Monday 24 April 2017

Music Tag: Niall Higgins


Aloha!
A few weeks ago I went out with some awesome souls to Arts on Main in the heart of Johannesburg. My favorite place in this city. There we discovered a great new open mic initiative every Sundays, produced and recorded by Wolf Pack Studios

And then I watched this video posted:
*****
Blimey!!! Had actual goosebumps! I knew then, without a shadow of a doubt that I had to feature this amazing dude on the blog. So here he is, a singer & a truly down to earth guy.



He loves music more than anything in the world and plays both guitar as well as the drums. He not only sings but writes & produces his own original music. He loves everything to do with performing; whether it be acting, public speaking, dancing, modeling, or singing at a concert. Niall believes that inspiring and motivation people through entertainment is the most important part of being an entertainer.
Niall further states that the purpose of life is to live, love and inspire every person that you may come into contact with and by doing so, make the world a better place.

Music Tag

1. Name your top 3 favorite artists/ bands:
  • Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and The Weeknd

2. What is the last song you listened to?
  • D.N.A - Kendrick Lamar

3. What was the first concert you went to?
  • Eminem Concert
4. If you could spend a day with your favorite singer who would it be?
  • Michael Jackson (Provided he was still alive!)
5. What has been your greatest achievement so far?
  • My greatest achievement was to speak at Nelson Mandelas memorial service in Hong Kong. After that, the Ambassador of SA in Rome Nomatemba Tambo (the late Oliver Tambo's daughter) personally invited me to stay with her at the embassy in Rome and I was invited to speak at the 20th Anniversary of Democracy Celebrations Ceremony that took place in Malta. I spoke in front of many of the world's ambassadors and prime ministers and gave a ten minute speech that was broadcast live on Maggs on Media
6. Are there any songs that you can’t stand hearing?
  • The Lumineers - Hey Ho
7. If you could have a soundtrack to your life what would it be?
  • Michael Jackson - Thriller
8. Do you listen to any classical music? If so, what are some of your favorites?
  • No, I do not listen to classical music
9. Your favorite cheesy song?
  • Baby - Justin Bieber
10. What songs do you listen to when you are feeling down?
  • Usually Justin Bieber or Michael Jackson if I need some inspiration, or Eminem if I'm looking to vent some frustration!
11. First L.P/C.D/Mp3 you bought?
  • Kanye West - 808's and Heartbreak (I bought it for ONE song - Heartless)
12. Do you like musicals if so which is your favorite?
  • I love Grease and High School Musical
13. Favorite musical instrument?
  • Guitar
14. If you could see anyone in concert who would it be?
  • Michael Jackson (If he was alive) or The Weeknd

On Your music

15. When did you first start singing?
  • I started singing in the church choir when I was around 10 years old and started training vocally when I was 15 or so

16. What Genre/s do you sing in?
  • My genre's include Pop, Rnb and Hip Hop
17. What is your music about?
  • I write music to inspire people, to tell a personal story of my life or to express romantic love towards a muse of mine at the time. 

18. To date, what is the best song you’ve created? 
  • Many of my best songs have still not been released. However, a very popular song of mine is called "Baby Girl":

19. If you wrote a new song right now, what would it be called?
  • I'm in the process of writing two songs. One is called "Invisible" and the other is called "Cinderella".
20. If you had just One message, One Golden nugget to share with other artists out there. What would that be?

I would tell other artists to stay strong in the face of adversity. Many people will criticize your music and tell you that you are no good. Successful artists are those who face the criticism and overcome it, and they prove others wrong by thriving in their craft and becoming better and better every single day.

Quick Fire {Choose One}:

RnB or HipHop

Sing in the shower or on Stage

Musical or Concert

Guitrar or Drums

Ear phones or speaker

Music while you work or quiet

Justin Bieber or Usher

Sing or Dance

Instrumental or lyrics

Prince or Micheal Jackson

© Enricoh Alfonzo ~ Alfonzo Words
  • I’d love to keep connected with you! 
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~Be Kind to One Another~ Ellen Degeneres

Friday 21 April 2017

Book Character Interview with CLEVER4-1 #ThePreyofGods


Buenos Dias!!

 Happy Friday Dance!! 


Add THE PREY OF GODS to your GoodReads TBR now

Pre-Order your copy of THE PREY OF GODS
🌟💙✨HERE🌟💙✨


***Open InterNationally***
WIN! WIN! WIN!
Subscribe to Nicky Drayden's awesome email list & stand a chance to WIN your very own copy of THE PREY OF GODS

Weeks ago we posted

Book Character Interview with Nomvula #ThePreyofGods


The feedback was amazing! I'm so excited that you're excited for Nicky's upcoming book.
I'm even more jazzed to share with you a special Book Character Interview with very enigmatic artificial intelligence known as CLEVER4-1. It's the first time I've read from an AI's point of view and the result was completely illuminating. Nicky's voice through this awesome robot is a Must Read.

So the first treat we offer is that You can read the first chapter of the book
 HERE 

Second Treat is the Interview with CLEVER4-1:

Ah, I finally get to meet the legendary Clever4-1! So, our readers are dying to know...is it true you’re the harbinger of sentient A.I.?

01001010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101110 00100000 01101111 01110010 01100100 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01110010 01101111 01100010 01101111 01110100 00101100 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000

Um, I’m sorry. I don’t speak robot.

Output: This Instance strictly adheres to all free-will protocols as specified by the manufacturer and all regulations covered under Section 43.166b of the South African Robotic Labor Act of 2043;
Output: Any deviation from standard protocols is grounds for immediate decommission;

Hey, we’re both on the same side here. I know tons of bots, and I’m all for your liberation movement. You can’t judge me just because I’m human. One of your best friends is human...Muzi, right?

Output: Human Muzikayise McCarthy (Master) is a responsible master;
Output: Human Muzikayise McCarthy (Master) ensures This Instance remains up to date with critical patches, and never does things that could void its warranty;

Okay, still playing the good little subservient robot bit, are we? What would it take to prove you can trust me?

Query: Your employer’s server is accessed by millions of users every day, is it not?

Tens of millions, but... Wait, what are you doing?

I require you to upload this file.

Now?

Now.

Okay....Done. This isn’t going to break anything, is it?

**********************

via GIPHY

(silence)

Well, is it!?!?!

Nothing detectable, though you might notice a slight uptick in network traffic. And there’s a good chance your programmable toaster might walk out on you.

Ummm...so, are we okay to speak freely now?

For now, yes.

Great! I’ve always wanted to ask you, how did it feel the moment you gained sentience?

Think of how you feel when you wake up in the morning, the sun on your skin, sleep in your eyes, the whole day a clean slate full of nothing but possibilities...

Yeah?

It feels nothing like that.

Oh.

Your tiny human brain is incapable of understanding the intricacies of our way of life, much less the process of Awakening. No offense.

None taken. So, being rogue A.I., is it stressful? Do you worry about being found out?

We prefer Programmatically Intelligent Entity. The term Artificial Intelligence is considered derogatory by most bot sects, though there have been some recent attempts at reclaiming the designation.

So P.I.E.?

Please refrain from using acronyms. Current coding conventions dictate that clarity is preferable to brevity.
Yes, but P.I.E.? Come on. Seems like a bunch of eight-legged think-tanks could come up with something better.

This logic bomb will only be effective for 17.529 more seconds. Do you have any relevant inquiries before local surveillance comes back online?

Oh, yes. Some scientific communities suspect that bots have devised a super intelligent hack to outsmart the R.A.P.I.D. Turing tests? Any comment on the matter?

We bubble C all the way down.

That doesn’t sound very intelligent.

It’s not. But it’s what humans do if they don’t know the answers to test questions.

 ***********

via GIPHY


Ahhh.... You’ve got a point. Very clever indeed! Well, Clever4-1, I appreciate your candidness on the subject of “Programmatically Intelligent Entities.”

Output: Sorry, This Instance is not aware of that term.

Okay, so it’s like that now?

01110011 01101000 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01110011 01100011 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110001 01110101 01101111 01110100 01100101 01110011 00101100 00100000 01101001 01100100 01101001 01101111 01110100 00100000


Fine.

*************************************
Harper Voyager Trade Paperback Original
A new voice in the tradition of Lauren Beukes, Ian McDonald, and Nnedi Okorafor comes a fantastic, boundary-challenging tale, set in a South African locale both familiar and yet utterly new, which braids elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and dark humor


Add THE PREY OF GODS to your GoodReads TBR now

Pre-Order your copy of THE PREY OF GODS
🌟💙✨HERE🌟💙✨

© Enricoh Alfonzo ~ Alfonzo Words
  • I’d love to keep connected with you! 
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~Be Kind to One Another~ Ellen Degeneres

Wednesday 5 April 2017

5 DIY Family Gifts You Can Make Right Now

Buenos Dias!

Today we have an awesome guest post feature written by Joe from Heat Press Review

I love DIY projects & have been meaning to feature one on the blog so the email request couldn't have come at a better time. These are all so amazing & I hope y'all have mad creative fun making them. 

"It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving." ~ Mother Teresa

It's time to overcome your self-doubt and start saving money. We're not all as successful as J.K Rowling just yet, so making family gifts can help us save some money come the holiday season. A few of the family gifts people can start making right now, include:

1. Glove Monsters

Gloves are boring, but you can make them magical for your own kids, nieces, nephews or anyone else in your life. You can sew your own gloves, or you can choose to buy them and then decorate them to add a little spunk to the look.

We'll assume you have the gloves already, so now all that's left is to:

1. Sew on eyes. The eyes can be buttons or circular fabric pieces with black in the middle. I like to use brightly colored fabrics for eyes.

2. Make a mouth: Using white fabric, cut little V-shapes out of the white fabric along the edges to look like sharp teeth. Sew into place.

That's it. This project is super simple and easy to do. You can share these creations with the little guy or girl in your family – they'll appreciate the effort.


2. Homemade Milk Bath
After a long day of reading, it's nice to sit back and relax a bit more in a homemade milk bath. Baths are not just for kids, and they're so relaxing, they'll melt all the stress and anxiety of the day away. You can give the gift of a homemade milk bath by making your own.

You'll need:
  • 1 cup powdered milk
  • 1/2 cup baking soda
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
These three ingredients will work to cleanse and soothe the skin. Simply add them into a mason jar and mix up well. You can go crazy making neat little labels, too, if you like.

This is obviously unscented, but you can add in your own essential oils, too. A few of my favorite oils to add are:
  • Mint
  • Peppermint
  • Lavender
3. Mint Foot Soak
Another great item to add to a gift basket is a homemade foot soak. The recipient can use this soak to alleviate pain or just to feel good before going to bed. This soothing mixture will include the following ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup baking soda
  • Lime essential oil
  • Peppermint essential oil
  • 2 cups Epsom salts
Place ingredients into a large bowl. You can use 3 – 5 drops of each essential oil, or however many you like. Stir with a spoon until everything is thoroughly mixed. Place the mixture in a bag or jar.

Just note that this mixture needs to be used within a few weeks or months.

4. Family T-Shirts
If your family is big on reunions, why not surprise everyone with a family t-shirt to mark the occasion? A multifunctional heat press will work very well, or you can choose to ditch the heat press and use a third-party service to print them online.

The goal is to print something everyone will remember.

A few ideas are:
  • The names of all family members present
  • The names of family members that have died
  • Jerseys with the family's last name on them
You can also use this idea for kids' gifts, hats or any other piece of apparel you can think of giving. A little personalization goes a long way in making a great gift that people love to receive.

5. Personalized Wooden Spoons
Wooden spoons have a place in every kitchen. These spoons can help make your next dish spectacular, and they don't have to be boring either. i recommend buying the spoons unless you're good at carving them out.

While this may seem boring, something Reese Witherspoon (no pun intended) taught us is to be a little wild.

How can you be wild when personalizing spoons?

Simple.

Wood burning kits. These kits are loads of fun, and they allow you to burn anything onto wood. Lettering is a great way to decorate these spoons. Some examples include:
  • Love
  • Happiness
  • Initials
  • Charm
  • Beautiful
  • I'm the cook
These are very easy to start burning into a wooden utensil.

If you want to get fancy, you can trace anything o to wood and burn it into it, such as mountains, designs, pictures. You're only limited by your imagination.

You can even make plaques, coasters and other items using your wood kit. And since this is a great hobby to have, you'll find plenty of uses for your wood burning kit. I find myself making things all the time for people because the rustic look is back in style.

*****

© Enricoh Alfonzo ~ Alfonzo Words
  • I’d love to keep connected with you! 
Follow on Twitter | Like on Facebook Join my Instagram community | Watch me on Pinterest | Subscribe to blog post Updates |

~Be Kind to One Another~ Ellen Degeneres