On the 26th
December 2004 one of the largest earthquakes in the last century struck off the
west coast of Sumatra. This resulted in one of the largest
tsunamis seen in modern times affecting many countries surrounding the Indian
Ocean including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Eastern
Africa. It was the deadliest tsunami in recorded history killing over 220,000
people. Many bodies were lost at sea or buried in mass graves and not
recorded meaning an accurate number will never been known. This disaster opened the world’s eyes to how destructive natural disasters
can be and how vulnerable and unprepared countries are to these events. Since
then significant improvements have been made to mitigate the effect of
tsunamis, with modelling, prediction and warning systems introduced in many
areas.
On 26th December 2004 a large mega-thrust earth
quake of MW9.3 struck the Sumatra-Andaman Region and resulted in the formation of
numerous large tsunami waves which spread out across the Indian Ocean and
devastating areas along the coasts. The earthquakes epicentre was 3.09oN
and 94.26oE, 100km off the Sumatran coast and occurred along a fault
line stretching from Indonesia to the Andaman Islands in the North where the
Indo-Australian Plate was subducting beneath the Sunda and Burma sub-plates.
The earthquake occurred due to the overriding plate becoming locked
meaning bending and buckling was occurring of this plate, until there is an
abrupt slip and the plate rebounds back (Fig.2) causing a large earthquake and
displacing a large volume of water.(Stein and Okal, n.d.)
The area affected by the Tsunami was vast and even small displacements could be seen on the East Coast of South America. Image from Titov
et al. 2005
The waves were 3-11m high and caused devastation, even today there are scars of the event on the coastlines.
Today an Early Warning Tsunami System has been implemented across the whole of the Indian Ocean and it is constantly monitored due to the risk of the tsunamis.
It was one of the worst events in recorded history and today we remember all those people lost and those affected around the world, ten years on.
Titov, V., Rabinovich, A.B., Mofjield, H., Thompson, R., and
Gonzalez, F. (2005) The Global Reach of the 26 December 2004 Sumatra Tsunami. Science. 309, pp.2045-2048.
I hope everyone is having a great festive period! Me and the dog took another Christmas Day selfie!
Hope everyone got some amazing gifts, I got some awesome stuff and that includes something that was probably in a lot of peoples stockings, a selfie-stick! (PS I didnt ask for that)
But look at all this I got! aaaahhh its going to last me for the whole year!
What a year for music in 2014!!! We have seen an explosion in British talent and amazing success for the Brits across the globe!
There has been an array of music in the charts with numerous newbies reaching numero uno!
This year streaming music was added to the official top 40 chart in the UK. But that chart means nothing right now. The chart to take note, of course, is this one!
This list comprises my top 20 songs of 2014, some in which many of you may have forgotten about!
20. Pitbull - Timber (Ft. Ke$ha)
Now this kicked off 2014 and was number one in the first week. It is a huge guilty pleasure of mine but gotta love a bit of farmhouse!
19. Bastille - Torn Apart
Now Bastille have been about all year but most of their songs came out on top last year. This one is a new song however for the "Other Peoples Heartach Part III mixtape. Its one of my favourites but there are some proper bangers on there, check it out; its only recently been released!!
18. Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj - Bang Bang
A guilty pleasure now, its this huge amalgamation of pop! I really enjoyed the performance on this years VMAs!
17. Saint Motel - My Type
Now I heard this played a few times on the radio and really liked it. I ended up loosing the song after a few months not having a clue where to find it but luckily one day it popped back in my life so I grabbed hold of it and here it is! Bring on the Brass!
16. Ed Sheeran - Don't
Now what a year Ed Sheeran has had, releasing his second album "x" has seen him at the top of the charts for much of the year. For me I think I like this album more than the last! My favourite however, is probably this one!
15. Take That - These Days
Another guilty pleasure now is the first single from Take That's New Album, there is just something about this song which is catchy and makes you feel happy!
14. Mr Probz - Waves [Robin Schulz Remix]
Now this one takes me back to summertime! A proper summer chill out tune! Reminds of times by the pool and in the sun!
13. One Republic - Love Runs Out
Now this one is a great song! The drums at the start of the record set a good pace and beat through the song and the vocals are great!
12. Tiesto - Red Lights / Wasted
Now here I actually have two songs at 13, but they are pretty similar and by Tiesto. I couldn't decide which was better so here are both! Red lights and wasted!
11. MKTO - Classic
Now here is a song that was massive in America and briefly breached out over here reaching the Top 20. Another feel good pop song but one of the main reasons I like it soooo much is LOST star Malcolm Kelly (WAAAAALT) makes up part of the duo.
10. Jess Glynne - Right Here
Now this song is best listened to LOUD! Just listen to that bass. Another summer hit!
9. Arctic Monkeys - Why'd you only call me when you're high?
This feels like it was out ages ago! Definitely from my favourite album of the year, AM this was one of the best!
8. Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk (Ft. Bruno Mars)
Now the most recent song on the list is this one! I did hear this song before a certain X factor contestant wowed the judges a few weeks ago! The popularity surrounding the song and performance meant its release was brought forward from January to now! First time I heard it I loved it, now its just amazing! You cant help but move! Loving the Brass
7. Foster The People - Best Friend
This tune is another one to listen to loud! Bit of a creepy video but yes here is the brass again!
6. Arctic Monkeys - Snap Out Of It
Top five now its getting serious!! Here is the second one from AM! This one is my favourite from the album and I have listened to it over and over again many times!
5. Lower Than Atlantis - Emily
Now I haven't heard much of LTA but this song is making me a huge fan!
4. Duke Dumont - I Got U (Ft. Jax Jones)
The first few seconds of the song are absolute bliss. Just close your eyes and imagine yourself on a tropical beach! Or you could watch the video which shows off some amazing places around the globe! Many of which I have actually been too! The video is pretty hilarious too! This was the song of the summer!
3. Klaxons - There is no other time Luckily for me I actually got to see these guys live this year which was absolutely fantastic! This song was the best off their album!!
2. Coldplay - A Sky Full Of Stars
This year saw a new album from Coldplay, a different more original sound from the band with some other good songs such as Magic. I have to admit it wasn't my favourite album but there are some really good songs on there. Including this one, produced by Avicii. A good dance hit, sing a long and such an uplifting song! I loved this song over summer and have listened to it so many times coming into London! Definitely my soundtrack of 2014.
1. Clean Bandit - Rather Be (Ft. Jess Glynne)
This is definitely the song of the year! Its been about all year! I loved it when it was released, got a little bored of it. But once it was played out during a certain high street store commercial it became my favourite tune again. Ft. vocals from Jess Glynne again another song best heard loud!
So hop back a few weeks and it all began, I jumped straight back into the world of education! With not even a day between moving back home, I was at the University of Leeds registering for a jam-packed year of lectures, reading, exams, coursework and the big dissertation! I was back to being a student.
It was one of the most strangest experience those first few days being back as a student, getting a student card, eligible for student offers once again (free McDs burgers!) and walking around a freshers fair.
The course began with a residential field trip to Scarborough with work on Whitby, Robin Hoods Bay and the surrounding are. It was a really great way to meet people on the course and there are some really awesome friends I have made already. The work was a little bit of a challenge but it was engaging and interesting learning about geology in an entirely
different way from an industrial direction.
The lectures have been interesting too but there is a bit of maths creeping in and I am definitely going to have to do some revision on simple maths that I have completely forgotten over time. The campus is crazily big and so much different to Lancaster, there is so many huge buildings and two libraries. Unlike Lancaster with the one real main thorough-fare you have to walk around every single building and the campus is on a huge hill! To make things even more confusing is that they have numbered the floors of buildings across the whole campus so you can be entering a building at the top of the hill which has the ground floor as floor 7 ahhh! There is also a 6 or so story building with over 25 lecture theatres in it stacked on top of each other! It is one big huge maze!
But I am so glad to have started this, a big kick in the right direction in a much better position than I was before! I still have my doubts thinking whether or not it was the right idea. But I am much more confident now that this is the right path! I've met some amazing people and have enjoyed it so far! And the 4 hr commuting everyday isn't killing me just yet!
Today I went on my first site visit... the M62 no more volcanoes or mountains anymore!
Its been over 5 years ago since I started making fan videos for LOST. I continued making promo trailers and promos until the end of LOST and even with a lack of experience in video editing, dodgy quality and sound and it being such a long time ago in the advancement of technology I am pretty proud of these:
In July 2009 I put up this clever little video: It's how BBC news would've broadcast that Oceanic Airlines had gone missing. Check out the news ticker tape along the bottom for more LOST goodies.
Here are a few more that I made:
Including this one which I made a week before the finale:
Today it is 10 years since the start of LOST. In my opinion the best show I have ever seen, as you probably know. 22nd September 2004 is when it all began!
So in celebration I have picked out my 10 top favourite episodes:
Okay I love LOST and its hard choosing a favourite episode but there are a few that I really did enjoy. Along with all the Season Finales and season opening episodes here are a few. There are definitely others I probably have forgotten about! I need a re-watch!
Top 10 episodes, in no particular order
Season 1 Episode 18: Numbers - Now this episode was all about one of my favourite characters Hurley, and a part from the spooky, black smoke monster which had already been heard before this, it was the first time where we got a feel that there was a bit more mystical and --- to the show. It looked at how Hurley believed he was cursed after winning the lottery with "the numbers" 4 8 15 16 23 42
Season 2 Episode 7: The Other 48 days - This one looked back at the horrific events that happened on the other side of the island when the survivors of the tail section tried to adapt to island life and where attacked by "The Others." A much harsher experience than the other survivors.
Season 3 Episode 1: Tale of Two Cities: Yes I know this is a season starter, but I think it began with one of the best scenes of the whole show. It started with a woman we had not seen before, in a fully functioning house in an everyday village. But then suddenly, the ground shakes and the lady runs outside to see Oceanic 815 crash in the skies above. This was of course Juliet and the village was on the island!
Season 4 Episode 5 - The Constant: Now this is probably my favourite mid-season episode. All about another favourite character, Desmond, and how he had side effects whilst leaving the island to the freighter, in which his consciousness travelled between his present self and his 1996 self.
Season 5 Episode 6 - 316: How everyone got back to the island is revealed in this episode. And it is revealed that Jack, Kate and Hurley have time-travelled to 1977. With an exciting lead up to the Ajira Airways flight and the use of the lamppost station and Eloise Hawking. I also enjoyed the emergency landing by Frank Lapidus of Ajira Airways in a following episode.
Season 5 Episode 12 - Dead is Dead: We finally got a good idea of what the smoke monsters use was for on the island, to be judged. All this prior to revealing that it was actually Jacobs brother.
Season 6 Episode 6 - Sundown: The Man in Black / Smoke Monster is coming!!! Sayid has resurrected with darkness within him!! The most memorable thing about this was the ending. After the smoke monster has rampaged through the temple killing many, Claire, Sayid and MIB rejoin in a destroyed temple. They then leave and join a large group in which are ready to battle Jacob and the other survivors. Cue slow motion walk, stern looking faces and creepy Claire singing "Catch a Falling Star."
Season 6 Episode 9 - Ab Aeterno: A total new side to the show, focussing solely on Richards life before and on the island. A very exciting and emotional episode!
Season 1 Episode 1/2- Pilot Part 1/2: The whole opening sequence of the
Pilot was just fantastic. So much shock drama and action! With lots of explosions, screaming blood and gore with the beautiful backdrop of the island, you came out after watching feeling you have gone through the whole thing as if you were there! Very powerful stuff and the mystery of the "monster" at the very end was exciting and teased of the mystery of the island. What a show it turned out to be!
Season 6 Finale - The End: It still has to be there in the top 9. Now its sad that the show was ending of course but the excitement on the island and how they tied things up along with the beautiful and highly emotional scene in which the whole group rejoin in the afterlife and "move on" together. I am one of the people that loved the ending!
Time for another rewatch I think :)
HAPPY LOST DAY Check out my other LOST blogs from today!
Apologies for the lack of blogging over the past few months. I have been extremely busy and it has been crazily chaotic and very stressful.
But things are about to change! So here is a little warning that this blog contains some emotive text.
So a lot has happened over the past few months and I have had to make some life-changing decisions and important career choices. There has been some amazing moments but other times where I have felt so confused and lost. There have been points recently in which I have stood back and thought where is my path taking me? What other options do I have?
I was quite happy in my job and working for a global company, but felt restricted in the pathways I could take and felt I had a huge gap in my knowledge in my area of work. I also began feeling the restraints of being far away from home, family and friends and though I had amazing weekends when friends and family came to visit, it made me realise how much I miss them. Though its only really a few hundred miles away it began to feel like I was on the other side of the world. It was hard to get home and in fact hard to get anywhere in this area with the poor transport links on both road and rail; taking over 6 hours to get home at a great expense. I am a strong person and have managed okay being far away, but realising what you miss and that there is a lot more to making your life happy; it began to make things that little more difficult. You only have one life and you need to make the most of the opportunities available to you surrounded by the people you know and love.
I felt I was not making the most of my opportunities. Therefore I looked about studying a masters, something that would give me so much more knowledge in my area of work and many more opportunities at more locations across the UK.
After feeling confident with an application to Imperial College London, I was devastated to find that an error with one of my references meant that it was not accepted and I was not notified by the university of the problem with the reference or an impending deadline which surpassed. Nothing I could do, including providing another reference immediately would change there minds. It was horrible feeling knowing that it wasn't even me that caused the problem and that it would be a whole year for me to apply again, a whole year feels like a very long time.
A short while later I applied for the same degree at the University of Leeds and I am happy to announce that I have recently been accepted. Its something that sounds exciting and challenging but definitely important for my career. This has meant that I would be leaving my job. An extremely tough decision and very upsetting having to hand in my notice. I have been through everything over and over but this seems the best thing. It will make me a lot happier and provide further extensive knowledge for my area of work. This would also mean that I will be returning home back to the good ol North West! Which is very exciting!
It means a very challenging, a very hectic and a very financially tight few months!
I have enjoyed my time on the East Coast, and find the area beautiful (though there is a severe lack of hills.) But I am excited to return home I have some fantastic memories and some epic weekends with friends and family over. There have been some great things to come out of this adventure, now knowing a lot more about myself, a lot more about people and a lot more about life. There are memories I will never forget and moments that I will cherish forever.
I hope you feel along with me that it is the right decision.
But yeah, what a quick month, its gone by in a flash! Looking back its gone past that fast I cant really remember what I have been up too!
Its been a pretty good, especially because we have had our first signs of summer, first bbqs of the year and first sunburn of the year :) Work has finally picked up and looking towards the summer months its going to be manic! Which will be good, giving me chance to do some overtime and keep my mind busy to take my thoughts away from being far from home and missing friends and family!
Also a few big weekends coming up too with friends over and another weekend in London!
So what have I actually done, well what seems to be becoming a monthly thing I took a trip to London on the first bank holiday. My brother had organised an event as part of his university course in which people would meet up for a
midnight tour of London. Named "Past Your Bedtime" the event would take a tour of the famous sites of London in the middle of the night, experiencing new sights and sounds away from all the hustle and bustle of commuters and tourists! Not only that, you feel like you are on a movie/film set in the streets of London at night!
He also added a few little tasks on the way, some things you would never expect to do in London! So the tasks included a balloon game in Trafalgar Square, an egg and spoon race on the Millennium Bridge, a Frisbee match in front of the Tate Museum and a midnight Boris Bike down South Bank. It was really great and I urge other to try out similar events. For more info check here:
It was a really good night and can tell some crazy stories about egg and spoon races across the Millennium bridge! Of which I lost completely after dropping my egg at the very start and (being hardboiled) dropped straight off the side of the bridge! FAIL!
The bank holiday just gone saw my parents, brother and dog come over! Which I had been waiting ages for. It was sooo nice to see my family and I was sad to see them go. It went really quick but we had a great time in the sun! Drinking from the coastal pubs and bars by the sea, I felt like I was on holiday!!
Oh and also me and my brother dared each other to go on this!
I have never been on a ride like this but woweee it was so good! Tho spinning around with a few pints of alcohol may not have been a great thing :)
The amazing weather has come with some epic storms, I have seen a few here but across the UK there have been some crazy thunderstorms...
The week just gone I have completed a first aid at work course, courtesy of St Johns Ambulance. So now I am fully first aid trained and also am trained on Defibrillators! Though it was three days long it was actually really interesting and I feel quite confident now if I come across anyone who is in need of aid. I never knew there could be so many side effects of low blood sugar and all the different types of injuries and what to prioritise on! I also noticed that the people of East Anglia sound a little Australian!
Somehow haha.
I have also had to make a statement to the police just moments ago after an attempted break in earlier in the month! Which was very worrying when I was asleep upstairs!
So what else has been happening this month
Katy Perry has a very catchy new song out that I cant get out of my head!
Another good song I am liking at the moment is this one by
Foster The People, fresh off the press!
I talked about Coldplay a lot last month, but they are very busy at the moment! So I still need to mention their newest song with the help of none other than Avicii!
A sky full of stars
After months of excitement I finally got to see Godzilla! Was it worth the wait??? Hmmm well it wasn't as good as I thought it might have been.
**SPOILERS**
I grew up loving the 1998 Godzilla that rampaged through New York, though that one got slated by the hardcore fans of previous Godzillas (when it was men in suits.) But the 1998 big G had more of a believable storyline, if a story about a massive lizard can be believable! It didn't eat nuclear bombs like the new one and it was more of an oversized wild animal rather than a rampaging monster. I mean it was good, the fight scenes were epic but I was disappointed that we didn't see Godzilla till over 30 minutes of the way through and the numerous scenes seemed to be cut out. The whole fight scene was just kicking off in Hawaii, with Godzilla finally arriving, next thing you know its over and on the news and they're on the way to mainland USA!
The storyline was a little poor killing off the main character early in the film leaving us with a main character which hardly said anything and a reunion of his family which lacked the emotional build up. How some of those nuclear bombs didn't explode when they were dropped by the monsters I don't know! But the final fight scene made up with the clear connection to the old films, similar shots, similar music etc.
There was a few similarities with the 1998 film which I noticed, including the title sequence in which showed the same footage at times of nuclear explosions decades ago! Though the storyline was different, 1998 said Godzilla was made from nuclear explosions though 2014 said they were trying to kill Godzilla! There was a few other points too, there was both nests in each film in which they had to find and destroy (though different monsters') and then the monster returns to find their offspring killed and comes close to the culprit face to face! There was definitely some similarities!
I enjoyed it, but I prefer 1998 Godzilla film. Missing out fights in Hawaii and destroying Vegas very briefly I just wanted more! A lot of the best scenes were in the trailer.
But no matter what the reviews a second one has been commissioned!
So that sums up this month really! A very quick month with signs of summer and epic adventures!
Expect a blog soon on the weather since the start of the year!
Call it magic Call it true I call it magic When I'm with you
I thought I would start off with this a new song none other from Coldplay!
Released last month this song has been really growing on me and the video is beautiful!
MAGIC, the lead single from Coldplay's new album to be released in May, "Ghost Stories" is somewhat different to previous albums with some people saying that they are going back to their roots of the first few albums. This song is definitely a grower and I have heard a few songs from the new album and it sounds great!
But Hey, what a way to start off this months blog eh?
Now looking back at my blog I have actually been missing doing it as much as I did last year. Nearly everyday there has been something I spot and just want to write about and shout out to the world about. So you never know a daily or .. well a more frequent blog may return soon or next year.
So hope everyone had a great EASTER, mine was choclattey filled along with seeing family and friends and having the two bank holidays has really made me appreciate Easter. This has been the first year really where I haven't been off with school or uni holidays around it and now working full time I really appreciated the extra extra long weekend! Gave me change to go home and spend an extended period of time seeing friends and family and just chill out!
So April for me has been a bit busier workwise but has also been a more emotional month. Not emotional as in bad, but there have been extremes in my thoughts and feelings about things and I have had some tough days missing home and family; but luckily I have had some amazing people to pick me back up again and they have really cheered me up! Yet I have also had some amazing days and epic experiences and I really appreciate my friends and those I care about dearly.
So what have I done this month?
Well I started off with another trip to LONDON
This was an epic weekend! I booked a day off and had a reunion with all my old University flatmates and apart from being a bit ill from some stomach bug had an amazing weekend. We all had a good catch up and took a trip to CAMDEN MARKETS which were spectacular. I definitely need to go back there, I love getting lost in the many market pathways many of which I had no time to venture down. We also went to a very secret bar in The Breakfast Club ;) I don't want to give anymore away about that place because its such a strange
and unusual experience!
We had BBQ food and a few drinks at nights and was a really relaxing time! I had a huge pile of Brazillian food and had a few unfizzy beverages so that my stomach ache didn't get worse when drinking!
I then had a chilled weekend. It was pretty quiet one really, my parents and brother were off on holiday, I was still recovering from my stomach bug and there wasn't much to do. But I headed off to FRAMLINGHAM to see a friend and also visited this awesome little country fayre.
Was strange being there on my own, but it was very relaxing. The weather was great, I watched an eagle show in which one nearly flew into my head! I got a pint from the beer tent. Listened to some relaxing folk music, saw many a farmyard animal!
Then the weekend just gone I went back home for Easter. Where I saw a lot of my family which was great. Had a famous DARWEN Curry and then a few drinks in town. Bumped into a few friends and had a big family walk up to the tower which was fun!
So a good Easter :D
What else has happened this month then? Well the continuation of the mystery around the missing MALAYSIAN PLANE has deepened and continued and there is still no sign of the aircraft, nearly two months on. With chances now looking slim with the black box likely to have lost its battery life.
The UK was swathed in POLLUTION and Saharan dust with thin layers of desert sand seen on cars after depositing from high in the atmosphere. This in turn brought pollution from the near continent and made pollution levels in the UK the highest seen in a very long time! Smoggy scenes were seen right across the UK!
There was also the horrendous news of the KOREAN SHIP that capsized killing more than 300 people, mainly students and teachers from the same school. I cant imagine the sheer horror of what unfolded on that ship. RIP to those involved.
Music-wise there has also been a few new artists about hitting the number one spot! Including this epic one, such a chilled out summer tune by MR PROBZ
I CANNOT WAIT FOR SUMMER!!
I booked my flights for my holiday this year which means now I am ready for my getaway to a big villa in Portugal! Bring on August!!!!
Game of Thrones returned to our screens this month and its been absolutely fantastic as usual! The second episode was definitely one of my favourites from the 4 seasons!!
Otherwise I am well on my way through Breaking Bad and I am loving the new season of Bates Motel! 24 is back this May to so I am going to give that a watch!
I have also been reading the book S by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst and it is definitely one of if not my favourite book! This book is not a normal book however! Its actually a book on a fictional book written by a fictional author. The Book named "Ship Of Theseus" is made out to be a library book and two readers have annotated the whole book and added notes and pictures and postcards discussing the mystery behind the author and his friends and the true meanings behind the strange story he has written. But the two readers who talk about their ideas together end up getting dragged into something strange themselves!
So it is basically 3 stories within one! And takes double the time to read. It is so clever and you really get to know and love the character of the book as well as the two readers who are annotating in the margins. The story itself is so well written and is so descriptive I can easily get dragged in to the story and forget my surroundings. It is so immersive! It really is a must read! Anyway I am about 2 chapters from the end and I really don't want it to!
What begins at the water shall end there, and what ends there shall once more begin.
We also had some amazing movie news! Star Wars has began filming. The final Hobbit film has been renamed "The Battle of 5 Armies" and it has been announced that they are making the following:
Mrs Doubtfire 2
Goonies 2
The BFG
How awesome are they going to be I cannot wait!!! :)
But all in all a good month finished today by having two good friends from my University course come over and keep me company! And I splashed out on some new trainers aaannnd signs of Summer have begun! So May begins!
I started with Coldplay so I shall finish with Coldplay. Their new album is out this May :)
Here is midnight which is very very different from their usual sound, yet so fantastic!
