The Shining Path                                  RJD2

Mic check 313                                         Guilty Simpson

Pearls                                                        Madvillian

Wylin Out                                                Mos Def, Prefuse 7 + RJD2

La belle et le bad boy                            MC Solaar

I need a dollar                                        Aloe Blacc

The album ‘The Score’                         Fugees

The album ‘Now Playing’                  Ayatollah

I’ve been trying                                      Dj Shadow

In my place                                             Onra + Quetzal

I’m good, I’m fine                                  Lykke Li

Heart of gold                                          Neil Young

1. French. I set myself the challenge of every night, watching  TV5, the french channel, in an attempt to reignite my french skills, for one whole month. After the first week, I was positive in my opinion that this could have been one of the worse idea’s to date. Though, as time went on, the whole french experience became the perfect form of escapism. Did my language improve, un petite peu(impressed? thought not). Though the best part was what TV5 played. Some ww2 drama, about the dutch and germans not getting on post the fall of Adolf. Still none the wiser about what was really going on. Note. It was definately the ‘french lingo’ that gave me a sense of relaxation…not images of people dressed in Nazi outfit!

2.  J.R. One of the great street artists, though after reading his interview in The Independent this week, he hates this label. The guy’s style is so unqiue, taking photos then plastering up huge wall surfaces. It’s the mixture of his unique style, polictical messages and subtly(see the picture below of the man with the gun) that intrigues and excites.

I said ‘gun’…I meant camcorder.

3.  Brighton Comedy Festival.

Now, I’m honest enough to admit that i’m useless. Every year I see this advertsied and think ‘this year, i’ll go to a few gigs’ but never actually get round to it. It used to always infuriate me as this is a great opportunity to see some of the best stand ups from blightly, on my door step. So, this time, I wasn’t going to miss out. I managed to see a 4 gigs, the stand outs being my hero Stewart Lee and Frankie Boyle. Just a warning though, never ever EVER leave half way through a Boyle gig for a loo break. In the hindsight, the embarrassed of wetting oneself would have been far less than Frankie ‘going-to-town’ on me.

4. Ben Wilson

Who? Ben Wilson is a 41 year old artist. Never heard of him? Really? Well, his medium is…..turning chewing gum on pavements into art? Does he have a mental inbalance? Maybe.

What i like about all of this is the creative spontaneity. He saw a blank canvas, unloved, unsavoury, which surrounds us everyday, 24/7 and turned it into something, not only eye pleasing, but fun, with a twist of quirky humour. This man shows what creativity is all about.

1. Write a funny poem about death

I wrote a rhyming suicide note from Death himself.

2. What would i find in the light at the end of the tunnel?

I came up with the idea of, get ready for it!, a terroist group made up of various woodland creatures (you the know the ones, scattered on the dual carriage way after a horrendous hit and run) who, in an attempt to stifle boy racers, had postioned themselves in front of tunnels, armed with a mirror shield. There aim, to reflect the boy racer’s headlights back towards them, thus getting one back over their nemisis. I devised this story as a mock Sun article.

3. Why should you never understimate a handsome bear?

I devised and photoshopped(with help from a very good friend) a mock Vogue article about a Polar bear starting out in the fashion industry, looking at topics of how he dealt with the negativity towards him and he overcame his innate aggression. ‘Ursus White’ (ursus means bear in latin) was a great character. I’ll put some mock sketches of him later.

4. How would Michelangelo sell Dell computers?

I wrote a letter as a manger of P.C World firing Michelangelo for his poor selling abilities. I think i made this pretty funny (‘we know you find the shop decor appalling, though its not your duty as sales assistant to be caught with a pot of Dulex finest on a ladder before opening etc). I used the truth about Mich and imagined how he might cope in todays world, with a comic twist.

Last week I stumbled across a new designer medium that is in the beginnings of becoming a ‘street craze’ phenomena. ‘DIY’ designer toys. Made from vinyl. these little beauties come in various sizes and shapes. I was purely interested in the  ’Munny’,the ‘human’ version of the range, created by an american company called Kidrobot. They come blank, with a choice of base colours (pink, blue or white) and depending on your budget, the sizes range from 4 inches(£10) to 18 inches ( a cool £200).

The vinyl lets you get to work straightaway, though if you wish to paint them, an undercoat is highly recommended.

The idea of creating on a 3d canvas got me too excited and so the next day during my lunch break, I ventured into Brighton’s ‘trendily’ area of the Lanes to see if i could stumble upon these little gems. With luck, i managed to find two (four inch) and began creating on them that night. I used acrylic paint on one and black markers for the other. Both were given a undercoat prior to paint/pen, though in hindsight, the one which was just pen didn’t need an undercoat. The paints needed roughly three-four coats and the whole process took about 4 hours.

Here are the finished two. I have to be honest, the ideas behind them were heavily influenced by ones I had googled, and so i have had to turn down offers of commissions for both of them as well, that would be cheating, but it gives me an incentive to keep designing and to see what happens. I highly recommend trying it at least. If you need any help/advice on paints/pens etc, just leave a note and i’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Failure. The dreaded word. We go through life, hoping to succeed at everything we do. God forbid us if we don’t. The shame surrounding it. Yet we need failure, we need to embrace it, for failure brings development, experience and progression. Even though I’m not a massive fan of this little book, these five words have paid a huge influence towards my thinking. So, its with great pride and self accomplishment, that I can say…I ‘FAILED’ to gain a place at Watford.

Over a years hard work, two interviews clocking up ten hours and brutal feedback, the quest is over.

Hand on heart, I’ve enjoyed the experiance. The higlight was the creative test(see below what my answers were). I’d never seen anything like this before and absoluetly loved coming up ‘different’ ideas for it.

The interviews. I won’t go into detail about what one has to deal with as Tony wants to see what your like naturally. The advice i would give is don’t be intimidated. Give as much as you get. It is a brutal honest experiance. And that’s the important thing to note. Honesty can be harsh. So if your not thick skinned, don’t even bother attending. I personally find Tony’s ‘one liners’ entertaining. Imagine Simon Cowell and times it by 3. I liked Tony, he gave me some great advice.

There were negative aspects. When Tony says ‘I’ll make my decison at the end of the week, your’ll be hearing from us next week’. He actuallys means ‘If you get a place, your’ll be hearing from us, if you don’t, your’ll hear from us 2 months later, or never’. Don’t do what i did and wait a few weeks out of poilteness, if you don’t hear back when he says, contact him to find out the deal.

Also, there is no point contacting Michelle Crawford. I’m sure the lady is extremely busy but you won’t help you at all.

The last thing Tony told us was about the workload. He said an ex watford team, now at TBWA, had to produce 100, yes 100, different ideas for one brief….in one week, along with the rest of the creative dept. Three ideas were accepted. Luckily, 1/3 was one of theres. Thats the workload you are looking at. The pressure of coming up with a huge quantity of ‘fresh’ ideas that have never been thought of before. If you believe you can do this, apply to Watford.

‘Miss you’ by The Rolling Stones

‘Angie’ by The Rolling Stones

‘See’ by Supreme Team

‘The Wigflip’ by Madlib

‘You’ve got the Love’ by Red Sauce

The album ‘Peanut butter breaks’ by Peanut Butter Wolf.

‘Rebellion’ by Arcade Fire

‘Back of the Bus’ podcast

‘Stones Throw Podcast by Stones Throw Record.