My Childhood Videogame

“Expose the Conspiracy. Capture the Truth.
For centuries, the planet Hillys has been locked in conflict with a race of relentless alien invaders.
Wary of her government's promises to repel the aliens for good, a rebellious action reporter named Jade sets out to capture the truth behind the prolonged war.
Armed with her camera, dai-jo staff, and fierce determination, Jade soon finds herself inside the jaws of a horrific conspiracy, and face to face with an evil she cannot possibly fathom.
In a world where deception is the deadliest weapon of all, will Jade's discoveries be enough to free her people?”

The above text is a brief summary of the storyline of my favourite (under-rated)video game, ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ by Ubisoft. BG&E is an action-adventure game that was available on Play Station 2, PC, Game Cube and the original Xbox formats. I myself played the game on an Xbox. Back then, video games were still being developed for the Xbox format. Nowadays, considering very few people have an Xbox console, no game companies are willing to develop a game for it, which I accept, as the company does have to make some sort of profit. It is very disappointing though.

I first bought the game about five years ago, but when I first played the game I actually didn’t like it. Well, I guess I wasn’t giving the game a fair chance when I think about it now. I just gave up when I got stuck and impatient. Although, my opinion of this fabulous game was about to dramatically change.

My friend came to my house one afternoon and we both decided to play videogames. We played a couple on my Xbox, but she kept on wanting to try ‘Beyond Good and Evil’. So I gave in and popped in the disk. From the very beginning of the game, my friend was intrigued, and when we put both our heads together, we were able to get further. I discovered that day that in BG&E the main character, Jade was capable of using a camera to take pictures and she could fight badass; you could drive a hovercraft all over Hillys (the planet) and we managed to get ourselves half-way into our first mission.

That’s all it took to get me hooked. I was driven by the storyline, the graphics were fantastic and characters were absolutely lovable. Especially Jade. She had this really attractive simplicity about her and a tomboyish appearance with feminine charm. Her personality was beautiful to. She was ambitious, brave, confident, yet sensitive and very caring.

The missions caused you to explore, use logic and the game really packed a punch in my emotions with the plot. The music? My God, the music was exceptional! You grew to love the characters and just have fun. Two friends and I played that game. They both bought it and we played it to the very end. Thus, BG&E has a very sentimental value to all three of us, and I go so far as to say it’s part of my childhood. Without my friends in the equation, it wouldn’t have been the same.

Beyond Good and Evil website:
http://www.beyondgoodevil.com/us/main.php

Brief Thoughts on Photography

I came across a terrific quote today while I was browsing around 'thinkexist.com'. The quote was this:

"Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still."
~ Dorothea Lange, American documentary photographer

For me, this thirteen word quote encapsulates what photography means to me personally. When I head out the door to do some photography, my goal is to take instants out of time. To alter life by holding it still. Photography allows me to freeze moments that we take for granted in every day life, and give them a completely different meaning and perspective. Life has so many dimensions, and I desire to try to snap them before they flucuate once more. Emotions and expressions on people's faces can be lost within seconds of them being shown. But with a camera in hand I can freeze the moment, capture the expression before it disappears. Before it is lost. And I find that the best photography--the true photography--is done when the subject doesn't even know they're being captured. Do you realise the shots one could get? It's amazing the end result you get when you take a picture of someone when they don't know you are. It brings out their true self. People tend to act almost fake for the camera. Most folk smile for the camera. It's a done thing I suppose. Not many frown when someone points a camera in their direction. So that is why like to secretly take pictures of others. It captures people as they are in that moment. How they are feeling in that instant. For me, that's the beauty of it.

Another thing I wanted to say regarding the above quote, is that the brilliant thing about photos is that they never die. You can always look back on moments and experiences. Some good, and some not so good. But that's also why we should show our true emotions in pictures, because when we look back on them, we'll be able to say and remember how we were feeling. It'd be a sin if all pictures feautured smiling people, because that's not how life is. We don't smile all the time. And I guess with photography, in contrast to fun pictures of a day out, it's more vital to show emotions instead of smiling because it's more artistic. People are more obligated to smile, let's say for a trip to the zoo, than an artistic shot.

For me anyway, I want to show how I feel in pictures. Almost like a visual diary, I guess. Since I bought my camera this year, I've taken over 2,000 images already. That's a lot of memories to look back on!

Goodbye Braces!

(Dentist inspects my teeth, then smiles)

"Naomi, what do you think of your teeth?" he said.
"I think they're alright." I replied.
"So do I."
I smile.
"I think I'm going to take your braces off today, is that okay?"
"Yes." I grinned.

And that's all there was to it.

Two Aging Oaks

I’m beginning to remember what I’d previously forgotten
about you and I, about them and it.
“It” being life. Existence--for what it’s worth.
We were the seeds of “it”, of life.
Scattered onto soil, sometimes rocky and barren,
other times moist and fertile.
We were forced to grow, made to sprout roots
and weave them into the ground.
“It” makes the sun burn and the clouds rain.
“It” makes us desire to grow.
“It” makes us crave to have a purpose.
And so we grew, matured within ourselves
From sapling to tree, we enjoyed the process of becoming.
Our roots were firm, our bark was smooth
and our enormous branches flourished with leaves.
But then they came.
They are unlike us.
They are thieves.
Many wings of ravens open out like umbrellas
circling our tree tops, cawing with delight
as they take up residence on our branches.
They peck at our bark.
They snap off our twigs
They build their flora nests here.
Our roots have aged, our bark has hardened
And our branches are weaker than ever.
But I have no doubt that there will come a day
when the ravens won’t utter a sound,
when the skies will clear,
and their nests will fall to the ground.

Where the air is the temperature of your skin...

I can safely say that it's been ages since I typed up some sort of blog post here. The reason for that is that I've been outside a lot more. Two friends and I are building a hut for ourselves in small forest area alongside a river. We found an old saw lying around, brought a hammer, a shovel and some nails too. So far we've cleared the forest floor of debris, dug some foundations and have sawed and collected lots of tree branches for the walls of the hut. It's been really good fun and the weather is sublime.

There's something about being out amongst nature with a couple of friends whilst the sky is void of clouds and the sun is beaming. A warm, gentle breeze caused the trees to sway in a hypnotic motion. The river was glistening in the sun and a huge flock of birds twirled beautifully in the sky. It's a santuary. Our place. There's no other people or noise, it's just us.

It's seems that before now, I'd forgotten how to be human...