Summer Trains Part 1

After a month of waiting I finally got my hands on my girl friends Mac. Using iMovie I edited the first part of our inter-railing trip on iMovie in about 4 hours.

Here it is ... http://vimeo.com/30591459

Enjoy x

trailer

So this summer I went Inter-railing around Europe for 3 weeks with my friends.
We captured the whole time on HD pocket cameras and after a month of being back I have started to put all the clips together and make a feature, but for now here is a trailer of our time.

http://vimeo.com/28029994

Latest fisheye

Here is my latest fisheye pics From January of 2011 till now the middle of may.
Taken in plymouth, newuqay, black park

Cardboard X-mas Tree

My 3rd year room

Seer Green Train Station

Carnaby Street

Tea at Chandlers  

Dartmoor

Dartmoor Ponies

Dartmoor

BMX racing

Myself

BMX racing in Hayes

The gang and I

Black Park

Black Park

Emily in Black Park Woodland

Myself

Whetherspoons post exam period

Driving round in my pussy wagon

Bovisands Swimming

Fistral Beach Newquay

Newquay Fistral Beach Carpark

More to come this summer, from Turkey

Disneyland

and Inter-railing round Europe

Mums New Boyfriend and her Drunk Drive

My mum has recently got a boyfriend.
I feel that I should document my encounters with them

Tonight was my second  time I met him.

I arrived home pulling into the drive at the same time as my mother and her new boyfriend at 11.15pm Friday night
She said she was going for a drink with her friends, with him and his friends. She defiantly did that.
As we greeted and slowly walked to the door in the darkness, my mum is fiddling for the keys in her bag for an abnormally long time. I waited for the boyfriend to great me first
'Hello Thomas'
'Hey'

My Mum calls him Dirk I don't know if thats because he is Scottish or if its his real name, for some reason I think he is called Michael. So I just say hello and leave an obvious 'INSERT NAME HERE' pause which neither of us can fill at this current moment. I will have to ask my Mum another time.

Ok it had been over 20 seconds, so I now realise she has driven home drunk. This comes as quite a shock to me, as the place she was at was at least 10 miles away and down winding country roads and on dual carriageways.

I enquire 'Mum did you, drive home drunk'
Her answer is simultaneous with a stumble backwards 'No I (Hiccup) aven't'

She is lying.

We go into the kitchen, Michael is standing by the sink. I am by the fruitbowl and my Mum is inbetween us by the cooker.
Mum 'Do you want some chilli'
(I made chilli for dinner but neither of us were hungry)
"No thanks I'l just have some grapes" I ate a grape.

My Mum asks how my evening was, I say the generic answers, Yer, Fine.
She then says in the way a child explains their actions 'Look I had one drink to many'

Michael remarks 'That doesn't make you a bad person, does it'

As she goes to the toilet, Michael and I stand in the kitchen making idle conversation about exams and what not.

When Mum comes back in, she asks if I want some chilli, I reply with ' Are you joking you just asked me this'
'O sorry sorry'
I say 'I'm going to bed, Night'

I then decided to write this and mid-blog post my Mum has come up.

I feel like a disappointed parent. She comes up and sits next to me on my bed.
'Look Thomas, I'm just had a hard week and your Grandma is getting on my nerves'
I respond 'I know but you shouldn't just drink lots to solve it'
Mum 'I know'
Me 'And you could of just got a taxi home, or stayed at Michaels in Rickmansworth'
Mum 'I know'

She then hugs me and sighs and says 'It lovely having you home'
Michael is staying the night, this feels very weird like a stranger in the home
and I am taking no chances so I plugged my laptop into speakers and I'm watching TV online.

This is the first time my Mother has done something I have been disappointed in.
There are so many Police cars round especially on Friday Nights, just one car and she would of gone down for Drunk driving.

I hope 'Michael' isn't having an influence on my Mum, despite everytime I have met him they have been drunk, well two times in the evening, but one of them was a school night !

Just as my Mum is about to close the door she asks me


'Do you want some chilli ?'

Profile Change

Coming out of uni, i feel like i need a change.

So new name, new picture (taken by me on Dartmoor).


I can play Islands by the XX on my ukulele

Update

I am currently writing my dissertation entitled

The influence of temporal and spatial frequencies on haemoglobin changes in the visual cortex using (NIRS)

it is killing me, I can't wait for it to be over. I officially finish university on 16th may. then the rest of my life begins. I am inter-railing over the summer so I will keep an updated journal of it on here for you to enjoy.

Peace

FIlm ideas

I have an idea for a fim, but i'm worried christian elder field may steal it and use it to make a film.

so here is my idea, not is is 1am on thursday 24th march 2011.

Guy who cannot sleep, physically impossible, has a lesion in brain area which means he does not need psychological or physical restoration. (or no lesion at all, all psychological) Film starts with him marking his calendar with how long he slept that day, graph can show its getting less and less everyday

Then goes to doctor about it. Like groundhog day, at first finds it great and goes to clubs and parties all night and day. Then becomes bored, with it. Tries to take sleeping pills but overdoses.

Meets a girl, but he obviously cannot fall asleep and turns TV to old film with a guy cuddling a woman in bed. Then realises he can do good in it, like a superhero at night. Then realises he stopped sleeping after he broke up with his girlfriend and now he has fallen in love again he can sleep.

· His job could be taxi driver, or i dunno

below is the conservation with christian, where he said he may steal my idea.

haha

"Dear diary,
Today I wrote down another film idea.
- Tom"

haha

sounds good dude!

i have a word document on my desktop

just write ideas i think of

i gotta make an 8 minute film and that idea about a guy whose trying not to sleep is a good premise

i reckon, that one could be filmed over summer

like he truely believe he can get loooooooadsa stuff done

yer

yer man

i may steal it

thanks

nooooo

00:53

haha

jokes

but seriously i might

haha

eeergh.

Skins season 1 amazing !

Season 2 a good follow up

Season 3, new cast was watchable (mainly because of the lesbians)

Season 4 way to emotional and messed up.

END

o wait I know lets remake skins scene for scene but with american kids instead of english ones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyqBWtV_RvQ

This looks shocking.

Why can Americans not just watch the original why do they have to have their own adaptation.

There is rumour of a US inbetweeners. Damn you MTV !

My first model casting

my friend sophie davidson (amazing photography student who goes to falmouth)

posted on her facebook an ad for a swatch casting in central london on friday 3rd December and if chosen the shoot is on wednesday and thursday the following week and paid.

I was bored and days before I applied mostly because they wanted people not from a modelling agency. So I sent my details and pictures of myself from katie mabey's orhan tailoring shoot.

On thursday evening I got a call from an unknown number

An eccentric posh voice spoke

'Hiiii is this thomas'

Me' Umm yer it is hi, who's calling'

Poshy 'Hi its Nic from Star & Co, I got your email are you free for the casting tomorrow'

I thought straight away, what is this about. I'd completely forgotten I'd apply to this casting and my immediate thought was 'no i'm in plymouth what is this guy on about !?'. So I politely responded.

'I'm in Plymouth at the moment, sorry I just thought I'd try and apply to see if I'd get it'

Nic 'O shit, your in plymouth. Ok no worries thanks, Bye'

Me 'Bye'

As soon as the phone hung up. My mind flashed 'Wait, what no !'

I have no lectures tomorrow, it's my brothers birthday party on saturday. Why don't I just go.

So i sent 3 frantic and some what desperate emails to 'Nic' saying actually I am free.

And he responded saying great turn up to spring studios between 2 and 6.

I booked a return train for £40 and on friday morning I was on my way.

My train was only 3 hours long, and the time flew by thanks to Jamie giving me a pokemon yellow emulator. for laptop, the only thing is I cannot save it properly so after 2 hours of play my saved data disappeared ! So frustrating I wanted to scream on the train.

and Gemma gave me her book 'No time for goodbye' Which I cannot put down ! its a thriller and every chapter leaves you on a cliff hanger making you want to read on.

WHen my train arrived in Paddington the cold hit me. Plymouth has had no snow when everyone else has. And its somewhat warmer than anywhere north of exeter.

I travelled to Kentish town and got to the studios.

I was somewhat lost but followed a guy who looked like a model out of the station for about 500 metres down 4 streets, I was a good 20 metres behind him. I still can't decide if I felt like a stalker or a spy. I had a barbour jacket on with my collar up which I think fits the bill for both classes of people.

From entering the studio the next 30 minutes of my life where the most self-conscious and nervous moments of my life. I entered the studio gave my name and was directed upstairs to the casting studio.

A woman told me to 'Join the que and we'l call you'

I joined a 20 people long que, at the front was a door jarred open. Peering in I saw the white background, cameras and front of the que. At the back of the que it suddenly hit me

Shit, SHIT

Everyone in front and gradually behind me had a black folder.

In modelling a black folder is what you keep your portfolio pictures in, the best pictures of yourself taken by professionals or from adverts or products they've advertised for.

Not only that but everyone was taller than me (men and women) now I'm 6 foot and I always think of myself as above average height but these people. They were gods among men !

Beautiful models, well dressed. Soaring above me clasping their black folders of vanity.

My face exploded with embarrassment, a red flush darting across my cheeks. My instinctive fight or flight response kicked in.

Or to quote The Clash 'Should I stay or should I go' response.

I texted my old friend Charlie Speed (Britians next top model judge)

Who knew about the casting from the night before, asking his advice as a model.

He hadn't replied for 5 minutes now, but it seemed like over an hour in this que to superficial death. I was doomed do I run and waste the train journey all the way here, and just call it a trial and error, or do I stick it out. Put my chin up and do the best I can do baring in mind I've never modelled professionally before and as the advert originally said it wasn't looking for models, I should just go for it. Do a Yes man and make it an experience. I kept telling myself

'If i do this and get it wrong, I can walk away and never see these people again' So I didn't go.

I waited in the que.

Charlie text back 'You might as well stay you've come this far, castings can be nervous just go for it'

So I took his advice, despite having already taken my own.

I queued with my head held high.

Properly the best queuing I've ever done in my life, if it was a film the background music would be uplifting. Like eye of the tiger but not so iconic or obvious.

The same woman from before then asked us all to my surprise

'Is anyone here not with an agent ? If so come to the front'

I raised my hand, this is odd. Are just trying to separate the models from the norms ?

But low and behold 2 more hands went up I wasn't on my own.

We were escorted into the studio, with looks of disgust from the 20 people queing infront.

My heart was pounding, my lips were dry ,'Am I being thrown in the deep end here?'

We were given 3 sheets to fill in with our contact details. Nothing else was mentioned.

Then I saw it !

The relieve that I wished but haven't even thought of...

The studio was split in two ! O YES.

Through my powers of deduction I realised, that the models were casting for the centre roles of the swatch advert, and the rest of us are casting for background work.

But I still needed my picture taken.

So I queued with 3 others. And eventually got my pictures taken, with numerous directions from the photographer. He kept asking me to smile, now normally I smile quite a lot, but at this moment in time I just wanted the moment to be over and was concentrating so hard that I couldn't smile.
Luckily I had taken my barbour off before I had my pictures done otherwise with my current smile I defiantly would of looked like a child stalker.

It was over in a flash. They said they will contact me if chosen.

As I walked away from the studio I took a spring studio catalogue as a memento of one of the most embarrassing times in my life. I know now for sure that I could never be a model.

It is so competitive and superficial

You are a product. A Brand. Your appearance is what they judge you on. You should be the friendly person ever and speak 6 languages and have a masters in medicine . But unless you are what the client is looking for your rejected almost immediately. Modelling is also a very temperamental job. You may have a week of work, but then you may have no work for 5 months and for that time you are going to numerous castings.

It is Saturday and in a few days I will eventually find out, if after all of this I get chosen.

I will be back in Plymouth and will have to travel back for the 2 day shoot. But if the shoot is less than £100 than I would be at a loss with train fares. Which would be such a kick in the balls.

O well, today I celebrated my brothers 26th birthday, with mulled wine and toy story cake. Tomorrow I return to plymouth for my final week of lectures before christmas !

It is also my girlfriends birthday on Monday, and although I am not seeing her till the Monday after. I still need to buy her final present which I think she'l really appreciate.

I basically have written a stream of past consciousness. Thank you for reading

Listen to my radio show too =] http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=176711667561

Peace

3d digital cameras

this is bloody crazy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-Finepix-3D-W3-Digital/dp/B003VTZ7TQ/ref=amb_link_157671367_2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1ETWYT3V7SHBDXY8EJ9F&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=212917847&pf_rd_i=413270031

a 3d digital camera,

I thought everyone would start to wear glasses as we are evolutionary adapting to look at things close to us and no longer need to look at distant objects, (except when driving).

but now it looks like we'l need shitty plastic glasses with cling film lenses to see all media,

with the ample 3d cinematic releases and now photographs being taken in 3d it seems this extra dimensional fab is not dying out.

I must admit sky 3d made boxing and football a lot more interesting for someone who doesn't particularly like sports.

swatch ad campagin

My friend sophie just showed me this, so i applied. Why not

pictures

I think the reason I have written on this less and less is because.

I am not doing many exciting things, except my radio show for plymouth student union

http://www.upsu.com/radio/content/229003/the_intro-33_show/

and i have starte dusing twitter, so instead of massive scribings on here i am blurting out small parts of my life on their.

www.twitter.com/thomasjbridge

anyway, my friends sophie davidson and katie mabey have used me in their photography projects recently and just gave me some pictures they took so here they are. Also some pictures i recently developed

All of the above were taken by Katie Jane Mabey http://www.flickr.com/photos/katiemabey/

This was taken by Sophie Davidson, who goes to Falmouth Uni

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophiedavidson

This was taken by me on my disposable i just developed, when i went surfing after 3rd years freshers week september 2010,

Was rad surfing newquay again after 3 years since i was last there.

So i may just add pictures to my posts as 'a picture is worth 1000 words' and that means i have to write less

photo

Just in case you thought I looked over the internet for this fisheye photo of the Colosseum in Rome.

I took the picture when I went in July, Rome is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Perfect place to take your girlfriend.

Darwin Deez Review

Wednesday 20th October 2010. The Cavern in Exeter.

The cavern is an apt venue for Darwin Deez, being underground and small and narrow. Meant the atmosphere was kept in and everyone felt included.

The support 'Naive New Beaters' were amazing as usual. I had seen them twice before at Benicassim and Bestival. Their simple catchy lyrics and french electro beats got the crowd moving. But it was the trio's dancing and lead singer 'David Bowie''s interaction with the crowd which makes the band so good.

Hi-5 ing everyone at the front after every song, getting everyone to move from left to right and having a homemade LED display of their band name. The lead singer also wowed the ladies with his pelvic thrusting and throwing confetti from his pocket into the crowd. The keyboardist who I believe is the singers brother, came on stage with sparklers attached to his shoulders... this is a sign of a true artist. As they are willing to become a fire hazard to entertain the crowd....

They played songs off their debut album 'Wallace', my favourite songs of theirs include 'Get love', 'Live Good' and 'Can't Choose'. The crowd immediately released they were here to have fun when they heard the lyrics to their first song.

'One two... don't touch ... three four... yourself ..... one two three four, don't touch yourself !'

After the show they stuck around and I told them that I had previously seen them and their response was ...'Wow we have a superfan, hey have a freepin badge'

The pin badge is still attached to my hoody and will most likely never be removed.

Darwin Deez came on only 10 minutes later. I had also seen them before at Bestival . They are a band which seem to love the crowd and do not take themselves too seriously. Between every two songs they would perform dance routines to old school songs, which were amazing and so well timed it looked like it should of been out of a movie. Which I think makes the gig worth the money so much more. As your not just paying to listen and watch them play but also to watch an entertaining show.

They tried freestyle rapping as well, after I asked them when they decided to do it and the guitarist said 'We just decided this morning to try it out, we have never tried it before tonight !'.

Darwin Deez also played songs from their debut self titled album, some of the songs I find the riffs are very similar. But they are just so energetic and feel good when performed live that it didn't matter.

Their favourite songs of mine besides the singles 'Radar Detector' and 'Constellations' include 'Up in the clouds' and 'Bad Day'. Their set lasted just over an hour, I think the whole album was played.... To the excitement of the crowd the band stuck around at the bar and merch stand and everyone got to talk to them. The drummer was a bit shy I don't think he was used to the fame of random people just wanting to talk to you. But the bassist was a really cool guy and was saying how much he enjoyed bestival .

Was defiantly one of my best gigs, amazing support and two bands who like to dance, not take themselves seriously and hang around with the fans after the show.

10/10

Skream and Benga Review

Tuesday 19th October. Plymouth Uni SU in the Main Room.

We arrived at midnight, the place was pretty dead in comparison to a normal night at the SU, but hey ho. At least the drinks were an alright price.

For tonight a massive soundsystem from 'Unleashed' was brought in and speakers were either side of the stage. I felt the bass through my whole body it was crazy.

I didn't realise how many people were on pills untill I queued for the toilet cubicles. Only to realise that everyone else in the queue couldn't see straight or stop their jaw from dancing independently from their body.

The night was a bit of a sausagefest, but thats standard when you play in a small place like plymouth and dubstep/drum and bass community is more male populous.

Benga played an amazing set 1 til 2, accompanied by mc pokes and mc youngman.

Skream joined Benga midway and the two continued til 3am. Playing some classics and also their new project magnetic man, which I am a currently loving. I advise spotifying, buying or downloading the album. From 'Perfect Stranger' to their first single 'I Need Air' as well as Katy B's 'On a Mission' the crowd was mental for it.

As the night drew to a close round 2.50am the crowd knew the music was soon to end therefore went all out. The SU security had been telling the MC's to make people move back throughout the night otherwise they would stop the music.

Well by the time it came to 3am the crowd didn't care, and 'In for the Kill' was on. The security then turned the lights on and decided it was over...

But o no ! They didn't count on people still dancing whilst being exposed to bright florescent lighting (which properly won't be there too much longer with all the budget cuts) and so we danced on !. The MC's got a chant of 'When I say Benga you say SKream' Benga' 'SKRRREAAAMMM' Skream realising he had little time left mixed in the tune that all security hate

Killing in the name of..

It was the perfect song to end on, the event had been shut down by 'The Man' and the people wanted to rebel. The head of security physically had too get up on the 1 foot stage and put his hands on the turntables and start ushering Skream and Benga to oneside.

They left the stage and the crowd followed them outside. I got a handshake off both, and a quick soundbite of SKream.

Skream ;'Thats the fifth riot i've caused this year'

Me ' What happened ?'

Skream; 'The security get too anger'

All in all a sick show and kudos to Unleashed for supplying that massive base, lets just hope the Security haven't put the two dj's from returning to Plymouth again. Below is a picture which goes to show that true artists keep n playing even when they are told not to. And the crowd will always keep on dancing.

fisheye album

this is a link to my fisheye album, which has pictures from january first up untill mid july. basically whats been going on in my life in 2010

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155554&id=748012168&l=da572e9758

Boredem and Credit cards

Today has been the first day in a long time.

that i have done nothing, i have just sat at home and watched tv and films.

To many people this may sound like bliss.

But after waking up at 9 and eating chicken drumsticks at 1 i drew tired of it.

I searched many websites and bought things pretty much for the sake of them

a book called 59 seconds about research to promote self help. (so for once a scientific view of self help) cost £4.

a yamaha mini keyboard on ebay for £12 and straight after i found so many casio keyboards for £5

which feels like such a waste.

on the one hand I like buying random things but n the other i don't like wasting money.

Despite this one day out of what i hope to be only a few i managed to organise a trip up to sheffield next thursday to see caroline just after her exams have finished and see we have band. luke will be driving which will make a nice change form mr driving.

BUt before that i have dot to dot festival and i'm quickly popping into plymouth to move the rest of my things out of my room to my grandmas. Then going to holsworthy to see gemma and her grandparents and a night in cardiff

In one week i will have travelled, over 1000 miles by car.

4music

Today I went into london for a casting for a 4music road trip ident.

I went to the channel 4 head offices in central london.

Got a pass and sat down at a table with 3 others who were applying for the casting.

We got talking and they were all really nice people.

The guy Alex was 23 and did economics at leeds (where my brother went to uni) he had boat shoes and the exact same clubmaster sun glasses which I had in my bag. He lived in south west london

Bell was 20 and had just finished her psychology degree (I do psychology) at royal Holloway and came from brixton.

ANd the last girl was Latvian and a model she had really cool tattoos on her arms.

We all talked for 10 minutes and got on well.

Then we were called into a room with the casting director women and an intern with a camera.

They took our profiles and then we sat on 4 chairs positioned as a car and pretended to drive as she would say events such as just starting and seeing a randon person and finally driving over the hill and seeing the beach.

I think it went well and the women could tell we got on together, also it looked like not a lot of other people were auditioning as they had about 20 passes at the main desk. although the guy alex had 40 written on this sheet and come to think of it i had 43 on my card.

Its hard to tell how well you did compared to others, i guess everyone feels the same.

Walking back to waterloo me bell and alex were syaing how good it would be to get it.

It pays alot of money and is just one day of filming on thursday driving to camber sands and back.

I think i'l find out today or tomorrow fingers crossed.

Adieu

blow your brains out

in the movies

if someone wants to kill themselves they do so by shooting themselves in the side of the head

in real life this does not always kill you,

as you do not need all your brain areas to still live.

a shot to the side of the head does not pass through vital brain areas.

sometimes the bullet bounces off the skull !

there have been cases where this can just take peoples eyes out and they are still alive

So i thought what is the quickest and painless way to shoot yourself.

after extensive searching through the internet.

it seems a gun in the mouth pointed up at the back of the brain will go through the pons which connect the brain and spine together.

So yeah

SUMMER

my third exam was brilliant

despite falling asleep at 2am due to worrying I would not fall asleep (a self-fulfilling prophecy)

the questions that came up were exactly what I revised.

Only a week and a half till my other exams are over.

then summer shall begin !

I was reading a book that i bought called 'this book will change your life'

each page sets a task for you to do each week or day.

Such as send random people Christmas presents in the post.

or

talk to every child you see.

This book is like the written equivalent to the film 'yes man'.

On skimming the pages I saw a fantastic task to spend more than your means and a quote by Oscar Wilde which is going to be my summer motto.

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination

We should not be comfortable

we should always be trying new things

trying new experiences,

spending more than we can afford,

going somewhere we shouldn't.

A hedonistic life as Gatsby lived in Fitzgerald's timeless classic.

But before these spontaneous antics and adventure !

revision. or my case. learning the material for the first time, then revision

the picture seen is a spontaneous moment last year, on the way to Glastonbury we drove past stone hedge so we parked out side had a picture taken then performed an illegal u-turn and kept going. all in all the event last about 40 seconds. but it was the fact we did it (unfortunately due to the size of the picture rob is left out, but he was there)