Gaming.

Gaming probably takes up more of my time than any other activity. I have gamed since I was around 3 years old since my dad bought me my first console, the Sega Megadrive. After growing up playing Sonic the hedgehog and micro machines I had a playstation for christmas. This is the console that really got me into gaming and I would spend countless hours playing. My favourite game on this console was Crash bandicoot. After the playstation I was given a playstation 2 by my Grandfather. This was probably of all the consoles I have ever had I spent the most time on. My favourite game for the ps2 was easily the Medal of honor games. Currently I use a playstation 3 and this is the first console in which I discovered online gaming. This has made gaming more popular amongst my friends as we now play together often. My favourite game for the ps3 is Fifa.

Top 5 bands.

The type of music I listen to is a little bit different to the average mainstream taste so heres 5 of my favourite bands at the moment and some reasons as to why I rate them so highly.

5. Enter Shikari. Enter Shikari are one of my favourite bands due to the fact they were one of the first bands to combine electronic elements with metal. This fusion of genres has to led to a wide range of other bands who have taken influence from Enter Shikari's example and added their own electronic twist to their music. My favourite song by this band has to be Mothership.

4. Sum41. Sum41 are pretty much my childhood band. I listened to them from a very young age and would ask my parents to buy me every album they brought out. Although there were many other bands such as blink 182 who were similar, Sum41 stood out to me as they had more of a punk attitude to other bands. My favourite song by this band is fat lip.

3 Bring me the horizon. Bring me the horizon are number 3 solely due to the fact this was the band that got me into the music I listen to today. They were the first band I heard that solely consisted of screamed and growled vocals. I spent the majority of my teens with this band as my favourite but soon moved on to heavier things as BMTH became gradually more soft. My favourite song by these is the first screamed song i ever heard Traitors never play hangman. Ive also seen this band live once.

2. Suicide Silence. Suicide silence are in my opinion the most vocally gifted band that is however until the passing of Mitch Lucker their vocalist who died in a motorcycle accident. This bands music gets me pumped before any night out and all their lyrics to every song has meaning behind it. They are also unique as they are one of the first bands to employ 7 string guitars which gives them dynamics within their sound. Some parts of songs are also very technical. My favourite song by this band is Unanswered.

1. Chelsea grin. Chelsea Grin are easily my favourite band at the moment. I have seen them twice live and was blown away both times. The range used within their vocals is pretty amazing and with the addition of a new guitarist the music has become more and more complex. Starting off as a typical deathcore, breakdown orientated band they have grown to become one of the best bands in genre and are now headlining shows across the world. My favourite song by this band is Lilith.

Web 2 apps and how they can be used in education.

The web 2 application taggalaxy.de could be used to help in education in a number of ways. Taggalaxy.de's layout if very different to what most people are used to. Its set around a space model with a "tag" being sort of like a sun and other related tags orbit it in the shape of planets. By typing in for example "education" numerous related tags such as "university" and "students" will be orbiting. This is a very interactive way to learn as its fun and easy to navigate through. By clicking on one of the planets or sun the planet becomes a number of pictures related to that topic. This would allow students or teachers to access information on near any topic by simply clicking on an interesting picture. Anyone can add one of these pictures to a tag and so teachers could use this app in order to upload pictures ready for lessons. I can see children being easily immersed by this app as its colourful and so simple to use.

Facebook. The good points and the bad

I have chose facebook as I and many of my family and friends use facebook daily. There are many positive things about facebook. It allows people to stay in touch with one another when apart and to share pictures and videos. Users of facebook can also play games online with their friends and other people from around the world. It also allows users to create groups for like minded individuals on topics or interests. Facebook is constantly changed and updated with new features and probably the main reason over a billion people use facebook is the fact that it is and promises to always be free. However facebook isn't flawless. Many people are unaware how dangerous facebook can be as anyone can make an account pretending to be anybody so you can never be sure of who you are talking to is actually who they say they are. Also many people dislike the constant changing of facebook and find its regular updating tedious. Cyber bullying is also a controversial problem that happens on facebook. Overall I believe if facebook i used responsibly and people just use it to interact with people they actually know in real life can be very beneficial, however some people are prone to overuse facebook.

Chelsea FC

Chelsea FC is the football club that I follow. I have supported them since the age of 3 when I decided I liked them because they wore blue, much to the dismay of my Liverpool supporting Uncle. My favorite player at the moment is Juan Mata due to the fact he is a genius on the ball and has the vision to make brilliant passes. I also think highly of Ivanovic even though he has a less glorious role as a centre back. I have never been to watch Chelsea play however now that I live in Swansea I look forward to the prospect of seeing them play here. Chelsea are currently 3rd in the Premiership and the way its going I believe that will be the position we will end the season in too.

TED video

The video I have chosen is Israel loves Iran. In this video a graphic designer named Ronny Edry from Israel talks about the animosity between the states of Israel and Iran. He goes on to show how he created a poster with a picture of him and the writing "Israel loves Iran." This then resulted in people around the world viewing his poster and message via social networking sites such as facebook. People then started to take pictures of themselves and turn them into posters around the world in support of Ronny's message showing their anti-war views. Ronny also goes on to highlight some messages he had received from some Iranians with one woman going as far to say that she was overwhelmed and broke down into tears. I chose this video as it concerns a topic that is both controversial and interesting to me and I found it inspiring that one man can start an entire movement just with the creation of one poster. I also hope that his message reaches both the governments of Israel and Iran as well as other countries around the world so any further conflict can be avoided.

Blog review.

The blog I will be reviewing is creativeeducation.com. I felt this blog stood out more than the other blogs I have seen because of the sheer range of subjects regarding education and teaching it covers such as Autism and how to deal with criticism. The blogs layout makes it look very neat and easy to navigate and it also has an option to sign up to the blog and receive updates on posts. There is also a list of different titles with which a reader can jump to certain topics such as. One post of this blog that interested me was "Autism in school - 5 of the most common misunderstandings explained. "In this blog post common misunderstandings are highlighted such as the belief autism can be cured or that all Autistic children are born with a special talent. Overall I believe this is a very good blog but could probably be improved by adding more colour to the page in order to make it more vibrant.