Lol the title of the last post didn't make sense XD

...I usually write the titles, then build the entry around it, but last night the blog post ended up being too long to do that :P

Thank you guys so much for all the congratulatory messages, I'm so glad I have everybody's support behind this :) Some of the messages, blog/dailybooth comments and @replies I got seemed genuinely heartfelt, and I just want to thank you all for being there. Honestly, I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't because of you <3

Anyway, time for that promised "more info":

Chronicles Of Syntax is the series' name. It revolves around the main character Syntax, as she comes to terms with being caught in the middle of a fight for survival between two sides, all set in a post-apocalyptic world.

...I think that's all I can give away xD

Anyway, my character's name is Kai. He's one of the good guys, a computer hacker who keeps getting himself in trouble. He's also a complete joker, who basically seems to hit on anyone missing a Y-chromosome :P

Here's a photo of me as Kai, with Rachel Allsopp, who'll be playing the character of "D":

You'll probably recognise the hoodie of all things, we had to bring clothes that we'd deem as the character's to the audition, where this photo was taken :P

Now I can't give away the little details, like when does it start showing, what channel etc, mostly because I don't know xD There'll be a website up and running in the next week or so where hopefully there'll be some more information. As soon as it's ready, I'll let you guys know, probably by Twitter :P

Thanks again ^_^

-Liam

Chronicles.

I've been a bit cryptic on DailyBooth and Twitter lately about one or two things that I haven't really been able to go into in huge detail, but is such a big thing that I couldn't help but drop hints xD

Anyway, clarifying everything now.

November just gone, I was down in Hackney recording my bit for Chameleon Circuit at NSG's. On the weekend I was there, I also recieved two very memorable emails:

The first was apparently from David Tennant, with his appraisal for the "TRUTH..." video :P

And the second was from a writer called Susan Clarke. She had finished writing a TV series which had gained some interest and, after perusing through my YouTube content, decided I'd be suitable to play one of the parts!

I'd like to clarify before I go further, that my acting experience isn't exactly huge; I started doing amateur drama stage producions when I was 9, I did all the stage shows at high school for the six years I was there, and worked with some of my peers for a short film promoting awareness of drugs and alcohol abuse (where I was the lead character), but not much else...

Okay, so maybe not exactly "not exactly huge", but in my defense I've never tried anything on a professional level before! :P

Anyway, continuing this tale. Obviously there was an audition process to go through, which would take place in March. Within this time we emailed back and forth about the show, the character etc. When the time came, I couldn't make it down to the audition because of stupid uni D: but Sue and Ryan, her director/friend, told me I could audition by video. I sent it to them and apparently they liked it, because I was through to the next set of auditions!! ^__^

Now the callbacks took place just at the beginning of this month, which were held in Manchester (and when this picture was taken :P). I travelled down and properly met Ryan and Sue, who are an absolutely incredible team. They were so helpful in discussing the character with me, and gave me sneaky insights into the future of the show, it was brilliant.

The actual auditions themselves took place the day after I arrived, and for the first part of the day, it was really daunting (because as you might have been able to tell, I haven't really done this sort of thing before xD), but everyone was really nice and supportive, mostly because - if you take away the fact that they've all done some sort of professional work in the past and I haven't - we were all in the same boat.

I did my audition pieces and I felt they went surprisingly well :P I watched the other guys who were vying for the same part as me, and they all did it in different ways, but all still very good :)

Anyway, thanks for coming we'll let you know when we've cast everyone etc FAST FORWARD to yesterday. I'm heading out to work, I'm literally halfway down the street, when I get the call.

I got the part!! They liked me! I apparently have some skillz! Basically, ahmagad I'm going to be an actor XD

I can't share a huge deal about it yet, but this blog entry's long enough as it is anyway, plus I'm immensely tired. I'm just sorry that this little bit at the end can't quite sum up how speechless and overexcited I was yesterday xD

I'll tell you some details about the show and my character (otherwise known as Kai) tomorrow =)

-Liam

Considerable Improvements

-The last person I've been in contact with about the flat finally got back in touch, and is probably coming over Thursday. I told them if they like the place, it's theirs :P

-I've been seeing a couple of my IRL friends a lot over the past two days. They've really helped me wind down and stop fretting about this flat drama so much, it's been great.

-Not to sound too overdramatic, but I just want to say how lucky I am to have an amazing girlfriend giving me moral support with this malarky every day; not to mention you guys, the readers/followers/subscribers. Your kind words have helped everything look that little bit less daunting, so thanks so much <3

-Finally, I got an email from an angel in the guise of Alex Day, who quoted the sum of how much money we've all earned individually from the pre-orders of Chameleon Circuit in its first five days. I'm pretty sure I can't really discuss these things fully because of our contract, but all you need to know is that, when panicking about my summer finances, I hadn't taken the CC royalties in account at all- and at the moment it's looking like I'll have a lot less to worry about ^_^

-Liam

p.s. If you want to pre-order a copy of the album, do it here :D

Flat Woes

Those who follow my Twitter will be aware of my recent and continuous moaning about my flat, although you probably won't know the actual story. Sooo I'll tell you now!
A bit of forewarning; this is kind of interesting, but it isn't the happiest story in the world. So if you're prone to going on downers because of other people, You might not wanna read :P

Basically, a while ago I was offered a room for next year in a different flat with some of my friends/neighbours from first year at uni. Their place is amazing; it's bigger, cheaper and in a nicer area of Edinburgh than my current flat- not to mention I actually like the people living in it.
The only hang-up was that their contract started in June, whereas my current one wouldn't end until the end of August. So that would mean that I had three months of overlap and would potentially have to pay two lots of rent, which with me not getting a student loan over the summer, I definitely can't afford.

So, over the past few weeks, under the somewhat begrudging consent of my landlady, I've been searching to find another student to sub-let my room to (meaning they'd stay in it and pay the rent to me, which would then go to the landlady). But this is proving ridiculously difficult; my rent, considering the area I live in, is pretty damn high, not many people have been willing to go for it and there's a good chance that my ad(s) haven't been appearing in crucial search results because of the price. Because of this I ended up lowering it, because I'd rather pay for some of it than all of it.
However, it's still not getting any easier. Out of about six different viewings and meetings that I've arranged with possible candidates for the flat, only two have shown up, for various and sometimes completely stupid reasons. So for the past two weeks I've been getting messed around a lot, and with pretty much no current interest from anyone, I'm gradually becoming more disheartened and desperate.

At the time of writing this, I have seven days until my new contract begins, and in that time I've got to find a replacement for my flat, get the deposit from them, use that deposit for my new flat, set up two different standing orders both with this mystery person and my new landlord, work so I actually have money coming in, pack/move, and still make time for John and Ginger Chris' birthday in Glasgow on Saturday. But I'm still at Stage 1, so currently a lot of my time is spent staring at my laptop screen, refreshing my business email's inbox to see if anything is coming through. I hate being cooped up all the time, but I'm at a stage where all I can do is wait for other people, and there's no time to waste.

It's not looking too great, is it kids? At the moment it appears my finite options are pay for June with my student overdraft and keep searching for someone, or change my name to Mr. Rich Mann and flee the country. The latter's looking so good right now xD

Anyway, if you've got this far, well done and I'm sorry for putting you through that. But I really felt like venting, and 140 characters doesn't really allow a proper rant :P
I guess that now I'm active on this blog again, I'll keep you updated if and when things start looking up!
Thanks

-Liam

CD Breakdown

I really don't want to have to start every entry I write in here with "Oh! I haven't blogged in a long time hurr hurr" So I won't :P

The other day I went out and bought on CD 21st Century Breakdown, by one of my ongoing favourite bands since forever, Green Day.
A couple of points I want to stress before I go any further: Firstly, aside from those by independent artists like Tom Milsom, Mhazz or Julia Nunes, I haven't bought a physical CD in a very long time. These days if I even bother buying a whole album, I tend to do it on iTunes. In fact, judging from my CD collection, the last newly-released physical album I bought was Favourite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys. In 2007. So me walking into HMV and buying Breakdown is actually kind of a big deal, which I'll elaborate on.

Secondly, since I pretty much abhor all current music in the British charts or anything remotely similar to it (which isn't hard, since it all sounds the same), I rarely listen to the radio and don't follow single releases and things like I used to, back when I was a bit younger and music was good (yes, it did just suddenly go from "good" to "shit". It was probably a Saturday in 2006, don't question this). As a result, I hadn't heard any released single(s) from Breakdown before buying the album. So aside from reading Alan's review, I had no idea what it would sound like or if I would actually enjoy it. After all, Green Day or not, it's still an album released amongst today's garbage. So I like to consider my purchase of the album as an act of faith.

And oh. My. God. They pulled through, unbelievably. Retaining the punky anthem sound that I love so much and breaking out from all the rah-music that's been playing in my bar and suppressing my brain for so long, listening to it all the way through was a breath- no, a gulp of fresh air!
I'm not much of a reviewer, but some things I will say are I find ¡Viva La Gloria!, East Jesus Nowhere and Peacemaker to be some of the strongest tracks in the album, and that Know Your Enemy, although still really quirky and enjoyable, was a poor choice for a first single. It just seems to lack the passion that encompasses the rest of the album, meaning that it doesn't really do for Breakdown what American Idiot did for, er, American Idiot in its time. However, it's a more radio-friendly length than some of the others, so you can see where they were coming from. Marketing, innit :)

Anyway, what I'm trying to put across is this; the fact that I haven't bought a CD by a major artist for a long time, to me, is a big deal. Rarely anything mainstream these days is worth listening to, let alone owning a tangible copy of. So I'm glad that for me to finally break that trend and go buy a real album from a real store, was because of something like 21st Century Breakdown. Good stuff ^_^

Liam

Stolen From Alan

Don't want to just use this blog for quizzes and things, but I found this really interesting :)

Using only song titles from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It's harder than you think.

Pick Your Artist: Lemon Demon (I'm on a bit of an LD kick since Neil Cicierega put their first four albums up for free download :P)

Are you male or female:
White Bread Boyfriend
Describe yourself:
The Saga Of You, Confused Destroyer Of Worlds
How do you feel about yourself?:
Fine
Describe where you currently live:
This Hyper World
If you could go anywhere, where would you go?:
Party On The Moon
Your favourite form of transportation:
Musical Chairs
Your best friend is:
Stick Stickly
Your favorite colour is:
Ode To Crayola
What's the weather like?:
Sky Is Not Blue
Favorite time of day:
Movie Night
If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?:
Geeks In Love
What is life to you?:
Idiot Control Now
What is the best advice you have to give?:
Don't Be Like The Sun
If you could change your name, what would it be?:
Action Movie Hero Boy
Your favorite food is:
Toy Food
Thought for the Day:
Correctional Facility Food Sucks
How would you like to die?:
Knife Fight!
Your soul's present condition:
Destructo!
The faults you can bear:
The Only House That's Not On Fire (Yet)
Your motto:
Dance Like An Idiot

YAY, that went surprisingly well :D

-Liam

Keshuns Pt.3

The last set, and I think I may have weighted these entries unevenly; I don't think there's a lot left to cover.
Soooooo....

What would you rather make out with, the right femur of a deceased cat or the left hip bone of a deceased donkey?
xD that's so surreal... Hip bone!

Have you ever considered moving to Fernieland? Why/why not?
Where? No, on the grounds that I have no idea where or what this place is... :P

What's your favorite band, woodland creature, place to relax, poet, and..bean? What's your favorite type of bean, goddammit.
Currently Lemon Demon, fox, on my bed, Robert Burns, and kidney. KIDNEY!!

Have you ever been noticed in public for being on YouTube?
Quite a few times. The first time it happened was in my uni library, and I was really taken aback :P A few other instances, like a couple of people approaching me while working at the bar; those times were funny cuz the people were pretty drunk xD

Since you work in a bar, can you do flair bar tricks? If so, could you show us any?
I never said anything about a cocktail bar :P I can throw/catch glasses, if that counts...

Do you think shampoo companies are putting something in that makes hair curlier so more straighteners are sold all for monies?
I wouldn't put it past them, to be honest.

What do you think is more important in your significant other: intelligence or humour?
I would say those two things go hand-in-hand; real humour actually requires intelligence to make it work. I'm lucky enough to be with a person that has both anyway :)

Where did you get this 'Juiced up' version of Windows Movie Maker you speak of?
Google something like "Rehan FX Movie Maker", and you should find something, I can't really remember exactly where I got the plug-ins...

Which two people would you want by your side in a zombie apocalypse, and what would be your weapon of choice?
Oh, I hate choosing when I know people I love read this!... I would say Min, but if the zombie outbreak were to happen this afternoon, I'd be comforted knowing that she's probably safe on a seperate landmass on the other side of the planet, where the infection won't reach so quickly. With me, I'd happily have anybody who I hold as close friends, IRL or URL, it doesn't matter; people I know I could trust, confide in, and fight alongside.
For weapon of choice... to be realistic, you're not going to suddenly end up with a huge artillery of guns at your disposal, you have to make do with what you own. Sooo... my fire extinguisher (until it slows me down), every knife in the drawer, and Samson. He'd get destroyed, but you have to make sacrifices :(
....I've thought about this waaaay too much xD

What's your favorite animated movie?
Quite possibly The Lion King.

What's your favourite french fancy colour? Hmm?
XD I think possibly pink, because they tend to be strawberry, right? ...Are we thinking of the same thing?

And, er... that's it!
Thanks again to everybody that asked; special acknowledgements to Seamalicous, who asked all the more surreal questions xD
By the way, since this was just a spur-of-the-moment thing to help me get used to writing in this blog again, I've answered the questions that I got as Twitter @replies on the day I asked, and that's it. Since I'd rather not keep dragging out a boring pile of Q&A entries until the day I die, I'm not going to refer to any more questions asked beyond that for a while. Sorry!

-Liam