Friends In Real Life - Shaun Meighan

Say hello to Shaun.

This is my friend Shaun Meighan. I have known him since we were both fourteen-ish. That's three years now. I met him through Kilkenny Youth Theatre. Shaun likes playing video games, vlogging, and he builds websites, including Quick Revise, for Junior Cert students, and his personal website, Shaun Plays Games. He is one of the nicest people I know.

Once upon a time a few weeks ago, he tweeted that he'd like to know what it would be like to be interviewed. I volunteered, as I have had some experience in this. After some time passed and we hadn't found a day we were both free to meet, I emailed him some questions. He has given me permission to put his answers, below, up on Apostrophe.

*Describe yourself in five words.

Nerdy, average, nervous, loving, self-sufficient.

*Now we're not fifteen anymore, what is your view on Nerdfighteria? (I have a lot of feelings on this, and I just want to see how you feel, as a person who is not me, but was a Nerdfighter the same time as me. Are you still a Nerdfighter?)

Honestly, I feel that I have outgrown the community. It was great when I was in Junior Cert, it was my only form of expression. Now, though, after TY, I've just grown as a person. Not to offend anyone who is a nerdfighter: it's just not for me anymore.

*Tell me about your website building. How is that coming?

The website building is going good :) I'm teaching myself and am saving for a mac to use a certain program :)

*What five songs would be essential to a Shaun Meighan soundtrack? 

• Art Is Dead - Bo Burnham
• A Man's Gotta Do - Dr. Horrible
• Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit - How I Met Your Mother
• 4 Chords - Axis of Awesome
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

*On your Facebook profile, one of your favourite quotations is 'her past is gone, the present hurts, she has no future'. Why? (I know very well what it means.) (From A Vampire Story by Moira Buffini)

I just really like that quote :)

*Tell me about Ravenclaws. Who are they really? Do you identify yourself as an eagle?

I love Harry Potter, it's been with me since I was six, but I've never really identified with any one house - I see bits of myself in all of them. Also, I'm more of an owl :P

*What would you like to do when you leave school? 

Computer Science, mainly focused on web design and game programming.

*Why do you vlog about video games? (Do you say video games or computer games or just games?)

I say video games :) The reason I make videos on them is because they are one of the best forms of expression that I can think of. They don't tell a story, they let you live it.

*If you could return to a specific era in history, what would it be and why? 

I'd love to live during the Renaissance; all that innovation sounds like heaven to me :)

*How is Quick Revise? 

Quick Revise has been a great learning experience for me. It taught me so much about making websites - and managing them, dealing with a lot of users and trying to make changes while the site was in use. I'd love to do some more work on it :)

*What or who influences your wardrobe?

I tend not to base my wardrobe on anyone, I just wear things that I like. Many of my shirts have video game references because it's a way to start a conversation with people who have the same interests that I do.

*Quick-fire round -

• favourite book? Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein
• film? X-Men: First Class
• band or album or both? Green Day
• TV show? Dexter
• website? YouTube
• place? My bedroom
• game? Sky Roads (an old MS DOS game, it's awesome)
• city? Kilkenny
• interviewer? my good friend Eleanor :P

*Shag/marry/kill - Florence Welch (of Florence + the Machine), Miriam O'Callaghan (of RTÉ), Michelle Obama (of the White House). 

Shag Florence, marry Michelle, kill Miriam.

*The colour pink, discuss. 

Pink has a Hex Triplet of #FFC0CB. Pink is any of the colors between bluish red (purple) and red, of medium to high brightness and of low to moderate saturation. Commonly used for Valentine's Day and Easter, pink is sometimes referred to as "the color of love." The use of the word for the color known today as pink was first recorded in the late 17th century.

*What advice would you give to anyone who wants to build websites/vlog about games/aspire to some level of ShaunMeighanness? 

Be yourself. I say that because I am legally obligated to. Seriously, though, don't say "oh I can't do it" or "what if people think it's stupid?" I used to think that when the teacher asked for volunteers to fix the computer. Now I don't need to even put up my hand; they ask for me. That feels so good. To know that you can offer help to someone is one of the best things you can have. My grandfather told me something that has stuck with me my whole life. Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life.

I'd really like to make interviewing friends I have in real life a regular feature. (Me here again.) It's interesting what you can learn about people outside the realms of normal conversation when you ask them random questions and put them under pressure to deliver good answers for you lot, and their other friends who will hopefully read this.

If any of my friends in real life are reading this and wouldn't mind being questioned, or would like to plug something cool they're doing, give me a shout. I've got a Dictaphone, so you're in safe hands.

Eleanor Roscuro

Now Looky Here

This is the trailer for Shifting. It is scripted by John Kennedy, writer of the play and member of the cast, and directed and edited by Paddy Dunne. It stars the entire cast as they get up close and personal with each other. Check it out and please share it!

The song is from Morrissey, 'I Know Very Well How I Got My Name', here performed by Jessica Walsh and arranged by Geoff Warner Clayton, both members of the cast, and engineered by Ken McGuire, who is also producing the play.

Shifting opens on April 18th and runs until April 23rd in No. 76 John Street, Kilkenny. Tickets are €10, but on the first night, Monday April 18th, they're only a fiver. These fiver tickets can only be bought at the venue, and the rest of the tickets can be booked at DeviousTheatre.com or booked on 056 – 7794138.

Kisses,

Eleanor Roscuro

Let's Talk About Our Feelings

Let's have a chat over a nice cup of tea. Well, you can have coffee if you want. I've never liked coffee, but I'll be having some of that rainbow sugar if you don't mind. With my tea. I take milk.

Hi there.

Sorry about my absence. I feel like we never chat anymore, you and me. We should do that now! OK, I'll start. This is my blog after all.

1. So a few days ago at rehearsals, we were having a short break and I was playing with one of the juggling balls and trying to keep it up with my hands and moving around and eventually I found myself standing in the middle of the room and facing the back door and outside John and Ross were talking and on my left Alan and Geoff were talking about playing the guitar and someone was rattling around with mugs in the kitchen and behind me Angela was doing something and on my left down the ramp Jess was playing the guitar and singing with Connie and I was just standing there and staring at the ball, tapping it with the palms of my hands and humming the song DFTBA by Hank Green in my head and under my breath, and while I was standing there I realised how utterly amazing my brain was to take all of that in and think about all of those people at the same time and what they were doing and why and reprimanding myself at the same time because it was really none of my business what they were doing, and also thinking about things I needed to get in Educational Supplies for school and then thinking about school on Monday and if I needed to do any homework and thinking about
what I was going to eat later and also thinking about the ball I was trying to keep up with my hands and how amazing my brain was for being able to think all of those things at the same time and trying to decide if my brain was simply a brilliant organ or if I was too scatterbrained and flighty to concentrate on one thing at a time. And then I dropped the ball.

2. WAIT A SECOND!!! I haven't told you anything about any rehearsals yet! Um... Can you wait, just for a few days? Before I tell you, I'd like to have something to tell you. Know what I mean? Oh, never mind.

3. This year, both Barack Obama and the Queen of England will be visiting Ireland, within fourteen hours of each other! That's nice of them. Apparently Obama's oldest living relative lives somewhere near where I live, so he might pop over. Princess Margaret, the Queen's sister, once visited the town where my mother grew up when she was a little girl, and I still have one of the dresses Lady de Vesci used to wear. It's gorgeous. Anyway, the visits will be great for the economy. That's good.

4. Bo Burnham will be coming to Kilkenny in June, as part of the Cat Laughs festival. I'm not really a big fan, but I'm glad people on YouTube and the Internet are being seen by IRL people as real entertainers, not just teenage crushes. Not that I'll be able to go, the Cat Laughs is strictly over eighteens. Still, it brings €8 million into Kilkenny!



5. I read an amazing book recently, called The Queen Must Die by K.A.S. Quinn. I think I'll write y'all a review! But not in this post. You might have noticed the new Reading List over at the left there. Thing is, I keep buying books, but I never have the time for reading them anymore. So I've decided to be very strict with  myself and I am not allowed to buy anymore books (sob) until all the books in this list have been read. Every single one of them. I've just finished To Miss With Love by Katharine Birbalsingh, which is a MUST if you go to, or have ever gone to, secondary school. No matter where you live. Go read it.

Goodbye...

Oh, and thank you all for your kind, supreme patience.

Eleanor Roscuro...

STUFF I BE DOIN WI ME LIFE WOT

Yeah... I'm hungry.

Hello.

You may not have realised this yet, but I don't spend all my time on the internet with you. This is what I've been doing with myself this past while. Don't worry, it's all terribly interesting.

1. Being Nostalgic And Kicking Myself: A few weeks ago, I re-read the Roald Dahl books, all of them. I used to read them all the time when I was younger - Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox... But as I was re-reading them recently, I started to notice... things. Things like all the alliteration Dahl used. All the time, with every single character in every single book, everyone is crying 'Great galumphing galizzers!' and it gets very repetitive. And the heroes and heroines, the children, THEY'RE ALL THE SAME. Seriously, there's nothing to distinguish them from each other, which is annoying. And I was reading and noticing these things, and other things too, but I didn't want to notice them. I am older now, and I ruined the Roald Dahl books for me, and it's all my fault. And after realising this I went off and sulked, like the baby I am.

2. Addiction #56: So Tom Milsom joined Tumblr. Yes, you read me correctly. Tom Milsom is now on Tumblr. Amazing, isn't it? Go and join him on his odyssey! (Yes. I did just make a terrible pun, or whatever that was. You're welcome.)

3. Becoming Trendy - Part #375: So a few days ago I came across a new post by Miss Vintage Vixen who I secretly but not very secretly adore, and it was a post about this band. This wonderful band. Sleigh Bells - Infinity Guitars. It's just...



You know? And the song is relatively simple, almost the same thing over and over again, but when that thing is so good, it doesn't really matter.

4. J'adore l'animation! This film probably won't be screening in my local omniplex, but it will stand the test of time better than whatever CGI 2011 is going to give us. It's called Le Vie un Chat. It's so pretty, and it's a shame that people here aren't buzzing about it. But still. Plus, I want to know more about the life of the cat.




5. Embracing the Force: So yesterday I was drinking some tea and I was shown this ad. There's not really much I can say that hasn't already been said (but still, that could be applied to almost everything, couldn't it? Why am I saying it?) Anyway, this is one of the best examples of child acting I've ever seen. Whatever he does again, his face should not be shown. It just makes it that much better.



Also - what's the Superbowl?

Eleanor Roscuro

Seven Things In My Room

Blogging on my birthday? I know. I'm the best.

Causes of WWI in Three Minutes

Two videos in one weekend? I know. I'm great.

Eleanor Roscuro

Things I Am Scared Of

This may seem like a weird video to make, but one thing that I notice about video blogging is that a lot of people think that the personalities of the people vlogging aren't real, they're just for YouTube. I don't want to be like that. This is me. And also, I'm scared of a lot of things.

The sheet on which I wrote down all the things I'm scared of was on my lap, that's why I keep looking down.

Oh! Announcement! I have inspired Jenny from fiction isn't fair to start video blogging! Ah, I love it when I do that. Go subscribe!

How did the quality get so bad?

I will be recording another video tomorrow, tomorrow being Sunday. Maybe two, an 'In Three Minutes' video and perhaps a Room Tour? Interesting...

Eleanor Roscuro

Quote Of The Week #20

I can't get over how alluring Charlie is... He's got that kiss me stare.

Tom Milsom at Stickaid 2010

God, I wish I had a photo... For Stickaid, Charlie and Myles had to put on make-up and get their legs waxed, and Tom was so dry... He should have had a mic for the whole thing.

If you don't know what Stickaid is, look here.

My Taking Over The World Is Going Quite Well, Thank You. For Example:

Most of you will know of one of my favourite bloggers, Anna McGarry. (If you don't, become one of us. Quickly now!) Yeah, we're starting a collab channel on YouTube together, just thought you'd like to know.

Shall I elaborate?

Me and Anna, who is also a fellow video blogger (channel here although her videos have mysteriously disappeared...) are going to be video blogging through a collab channel. Don't worry, I'll still be making videos for myself! But the thing is... We need a name. A cool name. And we want YOU to give us name for our channel! We'll probably start making videos this weekend. Our videos will have a different theme each week, and they will also be chosen by YOU. It's really interactive!

And so, to recap:

Me + Anna + YouTube = Channel
You + Me + Anna + YouTube = Cooler Channel With Name And Themes

Got that? Good.

NOW GIVE US A NAME! AND IDEAS FOR THEMES! NOW!

Eleanor Roscuro

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Literal Trailer

Remember when I posted the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Well, thanks to Hank Green, I found this, and this is a masterpiece.



When I first watched the trailer, I didn't pay much attention to detail as the people who write HP Tumblrs did. I was just focused on the being a Harry Potter fangirl part. But now I see lots of things! Was Snape there all the time? (Of course he was - E.) If you want them (I know I do), these are the lyrics...

Introductory helicopter nature shot.
Bad guy at a safe distance
Second helicopter introductory nature shot
Bad guy at an uncomfortably close distance (turn)

Careful Harry, he doesn't have a nose.
Harry needs some sleep.
And he needs a nose.
And he needs some sleep.
And some new glasses.
And he needs a manicure.
Don't sleep yet Harry, he's gonna kill you LOOK OUT!

Spell, dodge, too many passengers,
dramatic turn,
how does that hold him up?
First time he touched a girl
Pan up pointy roof
Leaf bed look right
This movie is extremely important
Force field dissolves
Dramatically raise hand
That train is screwed
Slowly look left
This movie is the most important movie you will ever see
Back up in a library
Raise your hand and a wand
Dragon's pissed, Weasley's scared
Of a bunch of bad guys
but he acts brave while he runs.
You've gotta buy 2 tickets
Masked guy on a broom swerve
Run throw exploding
Running closer shot cast a spell
DUCK be careful with that stick too late.

OK, time out. Oh thank god OK. Catchin my breath. He's grabbin his face, whatever. OK go!

Dragon take off
People running
Downhill people running
Flex
Part 1 November walking
Chase that fire you wizards flying horse lizard
look out harry
Too late got him, help him Ron.

PART 2 July 2 BURNING
People Running backwards
Screaming
wave-hand upskirt
Windy
Kissing
Snape
cast spell
climb
look
blow up the town
Wizard lightning battle
Zoom huge shiny P
Then other letters come out.

This has definitely made my day.

Eleanor Roscuro

Harry Potter in 3 Minutes

New video alert!

I hope this works out, I'd like to make another.

Eleanor Roscuro

Being Nice.

This was my ninth attempt at uploading this. I am so relieved!

First Vlog! I'm Taking Over The World With Musky Armpits!

What a weird title.

So, this is my very first vlog! I promise the next one will be shorter, mainly because this one took thirteen hours to upload, and made me very grumpy. I had to stay up until four o'clock last night, and only got five hours of sleep to interview the curator of the visual arts strand in the Kilkenny Arts Festival. It's Oliver Dowling if you're interested... Anyway...



High-Fives,

Eleanor Roscuro

Life In A Day Is Resurrected!

I have found my Life in a Day videos! I love you Picasa, even though I can't resize pictures so I can't use them as post headers and thumbnails on PTS, but I still love you! I'm sorry everyone, for being so cross and swearing so much on my last post about it. I was just frustrated. But now you get to see my tour of Kilkenny, in all it's unedited, hand-shakingly glory! My hand does shake a lot. Just so you know. And I couldn't show you all my favourite places in Kilkenny, because YouTube only allows ten minutes, and the camera I was using only had ten minutes of film in it, so that was convenient. I recorded it in six parts, this is the first:



I know, I know, it's unprofessional and weird. But I've never vlogged before, so bear with me!







And here's the link to Grace's posts on St. Canice's Cathedral! Sorry that my close-up is really close up, there was no room in that tower, and I was afraid of dropping the camera! Onwards... I keep saying that!



No, you don't have to give me money! I hope I won't be arrested or anything for that...



My hair and my eyes are crazy! I think I will start vlogging this week, and I assure you the camera will be steadier! At the moment my YouTube username is EleanorLight14 but I'm hoping this can change... And I have 41 followers?! This is awesome! Thank you so much everybody!

High-Fives,

Eleanor Roscuro

Do You Know This Woman?

Last Sunday, I was up in Galway for the opening of the Galway Arts Festival! It took the form of a huge parade called the Macnas, which was the best parade I have ever seen. Forget St Patrick's Day, you need to see the Macnas. I have videos of it if anyone wants me to post them? Anyway, after the Macnas was over the various street performers that Galway is famous for came back on to the street and started performing again. One of the street performers was this woman:



She's quite clever, playing on people's curiosities! Isn't her costume and her manner beautiful? Anyway, I went up to get my slip of paper, and she took a long time deciding mine, but she eventually gave me this:

Cool or what?! Can you see the handwriting? I wonder what she wrote it with... Nice, isn't it?

High-Fives,

Eleanor Roscuro

Cast Your Minds Back...

Remember the... I don't need to ask this. Of course you remember! You do, don't you?

OK. Let's start again.

Yesterday, I posted a Sons Of Admirals video, Here Comes My Baby, on Music at Musings and this post is about one of the band members. Yes, I am talking about the wonderful Alex Day. Comedian, musician, and English guy! But I think there is only one person who can truly introduce us to Nerimon...



He is most famed for his Alex Reads Twilight series, but I don't know which chapter to upload, so I'll give you something from his other series, where he makes fun of British artist's stupid lyrics. This one is quite memorable...



I told you it was memorable.

Like I mentioned above, Alex is also a musician, and has released two albums, Parrot Stories and The World Is Mine (I Don't Know Anything) and an EP all about computer games called 117% Complete. This is one of my favourite music videos of his, The Time Of Your Life, directed by some guy called Charlie. Do you know him?



That makes me laugh so hard... And this is my other favourite, Holding On. Look out for Tom Milsom on glockenspiel! (Glockenspiel. I love saying that word.)



He's also inventor of Trock, or Time Lord Rock, which consists of songs about Doctor Who. I'm not a Who fan myself (I've always wanted to see it, but I think I'm too late...) but his Trock band, Chameleon Circuit, is quite famous among those circles I hear.

High-Fives,

Eleanor Roscuro

You've Just Started Reading A Blog Post By Eleanor Roscuro, Which Makes You A Genius!

This might seem strange, but apart from using videos for Music at Musings, and the Potter Puppet Pals (BOTHER!) I've never gone onto YouTube that much. All I seemed to hear about YouTube was those rude Postman Pat videos my brother watches all the time.  Then my friend told me about Charlie McDonnell. Yep, him.

Do you remember? I'm going to marry him! And this guy:

And him:

Yeah, he's handsome. The first video I saw was A Song About Acne, and you can't not love him after watching it. Here, I'll prove it:



I did tell you. It's addictive. He performs other daft songs too, and you can challenge him to do something weird, like paint himself purple or eat baby food. He's even been challenged by Philip Schofield and his daughter. And he's utterly likable, and witty, and quite nerdy, and quite very talented, like I've said. Stephen Fry voices his outros. Stephen Fry, AKA God in tweed.

Alright, I can't resist another. This is one of my favourites, Understanding Teenage Boys! (Don't tell me you've never wondered...)



Oh damn it, I've run out of butter. My skin smells like skin!

High-Fives,

Eleanor Roscuro

Music at Musings: Paolo Nutini - New Shoes

Paolo Nutini is fantastic. He writes beautiful songs and is very handsome too! Also, it's nice to find a man who appreciates how happy a nice pair of shoes can make you...



I really need to think of another music post alliteration title thingy. Decibal Delights? Really?

Music at Musings: Live Lounge, Lady Gaga - Pokerface

As ye might know, judging from the Soundtrack up there, I am a fan of BBC Radio One's Live Lounge, where artists perform acoustic versions of their songs and other songs outside of their genre. Now, I'm not really a big fan of Lady Gaga, but the You Me At Six cover of Pokerface on the Soundtrack is awesome in my opinion. So I got the Live Lounge Volume 4 CD recently and this was the first song...

Once

One of the best Irish films ever! Once is a simple but brilliantly told story of a Dublin busker and a Czech flower-seller connecting by their love of music. We don't learn their names - they are credited as 'Guy' and 'Girl'. The soundtrack is brilliant, and the whole film is much better than any Hollywood music film like Dreamgirls or anything like that.