Vlogmas 2017 (Week Four): Christmas Day with Family, Food and Presents
The final week of vlogmas includes the lead up to, and the big days its self.
In the lead up up the big day, there's lot of food to be prepared, and celebrations with friends. On Christmas Day, there's more food, plus time with family enjoying time together and some gifts.
Christmas Day Food:
This year's dinner was very similar to last years feast, with a few changes:
- Turkey
Local, organic, free-range bird from Uptons of Bassett, roasted with rapeseed oil, lemons, clementines, garlic, onions, carrots, celery, sage and thyme - Gravy
Made from roasting juices and organic chicken stock - Pork shoulder stuffing with red onion, chestnuts, sage and cranberries
A Jamie Oliver recipe with some modifications, including dried cranberries added and gf bread crumbs - Sausages in bacon
Use thinly slice pancetta for wrapping for extra flavour and crunch - Roast potatoes
Par-boiled, left to cool, then roast in rapeseed oil, with rosemary - Roast parsnips
Par-boiled, left to cool, then roasted with honey - Carrots with butter, sugar and star anis
Cooked in butter, sugar and star anise from a Tom Kerridge recipe - Cauliflower cheese
Gently roasted cauliflower covered in a basic béchamel sauce, with lots of cheese in, and cheesy breadcrumbs over the top - Brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts
A BBC Good Food recipe - Red cabbage with apple and balsamic vinegar
An amalgamation of a number of recipes, including spices, red onions, apples, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar - Cranberry and apple sauce
Another amalgamation of recipes from all over, following the basics of this Jamie Oliver recipe, but with my own spices added - Green beans with lemon
Lightly boiled and dressed in fresh lemon and rapeseed oil - Butternut squash mash with spiced roasted seeds
Roasted the squash whole, mashed the flesh and served with the seeds roasted in cumin and paprika - Steamed Spinach
Simply steamed and served
Christmas Gifts
I got some amazing gifts, including my favourite scent (Givenchy Pour Homme Blue Label) and a Hans Zimmer Masterclass.
I got my family all kinds of bits. Particularly successful gifts were books for my Dad (including Post-Capitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason — one of my favourite reads from 2017), and "Strong Girls Club" tops for my nieces from Muthahood.
Vlogmas 2017 (Week Three): Finishing Work For Christmas
Week three of vlogmas includes lots of songwriting, food, and finishing work for Christmas.
Vlogmas 2017 (Week Two): Integr8 Christmas Quiz, Creeper and Star Wars
Week Two of Vlogmas includes some time working on new music, hosting the Integr8 Christmas Quiz, seeing my pals in Creeper smash it at Southampton Guildhall, and catching the mighnight showing of Star Wars.
Vlogmas 2017 (Week One): A Christmas Wedding, Birthday and More
The first week of vlogmas 2017 includes Rosie's birthday, time with family and friends, Christmas concerts at work, time spent with friends, and Laura and Pete's wedding.
Weekly Vlog: First Week in a New Job
I started my new job this week, as an associate lecturer in Popular Music Production at Solent University. Back at my other job, it was a busy week of teaching, and getting the business plan finished and sent off. Somewhere in between all that, there was time to make music, preview the new Nuffield Southampton Theatre City venue, and start making my annual Christmas cake.
Knowing it would be a busy week, I decided to film a little bit of each day, and then sit down at the weekend to see what that footage would become. Together with some audio experiments and soundtrack clips from other projects, it turns out I had a weekly vlog to upload.
Through the Stars
Through the Stars is a multimedia art piece, made using astronomy photographic plates kindly donated University of Southampton.
Through the Stars is in three parts:
- Photographs: by aligning each plate with the location they map in the sky, the photographs overlay the stars on to the landscape behind
- Soundscape: having algorithmically generated melodies from each photograph, these are manipulated and arranged to create a musical soundscape of the images
- Documentation: a video blog and b-roll images that document the process of creating the piece
Pyra Vocal Session
One of many weekends spent with Emma Panas, recording vocals for her album.
‘Play’ on BBC Introducing
Last night, BBC Introducing Solent emailed to say that ‘Play’ would be featured on the BBC Introducing Solent show.
As well as playing the track — and saying some very kind words about it — the show shared some of what I have written about here: the way way music and mental health have walked hand-in-hand in starting this blog. It is a slightly terrifying moment, to hear your story shared so widely, but it has also been great to hear the positive response too.
Thank you BBC Introducing Solent for your kind words, and thank you for sharing my part in a much bigger, but important, conversation.
Family Birthday Party
I felt very spoilt this weekend, getting to spend time enjoying family, food and presents.
Birthday Games
My wonderful friend Ellie hosted a night of food, games, and a surprise birthday cake on Saturday night.
iPhone Summer Vlogs
iPhone vlogs filmed, soundtracked and edited on iPhone in the Summer of 2017.
They say the best camera is the one you have on you. And so, as moments flew by this summer, I tried to capture them using just my iPhone. To me, the moments I was able to record were more personal and more spontaneous as a result.
Film Photo Blog: Ocean Village
Back in June, I took my old SLR out around Ocean Village. These are the photographs that came from the expired film that was in the camera.
One Year On
Today marks one year of this blog.
Starting as an excuse to be creative in the final few weeks of last summer, this blog has become a place to share new things: some things more humble and some more ambitious; sometimes more frequent and sometimes less so.
As I wrote about on World Mental Health Day, the most important thing about this blog has been the freedom to share in ways that feel easier to me. Trying new formats has been a big part of that for me. Starting with one-minute videos on Instagram, and then adding blog posts, video blogs, and music videos, each has opened up new practices and approaches.
I'm someone who likes to share things only when they are finished. I don't usually go in for astrology, but it is, apparently, a common trait in Virgos. In someways, it's a great thing: I can happily sit for hour, whittling away at ideas until the final piece emerges. However, the downside of wanting only to share final, polished pieces, is that it can become impossible to call anything finished at all.
Maybe it's getting older, maybe it's watching too much Ru Pauls's Drag Race, or maybe it's watching too many daily vlogs on YouTube, but over the past year, I've found myself looking to find a voice for my work that feels more authentically mine, even when that means embracing imperfections.
I have a tendency to be very neat and precise: another Virgo trait I believe, but I'm honestly not in to star signs — I swear! At college, I studied Graphic Art, and in the second year of my course, I was working on a street art themed project. I had made a mood board, collecting ideas for elements, textures and images that would inspire the project. I thought I was nearly done. But my tutor, Joel, looked at it, and with a roller of black ink, smeared a huge black mark right through the middle. "It's street art. It needs to be more dirty."
After the initial shock settled, I embraced the new direction. And in fact, it kicked off a whole new aesthetic for my work. This blog has been a little like that. Working in shorter formats has helped me look at songwriting in new ways. Working with friends on soundtracks and songs for videos has helped me to try new approaches, and embrace the little mistakes that give things their charm. Documenting special moments with friends and family in video blogs has helped me to just capture moments as they happen.
So maybe it is too much Drag Race, or too many daily vlogs, but for this next year, I want to make things that feel more personal, more expressive, and more authentic, even if that makes them a little messier. I hope that leads me to be little easier on myself, to open up and connect more with others, and to embrace imperfections. Because, remember, if you can't love yourself, how in the helllll are you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an amen up in herrrreeeee?
Film Photo Blog: Abbotsbury
These photos are from another of the camera films I got developed this week. These photos were taken in Abbotsbury on a film that was in my vintage SLR and the expired film really shows in some of these.
Film Photo Blog: A Sunny Day in Winchester
During the May half term holiday, I spent the day in Winchester with Alice. I took my point-and-shoot film camera, and, after a little delay, I got the photos processed last week. Here's the results:
Perseid Meteor Shower
I drove down to Lepe late on Saturday night to watch the meteor shower.
Lydia's 5th Birthday Party
A trolls themed party for a special fifth birthday celebration!
An Adventure on the Isle of Wight
At Christmas we promised my niece and nephew a trip to the Isle of Wight, two weeks ago, we got to go on that adventure.
A Day in Brighton
On the last day of half term, Pip and I took a trip down to Brighton.
After a journey of sing-along songs, we grabbed a light lunch at Plateau, followed by ice creams at Boho Gelato (totally worthy of the hype). After wondering around the lanes we found ourselves on the beach, totally chilled out, and, before heading home, we had dinner at Jamie's Italian.
