Plasticine Trees

MySpace, more like...like... MyStupid. Yeah!

2005-11-27T20:19:00.000Z

I finally gave in and got me one of them MySpace accounts, because all my friends use it and I felt terribly left out. I'm not gonna use it for blogging, though. That would be silly.

It means I have somewhere to put easy-to-access streaming versions of songs I do, which is nice. A few updates ago (here) I provided links to mp3 versions of all of them (and more) though, so it's nothing new if you follow Plasticine Trees. Like anybody does. Hah!

University work completed

2005-11-25T16:40:00.000Z

Hooray! My immediate university project is over with, so I now have some free time to put to working on the book. Submissions are finally coming through, even though the deadline was today. I'll have to extend it, I suppose.

I am very busy. Also I've made some music.

2005-11-23T10:43:00.000Z

Apparently I have to update this more often, according to somebody. So I guess I will.

I'm so incredibly busy right now it's untrue. Here's what I have going on right now, in order of priority:

University work - collate information from my team members into a business plan
University work - create a powerpoint presentation based on said plan
Write and draw some stuff for the book, along with gathering everyone else's stuff together and actually putting the book together
Making the new website for the Circal
Composing my first album in 3 years

Unfortunately, I'm screwing things up and doing it in the reverse order. The business plan has to be done for tomorrow, and the presentation for Friday, yet I find myself spending all my time writing music. Argh.

Well, might as well show off what I've been making. Here are some early drafts of a few songs.

Just Stay A While
I'll Be A Moment
You Don't Have To (excerpt)
We Ran For Miles
Can't Always Be The Same (excerpt)

None of those are current anymore (in many cases, they've been greatly improved since uploading) but they're a pretty good representation of what I'm going for. If you only download one, I'd recommend We Ran For Miles. It's probably the best thing I've ever done.

Until next time, avid reader!

It's easy to make super 3-D pictures with modelling material

2005-11-16T17:14:00.000Z

Hooray for non-repeating background images and dynamically sized content.

CSS Kicks My Butt, and other stories

2005-11-15T18:17:00.000Z

I'm learning CSS just for the new site, and finally making the transition to XHTML. I think I'm grasping CSS properly now, I was making way too many mistakes to begin with. I'm glad Kyle persevered with me, it would've ended up being overly complicated and potentially broken otherwise. You can track my progress here (update: finished!) As you can see, the design is modelled on the one here.

In other news, Phil (I guess he calls himself Woyk officially now) is making progress with solo stuff for Circa1984 (some of which he calls "circa music," as opposed to his staple rock) so expect to see some of that stuff soon. His drum work leaves me completely in the dust, but maybe that's not saying a huge amount. He's good, though, and a lot more technically accomplished than me (studying it in school helps, no doubt.)

Blitz's Swan (Gull) Song

2005-11-14T16:22:00.000Z

Friend and labelmate Tom Hanrahan (aka Blitz) has uploaded his swan song, his latest live show (mp3, 36.3mb), after deciding to take a step back from Circa1984 for a time. I wish him the best of luck in the near future.

His live shows, and all of his music in general, will be given an appropriately prominent position on the new Circa1984 Records section of the main site once it's launched. I can't wait until it's done so I can show you folks.

Busy busy busy

2005-11-13T13:36:00.000Z

Work on the book begins properly this evening, I'll be doing some preliminary layouts and tests. That is, as soon as I've finished this University assignment on user needs analysis in web design...

Photo of sketches, and other stuff.

2005-11-12T23:27:00.000Z

Oh, here's a photo of the CD we made for Naomi, modelled by the muse herself. Thanks for that, Naomi! Better late than never. Pretty neat, eh? She sent me a number of photos of the case, disc, and high heels in various formations, some of which involved the CD being laid data-side down on a dirty, scratchy floor. What a jerk!

While I'm writing, I should probably use this opportunity to explain the changes that may be taking place at Circa1984 over the coming weeks. Most people that are reading this probably already know, but I'll announce it formally anyway. A large group of friends and I, some local, some thousands of miles away, have formed a collective, of sorts, with the mission of publishing various materials; books to films to CDs to whatever else we think of. Although CDs aren't anything new for us, but yeah. It's called the Circal (as you can see from the gorgeous crest to the left, which was designed by my brother Greg) and the main site of circa1984.com will be redesigned, soon, to reflect this change.

Circa1984 Records will essentially become a branch of the Circal, concerned with the music side of whatever it is we produce. At the present time there are four branches, and the one we're concerning ourselves with most at this time is Circle Street Books, which is all about publishing books. Yeah, the clue is in the name. We've already got one under our belt, a very, very limited print of "My First DJQuake by David James," a printed collection of, you guessed it, the DJQuake comics. But not much else. Which was a problem. So we're now working on a second edition, with oodles more content and a bigger, cheaper run. Should be ace.

But! The DJQuake books have only been the work of myself and Deej, the Circal proper are also working on a book which is, as yet, untitled. We've only just started on it but, being the tyrant that I am, I've set a deadline of two weeks. So it'll be done my Christmas, so long as everybody pulls through. Hoorah!

There'll be more information about all of this, like who's involved and whatnot, when the new site launches. Which will be as soon as I have any time to actually make it. Busy busy busy.

First post

2005-11-12T21:15:00.000Z

You can find the old content here.