Updates and the future for Clockwork Mice

Yeah, you guys already know that I'm a total sucker for nostalgia, so, while being moody and sulky with my family I am going to share with you some other things that make me go "NAWWWW.... I remember this!"
I generally only post things that I have been  interested in or looked up recently, so they're fresh in my mind.

Now, as a much needed distraction from year twelve, I've been spending a fair amount of time in the last  few weeks watching a BBC show called Young Dracula. About, surprisingly, vampires.

Now, without rambeling on about the show, I'll just mention that one of the reasons why I liked this show (and still do) is that while everything looks pretty fake, the actors and their characters all accept that, like it's deliberate. This casual approach makes the show seem, well fun. Which is good because it has a sort of tragic element running through it.



 

http://www.scaryforkids.com/young-dracula/#comments

 Anyway, did I mention it has Keith Lee Castle as Count Dracula? He is a favourite actor of mine, and the Goth DJ Eddie from that movie Vampire Diary (Not based on the TV show/ books).

Apart from watching TV on YouTube and preparing for the never ending amount of SACs, I've been painting some dolls for my art assignment. I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to disclose, so I'll err on the edge of caution and so no more, but the do look damn good! XD

This is the second last week for unit 3 work, so after the exam week I'll be doing the last few parts of my school work for ever! Hell Yeah! I'm a strong believer in education, but at the same time I do not handle being at school very well. Things are getting really stressful though... =/

There's,  naturally, some other computer related stuff that's going on but I won't mention that here ;)

The next few weeks in school are crazy... from last Wednesday I had calculated that I had seven SACs in two weeks from that date (including EATs and SATs). Thankfully one is done and another two are half completed. Slowly ploughing through it, eh?

And btw, I bleached out some sections of my hair and put in some Pillarbox Red Manic Panic and some Blueberry Hill Fudge Paintbox so currently I have very multicoloured hair. =D

So I have been seriously thinking about the future for this dear blog. I know that I really don't have time to post as often as I would like, which is damn frustrating! Every couple of days would be perfect, but I don't have the free time to do that much research. (Especially considering that I am supposed to be spending ALL free time studying... not going to happen... ) So A.S.A.P I'm going to do another poll about the things that I would be comfortable and happy to write about. Once that's up do you think you all could do me a huge favour and let me know what you would like to see more of here. Maybe you have a cool idea that I could write about?

Anyway, this is again one of those 'nowhere' posts. Sorry, I must do better, I know.
Tonight I just got back from a Dog Birthday Party for one of my family friend's dog. There were some eighteen year olds/ teenagers and me mainly just spoke about year 12 and one of the guys did some cool card tricks. He's really good. But... yeah a Dog's birthday so that meant that there were about 10 dogs running around the house and even a meat based dog cake filled with bacon and sausage meat. All in all it was crazy, hectic and fun...
And here I am now, two glasses of wine later and trying to study for my Trig. SAC next week.

Until then
xxx Lilly

Firefox

So I had more plans that just this... but Firefox isn't letting me access Blogger.
I'm current;y using Google Chrome, but I really hate using it.

Anyone else having this problem? It worked fine last night....

xxx Lilly

Am I Goth because I wear black, or I wear black because I'm Goth?

No, don't leave! This is (hopefully) going to be a less superficial post than you might be thinking...

I have been musing quite a lot lately about the notion that maybe we are Goths because we, for example, like to wear black, or are interested in spooky things or all of those other things. I really do believe that this is the case for me.
Goth for me is something that has encompassed all of the interests I hold dear, but I have been wondering, maybe there are some Goths that have decided to 'be Goth' and then developed that 'thing' with all of the dark spooky stuff. You know what I mean, that deep understanding and familiarity with darker things. It's hard to put words to, but I hope I am succeding. It seems to be more of a 'superficial' way of thinking about things, because it would seem that an individual's first introduction to Goth was purely visual. Ah, but here's the catch... wasn't that the first thing I noticed when I first saw a Goth. I didn't think 'wow they sure love their Star Wars' or 'I can tell they like Nick Cave'.
I noticed how they looked. It was only later that I combined my love for black, a dark aesthetic, dark music and everything else with the visual aesthetics of Goth clothing that I love. So really, it appears to be a mixture of the two.

Anyway, tell me your thoughts about this.

xxx Lilly

More Giveaways

It really does seem to be that time of the year. Everyone is doing giveaways!!! This shall be a pot about The Ultimate Goth Guide's giveaway that is happening right now. I have entered three so far. And, why the hell not? I mean it's unlikely that I'm going to win, but I shall still try.
Out of respect to each blog's author, I am going to do a short seperate post on each giveaway, with links where appropriate.

Amy's rules

So... the rules:

• You must be a follower to enter this giveaway. Anonymous entries are null and void.
• Pop your name and e-mail address in a comment below so I can contact you if you win. Obviously you need to be comfortable giving me your address via email to send the items - I will never disclose it, post it publicly or contact you for any other reason than this yere giveaway.
• Also, let me know your plans for World Goth Day. Because it's topical, I'm nosey, and I want good ideas for next year...
• For extra credit (i.e. another piece of paper with your name on it in my hat) link to or post about this giveaway on your blog. Link me in the comments.
• Yes, I will post internationally. No, you can't blame me for customs charges, things getting lost in the post etc. I will do my best to make sure that the items get to you, and hopefully in one piece. And yes, I will actually ship them. I have won several giveaways and had items never turn up so I know how disappointing it is. :-/
• The giveaway will run until May 28th. A winner will be chosen May 29th. Any entries after May 28th will not go into the hat.
• After the winner is selected, please send me your shipping info within three days or another winner will be chosen.

The prizes are a hand crafted  bone pendant with an anhk hand painted in calligraphy ink and a red diamente and a hand made bow/ pin with lace, ribbon and a skull.

Please look at Amy's post for full details and pictures. Please enter!!!

xxx Lilly

Cooking Chinchillas

Cooking Chinchillas has an awesome giveaway that is happening RIGHT NOW! Everyone should read her fantastic blog about lots of different things including cooking, makeup and nail art, follow her and enter the contest. She really is very creative and one of my favourite blogs.

The Rules are :
+ You must be a public follower
+ Fill in the form below
+ You must be at least 18 or have a permission of your parents to give out your address
+ The Give away will end May 27 th
+ Only one winner will be chosen with the help of a randomizing tool
+ The winner has 48 hours to send me the shipping information,otherwise I will draw a new winner
+ You can get more entries by twittering about this give away or by posting this give away (You may  use the picture!!!!!!!!)
+ The give away is open INTERNATIONALLY 

Enjoy my dears!!!

xxx Lilly

My life as a gamer

For any readers who don't know, yes I do play games. Probably, like most gamers, far more than is heathly for me, but it is something I've loved for about 15 years of my life.
If this was a social network similar to Facebook, then I'd place games way down on the list of things that are important to me after music, art, literature, history, film and possibilly philosophy. However, I consider this blog to be more honest and true than Facebook, so really games should be placed around third on my list.

My first love was Lenny's Music Toons, suprisingly a music based children's game made in 1993. So it is the same age as I am.

http://www.gameclassification.com/files/games/Lennys-Music-Toons.jpeg

This was one of the games, where you had to do a puzzle of a piece of music that ranged from beginner to advanced. (Beginner was things like Row, Row your boat, Advanced was things like Jingle Bells. The melodies are all very simple, but for a 5 year old who cannot sight read music at all, they do present a challenge.)
As each piece was placed correctly, part of the song completed so far would be played, allowing you to check.

The games that probably revolutionised my life would be the Kings Quest series by Roberta Williams.
Now, I'm not going to go into detail about all of these games, as that will take forever. Let's just say that they really do show the development of game graphics and sound over time.












So they're some of the intros to some of the games. Now, I'm also going to show you some really nerdy music thing. I prefer the DOS version because that's what I played in.



It's quite amusing to hear some of the musical cues there too.
I've tried to choose videos and pictures that don't give any plot lines away.

So basically I spent my life from age 5 to age 10 playing the Kings Quest games, all Old School Putt Putt and Fatty Bear games, Age of Empires II, Harry Potter games and other cool things I could find.

Nowadays I still use a DOS box to play all of the old games that I loved as a kid.I'm a complete sucker for nostalgia, so what did you expect. I rarely buy new released games, but I will buy Alice: Madness Returns.

Oh, and I am just going to show you one of the creepiest thing in any of the Kings Quest series. This character was SO FREAKIN SCARY as a little kid!!!!! HAHAHA The music is awesome, and this part of the game is set in Ooga Booga land!!!
Squeeeeeeeee!!!




Other games that have a considerable impact on me (in a good way, though I've never been really  scared or grossed out by a game) are Warlords Battlecry II, Fish Fillets, Laura Bow II, Zoombinis- Logical Journey, The Sims 2, Legacy of Kain- Defiance and Aladdin.

To show you how much I love you all, I'm going to provide you with some links to FREE not for profit fan remakes of some of the earlier Kings Quest games.

Kings Quest I
Kings Quest II
Kings Quest III

I encourage you all to try these games and if you like them then you should consider buying the originals by Sierra Online. I have played all of these any have finished the first two. Warning- The third game is, IMO, the hardest in the whole series and this remake is very hard too. My 12 year old brother finished it, but there were some puzzles that he needed to look up the solutions for.
There are rumours of more games being remade for VGA, but, naturally these things take time.

Has there been anything that you've ever been completely obsessed with all your life? Any game you still play from when you were a child?

xxx Lilly

Austraila's lack of R18+ rating for games

Ok, this is a serious issue. Please be awear that I am going to post some YouTube videos and discuss some topics that may not be suitable for people under 15 years. (Given the subject matter, maybe not for 17 year olds, but I'll get to that.)

Anyway, the long and short of it is, that Australia does not have an R18+ rating for games. What this means that games that really should be classified as 'Adults only' are getting put into an MA15+ category, exposing children to things that can be unsuitable, such as sex, violence and torture. On the other hand, there have been some games that have been banned because they are unsuitable for children, but not for adults. A current example is that the Australian release of the game 'The Witcher 2- Assasin of Kings' has been modified. Instead of the character, after completing a certian task, being rewarded with sex, the character is now forced to decline the offer. Apparently, "sex as a reward" is not considered suitable for childern.
Um, hello, what about all of the mature adults who want to play the full game, unedited and whole?

"In the original version your character Geralt was given the choice of accepting sex ‘as a reward’ for successfully completing this particular side quest. The Australian Classification Board originally refused classification as they deemed the inclusion of ‘sex as a reward’ as not suitable for an MA15+ classification.
The change is only minor, in that the character choice is now made automatically for him. The character and the side quest are still in the game but presented in a slightly different context. No other changes have been made and this change has no impact on gameplay, storyline or character development." Namco Bandai told Kotaku why this modification was necessary.
source

"WILL THERE BE DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE WITCHER 2?
The Witcher 2 will have the same content worldwide. There will be no regional differences aside from
the languages. And no censored versions – so no wondering about importing the game, nudity
patches, etc." CD Projekt wrote in their April 2011
source

Now this also brings up this issue of Australia's ridiculiously over priced games. One walk into a game store and you will see PC games for over a hundred dollars, which is ridiculous. For a newly released game I wouldn't, and coudn't, afford to pay more than $80 at more. (I'm not the best example though, as I generally buy games that are pre-2006 )
It is far more cheaper for someone to import the game from overseas than buy it in Australia and are then able to get a whole game without censors or edits, which damages the economy.
In case you haven't realised, I, and most of the gaming population in Australia, are in full support of Australia getting an R18+ classification. In the same vein as other forms of entertainment, such as films, games can, and most definatly do, contain content that may be extreme. The biggest difference is that more often than not the player is actively contributing to the violence surrounding the game, impacting on the brain at a greater degree. There has been research surrounding children's exposure to violence at a young age, for example, here.

Ok, so I am going to leave you with some YouTube videos. =)

The first is the trailer for one of my favourite games and the second is the first trailer of three for the sequal to be released in June (So excited).
Now, see those numbers at the start?
Yes, take note, and of course enjoy.





What do you think? Should there be an R18+ rating for games in Australia?

xxx Lilly

Edit: I probably should point out that the examples I've mentioned aren't exactly the criteria for an R18+ rating. The criteria is most defiantly the important part. Like, whether drug use is included, or  brutal murder. The decision to rate a game is based on it's impact on the viewer, so some games that are more violent may have a lower rating for reasons such as killing dead humans reanimated as zombies as opposed to killing living humans who are diseased. You get the picture.

DIY Goth Ringlets

Yesterday I attempted to create my own hair falls. I didn't wan't to pay $100 for a pair from Germany, because, frankly I had no idea if they would suit me. BTW a Google image search on "Goth Ringlets" or "Goth ringlet falls" proved to be useless (there were some emo girls, some blonde wigs and some flowers...), so in order to show you guys what I was trying to achieve, I Googled "Lolita Ringlet falls" and got much better results...

(P.S Amy of The Ultimate Goth Guide, you may want to take a look at this... Does it look at all familliar???
I'm not sure if you wrote it, but frankly it appears to be a cut and paste job.)
Anyway, that picture kind of gives you the idea...

Instead I used the cut off 'Jamaican Dreadlocks' ringlets from a tam that my boyfriend had. He cut them off because they looked silly, he said.

You can see how messy my room is...

I simply cut the locks of hair (It's fake plastic hair, in case you were wondering. I wouldn't wear real hair ever. I'm not vegetarian or vegan, but I don't eat red meat, and I avoid gelatine. One of those freaky, fussy types, yeah.) I should mention that each ringlet is doubled over and sewn between a folded piece of mesh.

My hair is recently dyed black, so it matches the colour fine. As my black colour leeches out (as well all know it annoyingly does) I won't wear these.

Yeah, see my cheesy smile!!!

Then I simply wrapped the lengths around two high pigtails and pinned them in place through the mesh with bobby pins.

Some of the ringlets fell out, which is a bit of a problem. I simply pinned them back in, and will probably attach them to a mini hair band (those 1cm or smaller ones) and hope for the best. Who am I kidding? That's how this whole thing started.

Aren't I so darkly mysterious? Lol...

Anyway, I hope my random creations inspire some other darklings to get creative and make something cool.
xxx Lilly

Organ Grinder

I'm a teeny bit obsessed with Emilie Autumn, as many of you know. Not in that creepy way of course, but I do love her and her music. This is one of my favourite videos of her. It's super short, but you can see her playing that awesome violin part in the song she wrote Organ Grinder for the UK version of Saw IV (I think it's that one...)

Anyway, sorry for the silences lately. I WILL do better, I promise.

xxx L:illy

Danger Dame: Our Home

"I was literally just about to go to bed when I looked at EA’s forum. I wanted to see what any other Plague Rats had said about the beautiful Veronica’s tragic loss, and I discover a link to her .net journal about the event. It was entitled “Our home”, and by the end of the page a few tears had leaked out of my eyes. Not many things make me cry, but her beautiful home that was filled with love is now lost, and all of her records are lost too."

I wrote that a few nights ago. I couldn't post on it straight away, so it's here now. Here is the link, so you can read it.
Has there been anything you've ever read, about someone you have never met and they have never heard of you, that has made you shed tears?
It's rare for me, because I've developed a rather thick shell, but it does ocassionally happen, but I love Emilie Autumn and the Bloody Crumpets, musically, artistically and just their attitude in general. They are all inspirational women in my eyes, and I don't like it when anyone, but especially the people I look up to, suffer hardship.