The Good, The Bad and Charles Dickens

"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times"...

    -Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

This quote is one of my favourites. Charles Dickens' statement at the beginning of his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, can pretty much apply to anything, and, I'll wager, any time. To put it sweetly, that's life. It's life. That statement above sums up the way life is, all of the time.

Think about it. You're having a fabulous day, and everything seems to be drenched in good luck, good karma and good times. At about the same time, someone has lost a loved one, all their money has been stolen and has just had a near fatal collision. They survived, but it turns out that their lost loved one, who has supposedly been funding the insurance, well... hasn't. This does not make your happy day of sunshine any less valid. It's just life. We all have good times and bad times, and the world is never without one of the two.

On an unrelated note, but possibly an extremely related one ~
Thought I'd also share a song from the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. You know those movies where words cannot describe that profound feeling that you get when the movie is done? Just watch it. You'll see.

***please note*** if you don't like to see clips from movies you haven't watched yet, you may not want to see the video (if you haven't seen the movie)



Profound lyrics from Beck's Everybody's Gotta learn Sometime:

change your heart
look around you
Change your heart
it will astound you
and I need your loving
like the sunshine...

Some sketchbook doodles

If you would like to know about my fascination with doodles, then the following posts will make it pretty clear*

 Doodle party in my head

This blogger goes crazy over doodles

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So, moving right along.

Below is a doodle that I found in my visual journal. Clearly* I have been paying a lot of attention to detail at the moment, or rather an obsessive amount of attention to little things such as dots and little particles that make up a bigger picture. Thought that I would share it with you because, well, because I haven't shared any doodles before and I thought it would be fun.

A section of the doodle:

   

click to enlarge

A zoomed-in section of the doodle

This is just to illustrate that it is lots of fun to crop things in different ways, to get new compositions.

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and lastly...

Wow. Are you as in love as I am with thumbnails? There were some pictures which just did not work out as images because they were too blurred but, side by side as thumbnails, they really have something going for them. This can be seen in the image below, which is a screenshot of the uploaded the pics:

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*are you singing along to Jimmy Cliff's "I can see clearly"? Bet you are now** ;)

**This blogger has clearly* been reading too many Terry Pratchet books or I like Cheese posts...

Get your *rock* on!

After the political and somewhat worrying post two days ago, some comic or rather, musical relief is needed.

It's Highway Star! This is one song that provokes some serious head banging and air guitar. So...

Go wild!* Dance with your friend, family member or pillow**



 What's your favourite classic rock song?
 
                                                                                                        
* but drive safe:)Strictly for off-highway use.
**don't worry- no judgement here.

Scared for my country

If you've been following the political situation in South Africa at all, you might have heard of the ANC Youth League and Julius Malema, aka, Juju.

The following extract is a terrifying statement from a South African who supports Malema. The quote comes from the comments on a satirical South African website, Wonkie Cartoons. What scares me is the hatred, the racism and most of all, the generalisation and stereotyping that produces such hatred for people based on the colour of their skins and worst of all, blaming them for things that they were not personally responsible for.

Blog makeover

Sorry if this blog has felt a bit neglected. In order to make up for its back seat position at the moment, I want to know what you guys think? The Fire in my Eyes is looking for suggestions on 'rebranding' or refurbishing this blog- kind of like "Blog makeover" :) A fresh start is needed.

• Is this blog in need of a makeover?
• Are the topics too haphazard and the posting too irregular?
• Any tips? Please be honest. Constructive criticism is opened with open arms. I'm really open to any suggestions here.
• What would improve the look and feel of this blog and make people want to stick around and feel great about it too?

Ooh, and here's an infinitely important question: Should I move this blog to Wordpress? What is your experience between blogger and Wordpress? I know that Wordpress is amazing and have already made a start at The Fire in my Eyes, Wordpress style. It's just kinda tricky to get some stuff for free (custom fonts and other premium extras) but some of the templates seem worth it.

Have you recently rebranded your blog? Share stories and stuff and we can chat in the comments below;)

Sorry about all the questions... '_' I have a few artsy ideas in my pocket;) Maybe another fresh blog will grow out of this.

Here's an awesome video by Michel Gondry. Let's call it a burst of inspiration for now.