AntonySimpson.com » The Web

PostSecret – A funny blog

Antony — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:01:32 +0000

Hi All,

I recently discovered Post Secret. It’s very funny, :) it asks people to send in their secrets and then publishes them on postcard images with a humors pictures. They’ve even made some of the faviourates in to a book, but unfortunately it’s only available in the USA.

Antony

Kreativ Blogger Award

Antony — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:55:14 +0000

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award
Thank you Mike, who nominated me with his blog post entitled Kreativ Blogger Award.
(We are both like so creative, using the same title lol.)

2. Copy the award logo and place it on your blog

3. Link to the person who nominated you
I already do on the sidebar and also done above.

4. List seven things about yourself that other people might find interesting
One – People say that I’m funny, the entertainer of the group.
Two – I have 5 plants which are still alive, approximately two years after purchase…and NO they are not plastic.
Three – Rather than go to work, I’d quite like to be a hobbit, whoops I mean hermit (always get those words mixed up) and write books.
Four – My faviourate colours are blue and yellow.
Five – Twice in my life, I have seen the interconnectedness of the universe for a split second.
Six – Sometimes I struggle with life, particularly loneliness.
Seven – When I feel lonely, I smile, hoping, knowing that there is someone out there for everyone…and I’ve just not found him yet.

5. Nominate seven Kreativ Bloggers (In alphabetical order)
One – Amber Benson first discovered from her role as Tara on Buffy, instantly fell in love with her. And once I discovered she’s a writer, film maker and all round creative – loved her even more.
Two – Bad Witch discovered some-what accidentally and loved. The blog of a pagan, discover her as she learns and develops. :D
Three – Clever Girl an American chick-lit style writer, often her posts make me laugh.
Four – Gay Banker a London banker’s interesting life. Exploring the banking world, the gay world (literally world – he travels to China, etc.) and giving advice.
Five – Mike is a fellow gay blogger. Love his honest and open approach to life. Thanks Mike – keep blogging, one of my faviourate blogs of all time!
Six – Sye a good friend of mine and the person who did the artwork for my website (see Geeky Post: Website Development).
Seven – Wyatt although he doesn’t blog that often now, when he does it’s an enjoyable read.

6. Link to their blogs – well, you can do on the right here…
Done, see above & sidebar.

7. Tell them you’ve nominated them…
Will be done, when this blog post publishes. (Note to self – do this now)

I found this interesting article about where the Kreativ Blogger Award came from. Simon, the blogger of the link states that it has become a bit of chain blogging. I however see it as appreciation for the creativity and hard work that goes in to the writing/editing of my blog.

“So thank you.” Antony said.

Geeky Post: Website Development

Antony — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:23:17 +0000

This is a Geeky post and in it I’m going to show you how my website has developed over the years.

Version 1
My first version was created in HTML and looked like this:

It had sections to it: Personal, Carrer and Occult. It had Quick Links News on the home page.

The Navigation was simplistic as was the site as a whole. This first version of the site was online when I was 16 years old and at that time I didn’t have the domain antonysimpson.com.

Version 2

Version 2 was designed with sidebar Navigation in order to allow me to populate the site with much more content. It again was designed in HTML using tables. It contained much more photos than Version 1 including a photo’s section.

New features included a News page that had paragraphs of my news including Site Updates to let the visitors know what had been developed and updated. The Occult section of Version 1 became religion as I accepted Paganism as part of my religion. This version of the site was online around the time when I was 18 years old.

Version 3

Most significantly in Version 3 was the new blue design. I kept the sidebar navigation as I liked that it allowed me to populate the rest of the site with more content. The site used a combination of HTML and PHP, using Iframes. Removed the Site Updates but added on a Last Updated sentence on the home page so that people know when it was last updated.

The news section (above) had a page per news entry and an archive like a blog.

Version 4

Kept the same blue colours design. Kept the last updated sentence on the home page. Moved the Navigation to the top of the page. The main feature of this site was a wordpress blog which unfortunately I deleted being unable to pull off the posts and saving them. This was probably the shortest version of the site ever online, really I only focused on the blog.

Version 5

Again I kept the blue design (look above). It was the most advanced coding I had done so far. I liked the photos and had more of them to use as technology developed. I kept the Last Updated sentence and added a hit counter.

I created a windows-style little windows for the content. For the first time I had a guestbook.

Version 6

The major change in this design was the colours, using oranges and reds. The site design was the same, but I uploaded much more content.

Version 7

Easier on the eye colours were used. Advanced PHP coding used. Meta tags added so that I would appear in search results. For the first time I used an RSS feed. This was probably one of the longest sites online.

Navigation returned the sidebar with little yellow star bullet points! I discovered photoshop and used it to make my own banners. Put news on the home page. Kept expanding the site adding new sections and pages.

Also added Coming Soon – so that visitors would know what new content was to be added and Site Updates makes a return so visitors know what’s been recently updated.

Version 8

My friend Sye designed this site for me. I asked him to design it after seeing his cartoon artwork (see Funny cartoons from a friend and More funny cartoons from a friend). The idea was to create a noticeboard with a piece of paper pinned on to it. The Navigation was cartoon images that changed on mouse over at the top of the page.

The site was designed in dreamweaver using tables in a blog style. I also had a cartoon logo designed by Sye. I decided to have a wordpress blog for the home page and made some minor changes to the design to accommodate this to the version you see today:

So that’s how my sites developed over the years. Do you think I should make some changes to the current version or create a new version? Post a comment.

Antony

More funny cartoons from a friend

Antony — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:38:39 +0000

Sometime ago I blogged Funny cartoons from a friend. Then Sye lost his website and the link to his cartoon didn’t work. I’ve updated the image file so it now works and in addition to this here are two more cartoons he’s done:

All cartoon images are Copyright (C) Sye Watts, 2009. Reproduced with kind permission from the author.

Blog soon,

Antony

A pearl of wisdom from Dame Edna

Antony — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:23:37 +0000

“In this modern world don’t we need to laugh, more than we’ve ever needed too before in history?” Dame Edna, Just for Laughs 2005

“Absolutely, Dame Edna.” Antony Simpson, 15th November 09

Tom Dick and Sally – Online Dating

Antony — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:34:51 +0000

It’s coming up to Christmas and I’ve been noticing a lot of couples around. I recently joined Tom Dick and Sally a gay dating website. It was accidental as I clicked on a link on Facebook. Here’s what their website said:

Our vision was to create a same sex dating website which you could show to your friends and family without feeling embarrassed. There is a time and a place for naked pics covered in baby oil; maybe it’s not when you’re trying to get a second opinion on the suitability of a potential date!

It also said that their aim was to help gay men find long term relationships. I liked the ethos of this site, unlike Gaydar and Fitlads that seem sex-based one time meet up. On Tom Dick and Sally they give you a personality test and provide matches based on your personality test. Here were my results:

What do you think? Accurate description of me?

Unfortunately all my matches they recommend live too far, miles and miles away. :) But was interesting to discover more about my personality.

Take care,

Antony

Adam Lambert

Antony — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:02:01 +0000

Adam Lambert for those of us in the UK who might not know about him is the runner up in American Idol (the American equivilant of xfactor). Tia a fellow blogger has blogged about him on several occasions. Well according to Daily Dose of Queer has caused a storm in America for his raunchy act on The American Music Awards and for kissing another man on television.

Adam Lambert is gay and the words in his song are indeed raunchy, so shouldn’t his act be? See the video of his performance below:

(Edit: Unfortunately the video’s been removed on youtube, but I’ve found it here: http://littleglitterlittleglam.blogspot.com/2009/11/adam-lambert-ama-performance-video-for.html have a loook. I don’t know why people are trying to supress it by claiming copyright.)

I quite like the song, actually. And my rebelious side loves the act and the gay kiss. Time to grow up American audience, we are now in the 21st centry. Would the same reaction of occured if Rihanna did a hetrosexual version of the song and performance? He comments on this performance:

So I’ve decided that I like Adam Lambert, especially with his boundary pushing. What do you think? Leave a comment.

Antony

New Blogs

Antony — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:05:22 +0000

Observant readers will notice I have added some new blogs to my Blogs of Interest. Here are the new additions and why I’ve added them:

Amber Benson’s Offical Blog, Amber Benson is well known for her role as Tara in Buffy, but she’s also a talented writer and director. I love reading Amber’s view of the world it’s kind and honest.

Boing Boing, a random blog. Lots of pictures and videos, love the randomness.

Over Your Head is a blog from a gay guy in London. He blogs about anything he sees as relevant so it’s quite eclectic. A good read.

Stephen Fry’s blog, OK not a new read for me! I’ve been reading Stephen’s blog for a while. Like his critical eye on the world and his informed well-thought-out views.

So if I’m not updating enough to feed your blog fix, please visit one of the above blogs.

Write soon,

Antony

Where is GJ?

Antony — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:13:35 +0000

GJ disapeared off my Facebook friends list a few weeks ago now. When I tried to ring him (to see if he fancied the cinemas), no answer. In the end I had to ring an ex-partner and ask him to pass my number over facebook to GJ. I thought that GJ may have lost his phone and facebook had played up and deleted me, but this wasn’t the case. He had read I have a date on Saturday and had felt jealous. He told me when he eventually texted me that he didn’t want to read more. My response: Well it’s your choice to read my blog.

Sound harsh? I have often blogged about my blog being a creative outlet and allowing me to express how I feel about things. I can’t and won’t start censoring what I write to please or not upset people. GJ and I have a very complex history and relationship.

The basics are that we have tried dating and being in a relationship several times and it doesn’t work. We end up falling out and not talking for months. I hate not having him in my life so we decided to remain friends always.

When I realised that he had choose to delete me on facebook as a friend and choose not to answer my calls and texts it hurt. I had relied on him to always be there for me. Is that wrong? I mean after all he has no responsibility or obligation towards me. And if he met someone I’d be a little jealous that he’d have less time for me, but if the guy made him happy, I’d be happy for him. Sigh.

We got talking again and I invited him to mine for a gathering of some of my closest friends. He barely spoke to them, sat there with his arms folded and left early. He always seems to want more than friendship. One thing I know for definitate: is that it hasn’t worked in the past and therefore the probability of it working if we attempted it again is low. Besides which a good friend of mine always says “Move on to pastures new. There’s a reason it didn’t work.”

I reflected on the experience and to be honest, after his performance the other night and the fact that I actually like being single (selfishly I don’t have to consider anyone else) I am more than happy with a friendship with GJ. I simply wish that’s all that he wanted.

How can I handle this situation? Any advice or answers on a postcard please, or better yet: post a comment.

Antony

Rate my blog posts with GD Star Rating

Antony — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:12:31 +0000

Hello all,

Some of you will have noticed recently this appearing on the end of my blog posts and even on the comments left:

This is a wordpress plugin created by GD, their offical website: http://www.gdstarrating.com/. I would like to thank them for making this brilliant plugin.

What does this mean for you? You can give my posts ratings, however many starts you want to give and you can give thumbs up and thumbs down too. That way you can tell me what you like and tell me what you don’t. All posts now have them on so you can rate past posts too.

So go and go rating mad,

Antony