SEVEN

We stumbled across this and it got us thinking (and chuckling) about the whole camera and design culture that we live in. As much as we and countless others love photography, many use the throwaway comment that it removes miracles from the world, in the same way as can be said for science.

But with science, just because we suddenly understand why something happens, it doesn’t make it any less beautiful, or scary, or breathtaking. With photography, many say that it actually helps to capture miracles and eternalise them, although that in itself can work against the whole “miracle factor”.

And then we have Photoshop, which since 1989 has helped us to create miracles where they don’t even belong. From a model being stunning to an otherwordly extent, to a monk fighting a bear on a bouncy castle (it probably exists somewhere). 

It’s a bit of a catch-22 situation: you capture the miracle and it stops being a miracle, so you create new ones, but since they’re fabricated they’re not miracles to begin with.

You want our advice? Don’t worry about it. Snap away and have the best digital gallery around. Just don’t take pictures of nothing but your evening meals, as unless the pork chops suddenly spring to life and start dancing, there’s nothing miraculous there whatsoever!

How long must it have taken to get these just right? Not just the painting process itself, but the initial design, the position of the hand, the angle of the camera; everything!

This kind of design is one of the best: done simply for the love of creating and sharing. Plus the pieces boast a factor that doesn’t apply to many types of art, in that they’re so temporary and can only have lasted a few hours, from the first brushstrokes to the hand being scrubbed clean. Yes, they can be redone, but these particular versions existed for barely any time at all.

It’s moments like this that the entire Force-7 office gets really animated and we all have a go. Unfortunately our attempts will probably look like Muppets run over by a steamroller.

Many people will have never heard of an interrobang, and yet it’s something that would make their writing, texting and tweeting so much easier. 

An interrobang is a nonstandard punctuation mark that combines the question mark with the exclamation mark. So basically:

? + ! = ‽ 

(If the solution to the above sum hasn’t loaded on your screen, check out the comic below.)

The name derives from the question mark’s alternative name of the INTERROgative point and the exclamation mark’s nickname used amongst printers as the BANG.

Unfortunately, it’s neither universally accepted nor actively requested, so it probably won’t be added to our traditional QWERTY keyboards anytime soon. This is a crying shame, as its application would really tidy up a lot of text.

Sentences such as “What are you doing with that aubergine?!” and “Where the hell’s that tarantula gone?!” would look far better with a single piece of punctuation to denote both a query and surprise/anger.

And if you’re still not convinced, an interrobang would also save you a character when tweeting. Could a punctuation geek ask for more?!

Having being glued to the TV set during the last few series’ of ‘The Apprentice’ due to its incredible entertainment factor…Last night was no exception. It was great!

Full of the bitchy, backstabbing but most importantly business minded professionals that we have come to love on the show.

I must admit I thought it was one of the most difficult first tasks that there have been - especially with the lack of sleep! But I loved it and thought, as always, Lord Sugar was merciless when it came to the traditional ‘you’re fired’ moment!

It looks set to be another great series and I can’t wait for the Brewery episode next week!

With fashion always being a hot topic, and especially this week with the Met Ball, our street team member Lizzy has written a  blog on what fashion means to her:

Me and my friends are very fashion conscious and like to keep up to date with the latest trends!

Everyone says that fashion goes in cycles – but I believe some things we wore when we were younger should never come back in to fashion. For example…

I remember going to school in high-heeled silver Jelly Sandals which everybody had and stone always used to get caught in! Also another fashion no no was the quilted blow up backpacks (although they were pretty cool).

However – skousers (shirt and trousers in one) and coloured cord felt flares should be banned for the rest of eternity. Along with string vests and bags made out of bright coloured fluff!

I’ve looked over a few old pictures of myself in these items and I know they will haunt me forever, I think future generations should be saved from such fashion embarrassments !!!

Light Art is an amazing creative outlet. It’s basically one long photo, with everything that happens between the lens opening and closing being caught on film. The result is something really quite breathtaking… providing you do something more interesting that turning on a lightbulb.

Coming from 180 odd miles away, right in the middle of Essex, I’ve been subject to a fair few stereotypes since moving to hull to study at uni. While people joke asking why I’m not plastered in fake tan, where my fake nails and lashes are and if i party at sugar hut (stereotypes thanks to TOWIE), I’ve found the people in hull to be incredibly friendly. Yet hull is a place with a somewhat negative perception surrounding it and I’m not sure why people still think of the city in that way. Only the other day someone at the cash machine spoke to me! This is pretty much forbidden the minute you enter the “South” - or “saaaaf” as we prefer to say.

Taxi drivers here talk to you and people smile of a morning - amazing! There’s nothing worse than getting on a London tube amongst thousands of commuters who probably see each other everyday yet refuse to even lift their head let alone say hello! Its like they’re all on auto pilot…”heads down. Make no eye contact”.

 If I’m honest, at first I was having a little bit of trouble understanding the distinctive dialect. After spending time wondering why the letter H became silent as soon as you venture up the A1, I came to realise locals were never going to pronounce it! Once I’d learnt a few phrases like nowt, owt and summat, I had virtually no trouble understanding a standard conversation with people. This is aside from the recent confusion between “burn” and “bone” - where is the distinction there!? The skies might be grey 80% of the time and this winter I may have experienced temperatures I thought were impossibly low in this country but once you get the hang of the lingo and buy a decent coat you’ll be converted to the north!  One thing I’ll definitely be trying to bring down south is Chip Spice!