So, one of the main things you will get to know about me is that I am a massive Smallville, Lost and Heroes fan, so many of my graphics may be influenced by them. In this case, it is Smallville, due to the finale of season 7 and I’m just in the mood.

Chloe Sullivan: Now, in this scene, the render I used, Chloe is doing a bring back a superhero and a villian, so to emphasis the clashing of good and evil, I have set a dark atmosphere but outline it with glowing the white bits of the signature, I.E the energy running from her hand and the outline of the background.

Man, I do love Chloe!

Pete Ross: He left at the end of season 3, but returned in a special for season 7 as a Hero, who decided to do what Clark Kent never could, kill Lex Luthor. I’ve set the dark theme to show how he is doing a dark thing by murdering someone, however the white energy I’ve created around his things show how he believes it is the best thing to do.

Easy-to-make Glowsticks!

This one is just me messing about one night, deciding to freak a friend out by hiding the face of Smallville’s Clark Kent behind the Superman Symbol. The cool green spot effect is the same I used to create the snow in Seifers signature in my last graphic blog post.

Can you see him?

That’s all there is for now unfortunately, but I would love to hear your thoughts on them, so feel free to drop me a comment.

Thanks for reading/looking,

H.I. (Tom)

The name pretty much introduces the topic, but for the sake of it, and my boredom, I’ll expand.

Be Kind Rewind is a film, if you have not seen or heard of it, about an old Video store which is lacking money and needs renovations to continue running. Unfortunately, it doesn’t begin well, when Jack Black, one of the main characters, wipes all the tapes when he strangely gets magnetized by a huge electricity generator. It’s strange, I know, but from here it begins to get interesting.

Over the next hour of the film, they decide that to continue business they must re-record these famous films that have come out over the years, and to be honest, even though it wasn’t as funny as expected it was still a joy to watch how they did it, and their enthusiasm towards it. They soon became popular amongst the people, who found their home-made, 20 odd minute editions of these films hilarious and soon enough, they decided to include these people in the films, decrease the times and earn more money.

I won’t tell you how it ends, there really is no point. I just wanted to point out how interesting and inspirational this was to a 15 year old like myself, and how filming can be enjoyable to film and watch. It’s given me a lot of ideas for projects to do next summer, if I’ve been able to buy a video-camera and some software to edit it upon. It really is a good job I got close friends with high knowledge of the stuff though, because I’d just buy the one which looked awesome.

Anyway, however meaningly pointless telling you all that was, I just thought it was something worthwhile for the blog.

Thanks for reading,

H.I. (Tom)

I don’t really know what to say about this. I’m no poet, so I just wrote with my feelings, as these all interpret something that has happened, hense the name. It’s something new, and something I’ve been adding to over time. I sure hope you enjoy.

Past Revelations:

-

And suddenly your careless thoughts ate at me,

And for some reason, I took them personally,

All the things you said, all the things you did,

And you still don’t care for how it ended,

-

Those cruel words, sent in another direction,

Yet it hurt so much once it had made a connection,

The pain you caused, so feeble and weak,

From a warm melting moment, to a winter so bleak,

-

And all for a moment, I thought I were free,

But as time went by, the victim was me,

I caused so many tears, sadness gripped tight,

3 long years passed, was my decision so right?

-

At the time, my childish mind would agree,

But as days went by, they would soon haunt me,

Depression transformed from her into I,

Once upon time, it was her, who would cry,

-

And who are to blame, is it me? Is it you?

I won’t admit it’s both, but maybe it’s true,

For you put the idea’s in my head, up till the end,

Yet I played them out, like a villain not a friend,

-

Present time and present friends, a penance I must find,

For I cannot feel like this till the end of time,

Her soul’s gotten over the pain before it hit hard,

Whilst I sit here, wanting to go back to the start,

-

Sometimes I dream, dream about what could be,

But she has a life, a life which forgets me,

I don’t speak up, this approach I deserve,

But every time we meet, gives me something else to preserve,

-

What can I say? What can I possibly do?

For even when I try, I can’t rid these feelings for you,

Just a burden on my heart, hold it against me,

I’m screaming ‘either let me in, or set me free’

-

For I have suffered too long as these chains rust,

How can she possibly crush what’s already been crushed?

This evil she has, ‘you can’t even see it can you?’

They say it’s not what you say; it’s what you do,

-

Suddenly, someone else, a glimmer of hope,

Would appear and smile, loosening my ropes,

A day, a month, a year, relationships ripened,

Then I open my eyes as the thick rope is tightened,

-

And here I am, asking myself the question,

As if I’m giving everyone the satisfaction.

—

Thanks for reading,

H.I. (Tom)

So I was just looking through my existing folders on my computer, digging up some old stories I might be able to use as a Short Story in a competition with a close deadline, and I found this. Deleting and editing some stuff, I came out with this. Just a little something, tell me what you think yeah?

Secrets:

The gazing heat of the sun embraced my cheeks as I left the protection of the trees.

That warmth reminded me of her, her perfect face, beautiful hair and unique personality, but mostly, her secrets.

Only I knew the secrets she kept.

Only I had the ability to maintain it, grasp it within my heart and stop myself from dropping to my weak knees and screaming out the truth.

That’s why she had trusted me.

And I was glad that she had told me.

But I was not pleased at what she had told me.

The things she had done, the places she had been, the people she had met.

Though instead of stopping her, I just listened patiently, unable to speak, unable to move, unable to stop it from entering my dense, absorbing mind.

Intensively I had waited for it to stop, when, in reality, it never would. Not until that cold, November evening, the early snow expressing what was about to happen.

Yet here I was bathing in the glare of the sun as my weak dainty tears fell down my aging face, only holding an inch of my true sadness. I sighed. I’d grown up a strong person, and I’d learnt to live with her burden, yet here I was, letting everyone see the cracks in my soul.

I should have been stronger.

For myself. For her.

I still remember when we met, a casual accident that occurred outside a coffee house amidst rush hour. She bumped into me. I bumped into her. A week later, we lay together in a warm bed, passionately kissing.

From there, we would laugh, we would cry, but most of all, we would have fun.

But now that’s over. Like someone had wiped my life clean with a cloth. A cloth engulfed with hopelessness and confusion.

Because know she is gone.

And I am alone.

But whose fault is it?

How was I supposed to know what lay on the other side of the door? That night I had expected everything to be special, the bright light of our relationship which would overshadow the dark things she had done.

But all I can remember is her screaming.

Each time I wake up in a cold sweat, her screams are to blame.

‘Please’ I would cry; my voice embedded in desperation and terror. ‘Please. Please don’t do this.’

But they refused to listen. They just wanted to know the truth. The truth she had worked so hard to mute, travelled so far to hide and dug so deep to bury. And even with death staring her blankly in the face, she refused to let it go, she refused to answer the question.

Because her secrets. They were the answer.

But the answer isn’t always easy to understand.

But I understood it; I had the answer in the clutches of my shaking hands.

It was easy. Tell them the truth, save her life, and yet…

I couldn’t do it.

The way she looked. All that hard work suddenly evaporated from her brunette eyes and before I knew it, a decision was made. I did it for her right?

It wasn’t my fault, it was hers?

Confusion.

Sadness.

Loneliness.

When I felt her cold body, and when I feel the sun beating down at me, the decision I made, the decision she made, haunts me again.

I should have spoken, I should have saved her.

But it was too late.

Far too late.

Now she was alone too.

Now, she was dead.

—

Thanks for reading,

H.I. (Tom)

So at the moment, on my computer I’ve constantly on Paint.Net creating my own signatures for a number of different things, and when I interlinked this addiction to the game I recently uncovered from the dust and have begun to replay, a final fantasy VIII was set for a few days and the following was created.

Squall: This is possibly my most favourite, the way everything seems to blend in, and even though all is noticed, the man render of Squall still stands out.

Spur of the moment result effects wise.

Like I’ve said in the caption, this was unplanned. I was going for a much darker atmosphere, but I liked the outcome of this so much I left it untouched.

Seifer: If you’ve ever played Final Fantasy, you will know that Seifer, the good guys (Squalls) Rival can be very cold and uncaring, which is my basic influence for this snow like signature of him with his skin pale and his look lost.

One of my favourite effects.

Now, one of the many effects I used here I learnt from a tutorial on the Paint.net forums. Basically I drew plenty of white lines, turned them into frosted glass and then used the plug-in ‘Dents’ on it to create this cool snow effect.

Unfortunately, this is all I did over the short amount of time I had but I plan on finding some more decent renders and creating some more unique FF8 signatures.

If you have time, comment and post your thoughts on this as it will be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading/looking,

H.I. (Tom)

I’ve had a blog before. I told people my name, shared my experiences and allowed my real friends to read and comment on what I’d posted. But then one day, someone different, someone I didn’t want to read it, found it whilst searching on the internet. What was I supposed to do? If I deleted it, the people who now knew about it would notice and question me about it, making the whole situation really awkward. So I left it, halted any posting until it was eaten away by these people who would judge me and use me as a gimmick in front of friends.

Now, I’ve decided to give it another go. This time I’ll try and keep my identity a little more hidden, hence the name ‘Hidden Inspirations’ and do my best to keep both you the reader entertained, and myself also. However, if my identity is discovered, I’ve decided to live with it. I’m going to be 16 soon, I should be able to handle it and so should everyone around me.

So, what exactly will I be posting over the next…god knows how long?

• Just about me; some basic things, like what I learnt one day or a funny thing that happened at school etc. Anything to just chatter about really.

• Writing; I’m an aspiring journalist and author, so I write many different things, such as lyrics, short stories and the odd prose.

• Photography, Videos and Graphics; I’m really getting into the whole Photography scene; I just don’t really have the money to buy a professional camera so I’m more just looking and wondering. The same goes for videos, however in ICT this year we’re doing a few video projects which should be fun. You’ll probably find that graphics are a little more common, because one of my favourite things to do when I have the time is play about with Paint.net and create signatures and avatars for forums.

I don’t really know what else to say. I suppose at the moment I come across as somewhat arrogant, sensitive and possibly to caught up in what people think to really concentrate on the ‘about me’ part of blogging. To be honest, that’s not really me, but I hope after time you’ll understand that yourself.

Thanks for reading,

H.I. (Tom)