Found music: Waiting for a Superman, by Iron and Wine

The Flaming Lips is a band that's flitted around the periphery of my play lists. Interesting, fun, but seldom astonishing.

And tonight I've chanced across this cover version of one of their songs, Waiting For A Superman, by Iron and Wine.

Where the original song reaches high, Iron and Wine's version is muted and soft, introspective where its companion is extrovert.

I love it when I find a cover version that takes a song and completely reinterprets it, makes it the artist's own - a rare treat that can be found elsewhere in such pieces as Johnny Cash's cover version of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt or in the transformation of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley.

To me, this is another to add to that list. Indescribably beautiful. Enjoy.

Great photography websites to discover

PHOTOGRAPHY has found a natural home on the internet – with a host of flashy websites to show off the work of snappers around the globe, and a thriving #photography Twitter tag that is buzzing with links to various cool websites. This week, we take a look around a few places that catch the eye.

Learn Basic Photography

Let’s start at the beginning – and http://learnbasicphotography.com/. This really does exactly what the website name says – takes you from the very start and helps you develop your skills as a photographer. It will take you through the kind of equipment you will need, talks about types of cameras and points you to a few reviews of some to choose from, discusses how to compose your image and lighting, and much more. It builds up to talking about such things as aperture speeds and the kind of topic that might be daunting for a beginner – but slowly, clearly and in a friendly fashion. Well worth a look for the beginner (which I still count myself as!).

Photography blogs

There are a million and one photography blogs out there. Let’s face it, in the digital age, if you’ve got a camera, you’re going to be uploading the pictures onto a computer. And if you want to show the world what you can do, you’re going to rustle up a website. With sites such as Wordpress and Blogger making it easy to create a blog site, many photographers are creating quite an online presence with their work. When I gave a shout out on Twitter that I was looking for good photography websites, an old colleague was straight in with some recommendations (thanks, Dave!). A smashing photographer, I’m happy to take his advice and point you to http://strobist.blogspot.com/ which is a mix of photography news, spotlights on creators’ work, Q&As and more. Well worth a look. He also recommended http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/ which is a bit broader – and easier to navigate around looking for material than Strobist. That said, Strobist had the edge for me on more interesting articles. Keep an eye on #photography for more blogs.

Fstoppers

Do you like learning but hate reading on a screen? You’re not alone, and FStoppers aims squarely at that audience. A photography site filled with good advice – but most of it is provided through video rather than a screen full of text. They can’t do it all the time for every subject, and don’t ignore a good subject just because they don’t have a good video, but it’s nice to have the different approach. There is advice on gear, a forum for when you want to exchange tips with fellow forum members, a picture of the day section to admire striking shots. One section that caught my eye was a series of videos about using drones – yes, the ones that are being debated over in the US right now – to catch spectacular aerial images. A fine example of swords to plowshares, I’d say.

Website: http://fstoppers.com

Be Funky

Once you have your pictures, you’re going to want to edit them. Some of the websites above will point you at useful pieces of software – but there are also websites where you can edit your photos online. Some, such as Instagram, are getting quite well known, although a kerfuffle over photographers’ rights soured views of Instagram for a while. There’s more out there too, though, such as www.befunky.com where you can upload a photograph and add all kinds of effects to it – from serious adjusting to brightness and contrast and so on, to fun effects such as making it look like an old sepia photograph. You can even get charcoal versions of your images or pop art effects – lots of the kinds of effects you could from an expensive piece of software, but free because it’s all online at one site. Certainly worth a look if you’re deciding about buying photo editing software – if it does all you need, you might not need to spend an extra cent!

NASA Astronomy picture of the day

Lastly, we’ll take a look up to the stars, for a whole different universe of photography. We’ve mentioned the Nasa site before, but the picture of the day is a beautiful treasure trove of images. Stars and galaxies, and even a few astonishing images from down on earth such as lightning flashing around a volcanic eruption. This is a daily sharp intake of breath, accompanied by a little science on the side to illuminate our universe.

Website: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

·         If you have a website you’d like to see feature in a future column, tweet me @chippychatty.

Defiance: Unashamedly Sci-fi. *SPOILERS*

Photo by SyFy

WARNING: Spoilers below. Seriously, stop reading now if you don't want them. Go, watch the show, come on back afterwards. Done? Right, let's begin.  

THERE'S something very refreshing about Defiance - and it's something that the show puts front and centre from the very moment it starts.

The series begins with a dream, and a voiceover, that takes a moment to set the scene on the time when the Earth of this sci-fi show changed forever, when huge spaceships first broke through the clouds above.

As the dream of the past ends, we shift into the show's modern reality and meet the narrator. An alien. An honest-to-goodness alien, prosthetic features, peculiar contact lenses and all.

There's no hiding from where this show is planning to take us - we're boldly going, you might say, to a future that TV hasn't tried to show us for some considerable time.

Think of the recent sci-fi shows of our time. Battlestar Galactica had humans and robots, Revolution has humans and no power for robots, Fringe has humans in different dimensions and assorted weirdness, FlashForward had humans and prophetic dreams - about the only show that offered aliens right off the bat was The Event. However, The Event proved to also offer no hope of a second season, so let's hope that's not an omen for Defiance.

Besides, not just content with offering one alien race, Defiance offers a wealth of them. Eight in all, it seems, having reached Earth in those mighty Arks seen at the start, bringing with them exotic technology but not a trace of racial harmony.

Instead, the races are bitter and divided against each other, much like many of the inhabitants of the city of Defiance, the eponymous setting of the show, renamed from St Louis after one of the famous battles in the wars that followed the arrival of the aliens. 

Where the show works is in the chemistry of its stars. Rather than filling its ranks with pretty young unknowns, the cast is filled with actors who have been there, done that and know how to do it again.
You've got Julie Benz, formerly Darla from Buffy, as the town mayor. Her sister is played by Mia Kirshner, probably best known from The Vampire Diaries and The L Word. New Zealander Grant Bowler arrives in his Han Solo-style shoes via True Blood. There are other familiar faces too - such as Twilight's Graham Greene, or Jaime Murray, from Spartacus and Hustle, not that she's easily recognisable at first under her alien make-up.

Where the show doesn't work so well - so far at least - is in the special effects. The show is linked with a computer game, more on that in a moment, and I can't help but think that some of the graphics looked more like a game than a convincing piece of television, particularly in the big battle that the premiere builds up to.
As weaknesses go, that's not terrible. It's certainly forgiveable. At least it's willing to reach for the big, broad events and show them rather than sidestepping them or having them take place off screen. The show does also create a couple of other potential pitfalls in its premiere - such as a Romeo and Juliet-style romance between two of the younger cast members. Those who watched Terra Nova will have shuddered through the clumsy teenage stories there, but thankfully Defiance seems not to dwell on that thread for too long, simply using it as a plot point and then moving on.

The computer game angle is novel. The game offers the chance to further explore the world, and the way the game progresses will reportedly feed back into the show, and vice versa. You don't need to play the game to enjoy the show, but it's a dynamic whose payoff will be interesting to watch.

There's a nod too to the current Holy Grail of sci-fi shows, albeit one that was another on the alien-free list. It's time to mention the F word. Firefly. Bowler's lead character of Nolan is certainly no Mal Reynolds, but he drinks at the same bars. Though they might be called saloons and share that same Wild West vibe. They won't be on frontier worlds in Defiance, but a remade frontier back home on an Earth going backwards fast no matter how shiny the technology now available.

While Firefly's sci-fi Western might be the most obvious leap to make, however, it's another show I hope will be Defiance's true ancestor. For this is a city that is a melting pot of different races, of people with different agendas, of criminals and lawmakers, of politicians and profiteers. It's also a city that, in the chaos of the surrounding world, might just be the last, best hope for peace...

If Defiance can live up to its potential, then Babylon 5 might at last have a true successor.

EDIT: You can watch the premiere online at http://www.defiance.com/en/series/news/watch-the-premiere

Fresh Blood Chapter Four: The first two girls

Fresh Blood.

A murderer, leaving a trail of bodies across New York City. A detective, haunted by dreams that show him glimpses of the killings - dreams that cannot be real, but which lead him ever closer to the killer.


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Listen to the first three chapters here: http://www.alteredinstinct.com/2013/03/first-blood-update-first-three-chapters.html

REVIEW: E-Book Revolution: The Ultimate Guide To E-Book Success

I can't quite recall how I first encountered Emily Craven. I've never met her but, while I was starting to wrestle with this whole brave new world of ebooks, suddenly there she was. The prolific tweets and Facebook updates of both Emily and author Joanna Penn were filled with good advice, told in an amusing way. Both of them carry a "can do" attitude that moved me from wondering whether I could possibly ever do such a thing through "well, why not" to having now done it - created ebooks, covers, and so on. I haven't taken the next step yet that both of those have - selling on Amazon, Smashwords and so on - but I'm on my way.

Emily is an enthusiast, a cheerleader for the cause of ebooks and an inspiration to others to follow her path. And E-Book Revolution is her road map, created to help others along the way.

The book is filled with good advice - it could perhaps use a little tweaking in its format, but the useful information makes the book burst at its virtual seams. From QR codes to why giveaways are important, from building your audience to hopeful financial success, this is a treasure trove for writers.

The criticism about format I should make clearer - there are links galore in the book to take you off to various corners of the internet that themselves are great resources. This is great if you're on a device that lets you zip there at a click of a button, but if you have a device that doesn't make this easy or just want to keep reading and come back to those resources later, a compilation of links at the end of each chapter would be great. That said, don't take that as too much of a criticism, for the information in this book is going to keep you coming back for more.

She addresses issues with traditional publishing, how royalties work in the ebook world against the printed world, marketing, important sites to sell your work through and how to do so, making sure you use a good editor and proofreader so that readers don't falter when they encounter a typo that snuck through, and more. The early review copy I had of the book had a couple of those typos and I could hear the grrr in Emily's Facebook response when I let her know about them, which shows how much she cares about getting it right - and the importance of making sure the proofreader you rely on really does have that eagle eye they promised.

The parts I found most invaluable were links to such things as Pay With A Tweet - rather than an outright giveaway of the book, ask people to pay for it by a simple tweet, helping to spread the word about your book. She also inspired the current audio recordings of my novel that you can find here on my site - it seemed a simple idea to introduce people to your work for free. Free is always painless - my embarrassment at my own voice aside, in this instance!
 
There's advice about Google keywords, strong urging to get out there and blog, write, make yourself known, and recommendations to find forums for readers of work in the same field as yours, be it fiction or non-fiction.


Emily's a witty writer, making this anything but a dry textbook. It's already done the trick with me to kickstart ideas for how to promote my own ebooks, and for that alone I thank her!

To begin to tell you about the book doesn't even begin to cover it - every page has a new idea. This comes highly recommended.

USEFUL LINKS

Learn more about E-Book Revolution: The Ultimate Guide To E-Book Success here: http://ebookrevolution.blogspot.com/

The book is available on Amazon here: Buy here
It is also available on other platforms. 

Also recommended is Joanna Penn's website: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Educational websites where you can learn for free!

WEBSITES can be a great thing for youngsters - so this week we're taking a look at some fun and educational websites for children.

Math Games

Parents often dread certain types of homework. And math? That's probably top of the list for most dreaded. Handily, then, this website has a host math games around the web. Lots of the games are exclusive to the site, while it also has links to great educational games from around the web. There are games such as versions of Space Invaders or Fruit Shoot that make learning fun, and exercises to help kids brush up on classroom skills. It's probably worrying that I spent way too long playing the version of Lunar Lander for eight-year-olds! Follow the link to the main website, and you'll also find sections for grammar, typing, creative writing and more. There's a ton of material here, and it's a growing website, so one to keep an eye on!

Website: http://www.free-training-tutorial.com/math-games.html

PS Just for clarity, since writing this I've started helping out with some promotional work for the Free Training Tutorial website. You can also follow it @freetraintutor or on Google+ at Free Training Tutorial

Funbrain

Again featuring math puzzles for youngsters, but with more besides, Funbrain emphasizes the fun aspect of things. Presented with lots of cartoon graphics, you can choose arcades full of games on math or reading, just for fun or for parents and kids together. There's also a section of books and comics and other fun sections. You can put in your age at the start so that it provides appropriate material for you, and sign in so that it keeps track of your performance, and so you don't have to start from the beginning each time. It's probably more appealing than useful to kids, to be honest, and I'm a little wary about how much advertising there is around the site, but as a distraction for youngsters that also proves to be educational, it's well worth a look. The games can be great fun, but some seem less structured than others as an educational tool.

Website: www.funbrain.com

PBS Kids

Sometimes, it doesn't matter how good it is, it matters who it is. Any parent that's tried in vain to convince their child to take one toy over another only to end up defeated by the phrase "But that's Thomas…" knows that. For fans of shows on PBS shows, this is the website to head to. Be it Curious George, The Cat In The Hat or Clifford The Big Red Dog, the whole cast of PBS is here. There are videos or games for each, and the website is wonderfully easy to find your way around. The games are usually narrated by the voices that kids know and love too, so it almost seems as if they are taking part in a show. Aimed at the younger age range really, it's still a great way for youngsters to start using a computer.

Website: http://pbskids.org/

Code Academy

Do you dare to dip your toe into the world of website coding? Aimed at kids, this is just as handy for any adults wanting to try out the world of coding. I've dabbled a little with coding in my time and found the way I learned to be terrifying and baffling. Code Academy takes the fear out of matters and lets you learn step by step and with no need to worry. Lessons are presented in friendly language, and you can see the results of what you've done straight away. Sign in with Facebook or Twitter and it can also keep track of your lessons. Not for everyone, I'm sure, but the friendliest way of approaching the subject I've seen.

Website: www.codeacademy.com

National Geographic Kids

My last choice was a tough one - between this and JK Rowling's Pottermore website. But I'm plumping for National Geographic Kids for all those children who love animals. As you might expect from National Geographic, this is simply packed full of material. There's games, videos, photos, features on different countries, sections on animals and pets, quizzes… plus a little kids section for the under-fives. The site encourages youngsters to get involved - such as by submitting their own photos of animals - and there's a section with blogs and an area for parents. A thoroughly safe, and quite enchanting way for children to start exploring the world!

Website: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

Got a website to suggest for a future column? Contact @chippychatty on Twitter!