the symbol and harbinger of the change the US and the world has needed for a long time.

Unfortunately for NZ however, we ultimately decided the change we wanted was "change for the hell of it" rather than "change we need", and our leadership took a sad swing to the right-wing.

I'll be analysing a few issues that led to this and expressing my concerns for what this might lead to.

John Key gained quick momentum by attacking Labour's failed or unpopular policies, while leaching off to their successes by saying "we're gonna keep this Labour policy even though we voted and campaigned against it". In doing so he undermined Labour's achievements and downplayed National's moves against these steps forward. He also struck a nerve with the fact that most of NZ was bored and/or sick of Helen Clark, and proceeded to attack her over every issue big and small while refusing to be transparent over his own agenda - lashing out at a journalist who held his party accountable for the worrying statements made to party supporters behind closed doors.

Labour ran what had to be one of the worst political campaigns I have ever seen, claiming that we can "trust" Helen in spite of the numerous scandals she has been involved in (speed-gate, painter-gate, corn-gate etc). I personally think Helen should have stood down as PM candidate and let Phill Goff become the new face of Labour BEFORE she killed the election for her party.

Fresh leadership for Labour and a new coalition with the Greens and the Maori party is EXACTLY the change New Zealand needed in my opinion. Unfortunately, neither Labour nor the Maori party were able to deliver this change, and the majority of people who wanted something new from the government were left with only one option - the patently two-faced banker John Key.

What I expect of him is to run the country and government as if it's a corporation instead of a civil service. His reaction to the World Economic CrisisÂ is to give the rich people more tax cuts, tell the working class to work harder, and to "encourage" beneficiaries to find work with financial blackmail. I simply don't see how this is fair when cronies like him are the reason the world is in this mess.

I can't say I'm looking forward to the next three years of government. National offers nothing to the people who need the governments help, and I'm not ashamed to admit - nor should I be - that this includes myself. I'm currently unemployed and looking for a summer/part-time job to help me live while I study a diploma of Computer Graphic Design next year. National wants to make it possible for employers to fire their employees WITHOUT REASON after three months. This is fucking outrageous. There is NO EXCUSE for denying someone their employment and financial well-being when they have done nothing wrong in their work. Existing laws about firing employees who are lousy workers or put the company into disrepute are more than all a boss needs to dispatch non-constructive employees - this policy is nothing more than a resounding "fuck you" to people looking to get into the workforce, and provides another reason for unemployment beneficiaries to be reluctant to try and get back to working.

I wonder - can we fire John in three months once New Zealand realises the mistake it made?

Journal Layout and CSS
Made by Lily A. Seidel `http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/21307419/ Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:39:08 PST

Better known as Twenty - the age I am today. I received a ton of money and vouchers from my family, and put them towards scoring a new phone, co-incidentally at half price

Reflecting on this is quite a deal to me - this age isn't just any normal birthday. I am no longer a teenager, and have reached the first major chronological milestone of my adult life. I can now legally purchase mild narcotics and gamble, thus I am liberated from all age-based restriction in New Zealand law. I have experienced roughly a quarter of my life expectancy, and have all the world ahead of me.

This seemed as good a time as I'd ever get to make a list of things to aim for in my life. "Things to do before I die", so to speak.

In other news, the '08 school year is nearly over. I've shelved my film project to work on my more important Graphic design and Photography portfolios. I have a ton of photos and designs to share, but can't spare the time or effort to upload them to dA when I need to finish the final pieces to the highest quality I can muster. But in another week, I'll begin a binge of uploading all my latest designs, photos and perhaps a few pieces of stock film.

The US election is also today. I endorse Obama and would encourage everyone to vote for a man who transcends race, religion, socio-economics and political compasses, encourages diplomacy, social fairness, economic stability and cultural sensitivity.

This being said, I don't want anyone to be lulled into thinking Obama is perfect. He looks the other way while Israeli forces commit war-crimes against Palestinian civilians, supports the corrupt mega-corporatism that funded his massively expensive campaign, and is willing to give money culled from public tax to wealthy christian groups. However, so does McCain.

But after the horrors of eight years of Bush/Cheney, Here's to a lighter shade of grey

As for the NZ elections, it's coming down to whether people are sick of Helen Clark enough to kick her out and let John Key in - even though he's a douche. At least if he gets in he'll do something about New Zealand's worthless broadband

Journal Layout and CSS
Made by Lily A. Seidel `Lilyas

]]> ~RealmKnight Natcoll, epic logos and politic-cetera http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/20850058/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/20850058/ Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:16:43 PDT

Starting off with good positive stuff, I'm proud to say I've been accepted into Natcoll Design Technology institute to study towards a diploma in computer graphic design next year. I'm looking forward to learning all I can from one of the most cutting-edge schools in the country, and not having to worry about interest on the $6-7k+ student loan I'll need to get is a blessing.

The NZ Green party (who I support

) are committed to doing things to help out the future of NZ citizenry like making buses more convenient and affordable, student allowances available to everyone, keeping student loans interest-free, and raising the minimum wage.

I've submitted my entry into the "Epic logo, epic challenge" contest, and have my fingers crossed that my design will make a splash. I'm also rather bemused at dA using a competition to create their next logo. It's a nice way to say deviantART is a community when something as important as its very image is open to its members to create. Logistically, it also saves the dA staff a LOT of money and time for them to invest elsewhere. How does running a competition and paying a whopping 2.5 grand to the winner SAVE them time and money? Quite simply, the prize money is equal to paying just the top 100 designers in the community at US minimum wage of ~$7 an hour to come up with concepts and designs in a time frame of 4-5 hours. Instead, they've got hundreds to potentially thousands (based on the article having over 2,500

so far) of deviants working for free, using as much of their own time as they feel necessary, sometimes over three working days of work. All this for a one-time payment of $2,500 to a single designer who crafts the winning design.

It's official - Sarah Palin is the next George Bush in terms of being a joke of a politician. I'm glad to see the relatively sane Obama getting some headway in the polls. In all honesty, I'm not in any way a fan of the democrat party - they're just the only viable alternative to republican. I wish the swing and independent voters could give some power to third-party and independent politicians, as the "red vs blue" situation doesn't seem to be solving many problems - instead of making fair compromises, the right vs center approach is instead polarising - preferring to push whichever standpoint forms the majority upon the rest of the population.

For example, in the case of gay marriage, instead of creating a fair compromise law for "civil unions" in order to give gays the legal rights of marriage without the religious connotations that make the issue so divisive, one side wants to ammend the constitution to prevent same-gendered relationships from being legally binding, while the other wants to force people who are ridiculously comfortable with the idea to "put up with it". I believe in full rights for everyone, but pushing a hot potato into a climate that isn't as open-minded as it should be could potentially make matters worse.

Back to New Zealand, what we are witnessing is a break-down of the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system that ensures minor parties who hold the sway in governments can have their voices and the voices of their voters counted. National holds a majority on their own according to polls, and if this continues through to the election, any legislation they want to pass could get through unopposed by any except the governor-general who needs to sign a law into power. This includes "hire and fire", "tax cuts for the rich", "sell kiwibank and other beloved state assets" and "borrow moar monies!". What is particularly worrying is how John Key AND Helen Clark boycotted a debate which included the minor parties, forcing the tv company to cancel it entirely and only go ahead with the head-to-head debate. Why are our leaders acting so undemocratic? Perhaps they want MMP to fail and NZ to become a polarised right vs center mess like the US? I certainly hope not.

~RealmKnight Phone home & dA survey concerns http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/20574153/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/20574153/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:14:49 PDT

Your friendly neighbourhood RealmKnight has recently misplaced his phone, so those of you who might want to text me will be getting a cold shoulder on my old number. I still hope to find it, along with the contact details of everyone I've known for the last four years, some photos I'd prefer to keep, my schedule for the next few weeks, and some neat downloads. However, I have been lent my brother's spare phone until I find mine or buy a new one.

Scroll to the bottom of this page and you'll likely see an ad for a survey about deviantART. I took the survey in the hopes of winning one of the non-iPod prizes... as well as demonstrating my democratic powers and freedom of speech over how I'd like this site to be run.

Simple questions like "how old are you?" (19) and "are you male or female?" (yes

) turned into questions about proposed partnerships with adobe and other computer and information industry megacorporations. I'm all for making software products better, but my concerns lie with the fact the survey marginalised other products, in particular the free or open-source ones. An example is the question about potentially integrating stock image and brush searches into Adobe Photo$hop - a great idea, but why didn't they ask if we'd like an identical feature in GIMP or Paint Shop Pro, which also feature prominent sub-sections in the stock area of dA?

What I'm concerned about is deviantART creating a bias towards any megacorp they partner with, or inheriting any of the major issues that have sprung up from the corporations' attempts to control their markets.

Being in bed with Micro$oft might result in hellish "IE-only" features of the site which would open users to a ton of security issues, while a partnership with crApple would inevitably cause an influx of DRM infected iJunk.
Google is generally one of the better info-tech megacorps, but they have issues with being censored by american copywrong laws, and being bullied into removing controversial material from blogger, youtube, google earth and google search.
Adobe create brilliant creative products, but they are also guilty of cash cowing by monopolising the digital creativity industry and charging horrendous prices for their software.

ALL of this is a potential problem for us as artists and fans of the free and largely open service deviantART provides. We all want people to enjoy our art and we all want to continue being able to explore our creativity in as wide a way as possible. This should include being able to enjoy features regardless of which software or OS we work with, and regardless of issues we might express in our art.

I for one hope that dA can aim for an unbiased and open art community - the way all art communities should be.

Time for some politicing, methinks...

http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/20329861/ Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:30:12 PDT

Between the olympics-esque presidential campaign in the states and endless spam about secret donations here, western politics is over-saturating the news. Unfortunately, the majority of coverage isn't helpful to the ideals of democracy, ie the ability for everyone to contribute their fair opinion towards the way their government, and thus their country and their world, is run. Instead, we hear about who can't remember he owns seven houses and his mortal foe who might secretly be a muslim. Who's gaining runaway popularity just by whining about a prime minister we're sick of, and who's likely to win the latest season of politician idol?

What concerns me is how a candidate's image is more important than their policies, and their funding is more important than their credibility. It's times like these I feel it's obvious that a true democracy is impossible at best. However, a system of voting for people to vote for their own agendas is better than nothing at all. But I would like to stress the utmost importance of a citizen's responsibility to not only make the most of the power democracy gives them, but to take responsibility for their vote too by taking a short while to get to know the candidates - and something that's often overlooked: their policies.

John Key, the leader of the New Zealand opposition, is looking likely to become the first leader in a long time with a stand-alone majority in parliament. This means his team of centre-right businessmen can pass any law they want. These include: the "hire and fire" act, where an employer can fire an employee after three months of employment WITHOUT DUE REASON. the "copyright amendment act" which enables corporations to bully ISPs into removing content, ilegalises format-shifting of anything except music, and gives no "Fair use" clause for copyrighted work whatsoever - not even for educational, satirical, or derivative works. And "Tax cuts (for the rich)", which don't actually cut taxes unless you're earning more than the average wage.

As an art and technology student who has struggled both to find employment and to afford anything beyond rent for half a room and the cheapest instant noodles from Pak n Slave, all three of these policies are a slap in the face. I was lucky enough to gain employment at a local restaurant before "hire and fire" commences, but I wonder how many others in my situation might get the short end of the stick this law will create.

Most proposed tax cuts - and not only the ones in New Zealand - simply allow someone to earn more before their income tax rate increases. A good idea, except that the people who need the tax cuts most are students, the unemployed, single parents and the elderly. A better solution is to cut GST, thus making it easier for everyone to afford things.

Finally, over-zealous copyright. Copyright was invented to promote authoring by guaranteeing authors would be able to profit from their works. Unfortunately, today it has been hijacked by megacorporations. Not allowing students to learn from published works, or allowing artists such as DJs or pop-art to include pieces of other's work in their own, or even ripping a legitimately acquired copy of a movie so you can watch it on anything other than a dvd player - these are things that do not in any way prevent legitimate authors from making rightful profit from their work, so disguising an attack on our freedom to do these things under copyright legislation is little more than a lie.

Copywrong perhaps?

At any rate, I've currently pledged my support to the NZ Green Party. I am in no way whatsoever an environmentalist, but this party surprised me with the amount of proposed legislation I agree with. Higher minimum wage, reduced age to vote, reduced GST, open-source software for schools, fairer copyright laws and affordable healthcare are all things I support as matter of principle (as well as for my personal benefeit)

You're all free to vote for who you believe in, but make sure you know what you're getting yourself and your country and world into.

*-*-*

As a final distraction, okcupid.com has a politics test for summing up your political opinions into a political standpoint. I was described as a Socialist, with "a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and belief in economic fairness", and likened to (I believe) Hillary Clinton. Eww...

~RealmKnight Comedocumentaries! http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/19671042/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/19671042/ Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:30:39 PDT

^ Just a word I've been playing with lately to describe some amusing blends of fact and farce like Mythbusters and The Daily Show. I hope to emulate some aspects of the two in my year-end project for my film class as well, so I'm not just randomly blurting portmanteaus out, even though that can be funmusing...

Anyhow, deviantART has released an obviously unfinished version 6 onto the public with limited success. One of these limits seems to be that a good two thirds of the thumbnails I try to look at don't load. As someone who's currently scouring the stock image catalogue for suitable photos to use for my graphic design class, this is extremely frustrating. The worst thing about it is how it worked perfectly beforehand. The new browsing system is great, but when all you can browse is a screen of broken images it leaves a bad taste in this deviant's mouth. Sigh...

On to some more substantial(ish) musings, it has occurred to me that my pageview count is approaching 5,000 hits. Since many deviants like to do something special for kiribans like this one, I will offer my growing talents as a photo manipulator to whoever captures a screenshot of this magic number, or failing that the closest to it. All I need is a photo of someone and I'll see what I can do with it to turn it into something more... superhuman

New stamps:

My current project in graphic design is investigating photomanipulation, so I felt like featuring a couple great stock images I'll be using in my work.

A rocker with style makes for a great model and great image. A clean background makes him easy to cut out - something that's a godsend for photomanippers

Open, detailed... and destroyed. Awesome scene just waiting for someone to drop a photochop or two into it.

One of a series of high-detail close-ups, this guy has perfect focus and considerable potential.

Journal Layout and CSS ~RealmKnight Eclectic, much? + features http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/18596772/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/18596772/ Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:40:43 PDT

Haven't posted here for a while, so I thought it was time for a new journal.

First off, due credit to *markh255 for the invite to DA Film. As I've mentioned in previous journals/comments, I'm studying cinematography (among other things) this year, and the timing of this invite is moments away from the completion of my first film project ever. It's no Tarantino, but I'm proud of what I'm working on ~~and I'll try to get it uploaded here (and on youtube ) in a week or so once I've put the finishing touches on it.~~

EDIT: I've finished my film, a short symbolic journey through setbacks and perseverance through the metaphor of basketball. All I need is some advice on how to trim the 700mb finished product into something a little more web-friendly. My borrowed copy of Premiere Elements doesn't like me enough to let me use it's export features

I also have an invite to DA film to dish out to whomever I please. I'll try to be fair and give it to someone who's gonna use it well, so leave a comment and make your case.

Second, as a beta tester, I've enjoyed playing with the preview of the up and coming DA version 6. Like always, much of the changes come down to personal opinion as to whether they're a good or bad thing, but I like what I see overall. The only gripes I have are the lack of a lo-fi option (with low resolution and no javascript and flash) for those stuck with crappy computers and/or browsers, and how the new front page puts too much emphasis on popular and new deviations at the expense of the daily deviations and articles.

As for my real life, I've been keeping busy with a long search for the ideal accommodation and employment, and I'm on a roll with my school work. My first graphic design and photography assignments have nearly reached their final stage, waiting on little more than a new toner cartridge for the school art department, and I'm feeling quite confident for my next assignments - both portfolios.

Now, I'd like to end with something that I've been reflecting on lately. My gallery has everything except a common theme. And I'm quite happy having it that way. My art is a reflection of myself and my personality, so doing a bit of everything matches my life perfectly. Admiring everything from a sunset to a construct, and playing with photography, graphics and everything in between defines my artistic vision of experimentation, exploration and eclecticism. I might not get a million pageviews like someone who takes a hundred photos of water drops on flowers, or draws twenty characters from a popular anime/videogame, but I'm content staying true to myself.

Obamallama. An amusing play on the name of the man who is synonymous with the cliche "Is America ready for a black president?"

The southern hemisphere winter is in full force, and I'm feeling every part of it as I sit in the open at the chch arts centre in order to use the public wi-fi. This image captured my attention for it's beautiful take on the discomfort of the cold season.

The film noir aesthetic goes perfectly with the theme of turning out the lights on my fair city. Eye-catching and intriguing.

~RealmKnight Holidays + RK's cat is famous & Features http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/17995440/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/17995440/ Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:10:27 PDT

I'm on my school holidays at the moment, which is nice. As much as I enjoy some of the things I'm doing in school, I was getting pretty burned out towards the end of the term. So now I'm kicking back, sleeping in, kicking ass and chewing bubblegum

. This break has given me time to sort and upload a bunch of deviations, as some may have noticed. I've been playing around with some designs and trying to get used to using Inkscape, as well as going through a process of trial and error to teach myself video editing in Adobe premiere. But in the meantime, there's still a bunch of photos for me to GIMP

This kitten apparently got so popular it ended up on the front page for a moment. I didn't expect I'd hit gold anytime soon, but I guess the DA community melts at the sight of such a cute animal

. I'd like to thank the 570 or so people who faved this and gave me the five minutes of DA fame I've been hoping for since signing up.

Anyhow, I'll be attending Armageddon Expo in Christchurch this weekend - on saturday I'll be hanging out with ~Elvis3000, and sunday I'll likely be chilling with =HyperCannon and ~MurkHelsing. I'm quite looking forward to the event, and I'll do my best to get a ton of photos that will inevitably get buried on my hard drive beside the half-finished devmeet video

But enough about me, here's some features!

EDIT @ 9:35 AM, 9/5: go play *photohunt now for some prizes!

A thesis has never looked so dynamic! Boudicia comic encompasses the skill of someone bound for comicbook greatness.

A futuristic spin on a classical art form, "Te Neo Maori" is an eye-catching design, presented quite effectively.

Epic cuteness! Nuff said.

~RealmKnight Belated awesomeness http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/17691431/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/17691431/ Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:55:48 PDT

So, it turns out I'm not dead. Go figure. The last couple weeks have been hard to balance with deviantART, thanks to concerts, a devmeet, school, homework, dating, and bouts with a headcold and a flu. But without further ado, here's my obligatory journal post.

---

I'll start with the ROCK2WGTN concerts and the holiday I took around them. In a word Â awesome! I got dressed in my bogan threads and had a fairly picture-perfect flight to the capital, where the concerts were being held. The first night, featuring Lordi, Alice Cooper, and KISS, was an experience to behold. Everything from waiting in line with tens of thousands of metalheads, to the sea of black that the stadium became after they entered was incredible. Seeing so many people in KISS make-up was especially interesting.

The concert began with the winners of a guitar solo competition ripping their guitars up to an amped audience. There was some real skill within these dudes, and their segment finished with the signature rock n roll finale of smashing a guitar.

The first major act, Lordi, were everything you'd expect from the monster-metal eurovision winners. Enjoyably gimmicky costumes and the pyromania of the frontman didn't detract from their rather decent hard rock at all, and culminated in a killer performance from the youngest headlining act.

Following Lordi was the first of the intermision acts, The Valves, who were completely lost amongst the jaw-dropping special effect show put on by Weta Workshop Â zombie cheerleaders, firedancers... and the dragon. Three stories of lazer-eyed, growling, wing-flapping, head banging, smoke-breathing DRAGON. Let's call him Smaug...

The stand-out act for me was the jaw-dropping show put on next by mr Alice Cooper and his crew. With a commanding stage presence, the likes of which only four decades of the hardest rock could produce, there was not a single audience member not blown away completely. Everything from his voice- ripened with age like a fine wine- to his cane-twirling antics was an experience within itself. Props and performers were woven into his music with perfection, including the tossing of (I'll assume) faux pearl necklaces into the audience as he sung ÂBillion dollar babyÂ, the scattering of impaled dollar notes from a rapier sword, and a set of groupies with ÂAlice for presidentÂ signs as he belted out ÂElectedÂ.

During the middle of his set, he launced into an epic stage show operatic, blowing everyone all away. Somewhat reminiscent of the rock operas that Pink Floyd are famous for, Alice scorched through a performance of a non-stop operatic filled with an orgy of music and acting alike. Accompanied by an ensemble of actors, props and sets, the shock-rock story of a wife-beating, baby-killing, assylum-incarcerated madman was unleashed on a frenzied audience, ending with a mock hanging of our villan.

An extended version of ÂSchool's out for summerÂ worked into a stadium-shaking drum solo and the obligatory guitar show, while ÂNo more mr nice guyÂ got the crowd going into a rave. His iconic anthem of “

oisonÂ was greeted by 30,000 cheering bogans, and his final departure call of introducing his partners in crime, ÂAnd of course... ME!Â, ended any doubts of the power of the preceeding performance as the westpac arena exploded in cheering.

The next set of intermission was filled by a band called ÂThe Symphony of ScreamsÂ and the aformentioned performance feast of cheerleaders in zombie make-up, dancers swinging flaming swords, hula-hoops and ropes around, and mr Smaug. A fairly decent band, but as with the Valves, they were undermined by the orgy of performance that was going on around them, and the fact that most punters chose this opportunity to take a break from the festivities to get food, water, booze, merch, and answer the call of nature.

Finally, the major act of the night got on stage. KISS are infamous for their iconic make-up, costumes, light shows, fireworks, stunts and stadium-rock anthems. It was everything you'd expect from a KISS concert, but it felt a little lacking somehow. There were many reasons for this Â the main one being the audience, I'd say. Their amusing stage antics and simple sing-along rock anthems don't carry much effect if the audience is: exhausted from four hours of world-class music and performance, hungover from the cheap wine and beer they've been drinking since 5:30, completely blown away by the previous performance, cold from the bitter wellington southerly wind (I was wearing five layers and still felt chilly) and otherwise not in the mood for rock n rolling all night.

That said, they put on a decen... ]]> ~RealmKnight Interrobanged‽ + ROCK2WGTN http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/17135294/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/17135294/ Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:09:04 PST

I knew I was going to lose a lot of my spare time when I got back to my studies, but I still thought I'd be able to keep up with what was going on in the online world I'd engaged myself in to overcome my over-abundance of time and lack of a life to use it on. A neglected RP forum, a month's worth of new webcomics, articles, blogs and online news tidbits, many episodes of my favourite programmes to check out online, a WoW character who's been level 40 for far too long, and about 250 deviations and 50 comments later, I realise that was kinda silly. But reaching 3,000 pageviews sure is neat

That aside, having a life is fantastic. I'm learning a ton in my photography, film and graphic design classes, and carving my way through english towards the credits I need for university entrance. The people at my hostel are neat, and I've entered a great relationship with a girl from school.

I see that in the past while, DA has undergone some major changes. I've noticed DA has changed the programming of the popular deviations category in order to give popular deviations in all categories some limelight. This is a TREMENDOUS step in the right direction. All art styles should be appreciated on a site that is dedicated to almost every form of art imaginable. The collections system seems to have passed into general usage (correct me if I'm wrong) and I certainly like the feature and seeing it used on my art

A few more things I think DA needs however: First, a category dedicated for uploading music and audio - this is already done in the flash section, but a dedicated and organised musical section would be great for audio artists who otherwise have to go to the online quagmire we call myspace. Audio stock, free music, music presentations, dramatic readings, sound effects - these and more are all potentially great additions to the internet's largest art site.

Secondly, DA NEEDS a low-fi version. Flash and Java are great when they work, but if you've ever tried surfing this place with a crappy browser (IE, anyone?) or on a crappy computer, you are purely screwed. If google can make a html-only version of Gmail, why can't DA make a HTML-only alternative to the current set-up?

At any rate, DA and other online pursuits are on the backburner due to the fact I don't have particularly convenient internet access or much time to dedicate towards my online art gallery. I'll keep trying my best to upload stuff and keep track of my friends here though.

RK out...

EDIT: I forgot to mention, a certain RealmKnight found some cheap flights, accommodation, transport and so forth for this easter weekend. This is because the Deadlyish one will be attending The greatest rock event EVER!". Ozzy Ozzborne, KISS, Lordi, Alice Cooper, Whitesnake, Poison + Sonic altar, The Valves, and a collection of solo guitarists, performing over two nights in the shadow of a three-story, firework-breathing, lazer-eyed dragon!!

I can't wait!

~RealmKnight RK's Cloverfield Review http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/16622733/ http://RealmKnight.deviantart.com/journal/16622733/ Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:49:02 PST

There aren't many movies I see that I an describe as an "experience", but this is one of them.

Some spoilers ahead so be warned:

"Shaky hands" always has it's critics, but the way it simulates the emotion of fear and confusion into the movie was well worth a minor headache. The filming technique in question really made me feel like I was almost part of what was happening, instead of merely watching what was being shown like in a normal movie.

I liked the characters enough, their experience felt believable for the most part (I'll get to this in a minute) and the story got across well. In-your-face product placement for NOKIA!!!! got on my nerves though.

Some parts didn't make much sense to me. The soldier letting three civilians run around a besieged, and supposedly locked down, city to save a woman who might not have even been alive? This was odd behaviour considering how soldiers would usually act in an attack event.

More odd behaviour is the looting scene - Cloverzilla is smashing your town apart and blowing shit up - the last thing on my mind would be nicking off with a stereo. Stealing a battery so you can contact your loved ones I'd endorse, but I think on guy had a PC under his arm - what the hell for?

The parasites were scary in the traditional "shit jumping out at you" sense, but I think they were a little under-utilised. Maybe it was for the better, but they just disappeared halfway through. I noticed Marlena (I think) grabbed a crowbar out of thin air to bash them with, but why didn't the protagonists arm themselves when they realised they had these monsters to deal with?

A fire axe also appeared out of thin air when they were attacked later on, but still - why didn't they all grab crowbars and other backyard weaponry in case they needed them? Hell, I know I would have.

As for the monster, it was a lot different from all the fake pictures I'd seen on the net, and overall a very interesting and frightening design. I went in expecting to see a few blurred shots and a leg or tail every now and then, but then BAM! You actually got to see the thing full-on multiple times. I'd describe it as a Tauroid meets Alien meets FFX's Sin.

Overall, I was really satisfied with the movie not giving away too much - or too little, something JJ Abrams is notorious for. Although I missed the thing you're supposed to look for at the end, but don't see because you don't know what you're looking for (it was something falling into the water behind Lily and Rob in the last part of the "taped over tape", I believe)

so I'd give it eight "taped over SD memory cards (another of the film's "eh!?" moments)" out of ten, and atypically hope for a sequel that can provide some more adventure, some more monster, and some more interesting new answers.

Features soon...