Welcome to June!

Welcome to June on Mother Nature! As the weather is set to get warmer and humid this month given the lovely weather we’ve had recently, it’s safe to say the hot Summer weather is officially here!

As I prepare to finish my final year at Croydon College considering all of my Facial Expressionism Final Major Project coursework is due on Monday, it’s safe to say that it’s almost the end of the road. College has gone like a blip and it’s unreal to think this time three years ago I was finishing my last year at Oasis Academy: Shirley Park, and now I’m in my final year at college finishing my last few weeks of what will be the last time I spend studying ay Croydon College. Croydon College has given me the chance to realise my potential and has helped me so much and I will never forget this college for the rest of my life and I’ll always be able to know that my family and friends have stuck by me when I needed support, even now considering I still need support.

As today marks the start of Pride month, the Mother Nature logo will be showing the rainbow colours of the LGBTQ flag to celebrate equality and diversity for all those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer. I want for all of you who are of any sexuality to feel included and to know that Mother Nature isn’t just about Mother Nature, but that this website is welcome to all and everyone can view this website and be included, free from hate and inequality, knowing that everyone matters, regardless of sexuality, background, culture, religion, skin colour and ethnicity. Equality & Diversity is what this world needs.

Also, the article image colour scheme is orange because on the 30th June, the marsupial and legendary bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot, is back on the 30th June in Crash Bandicoot: N⋅Sane Trilogy, which comprises of all three of the Naughty Dog Classics, which are Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back & Crash Bandicoot: Warped, all remastered by Activision. I’m placing the trilogy on pre-order and I cannot wait to get my hands on the trilogy and re-live my childhood because Crash Bandicoot is back where he truly belongs. I cannot wait to review the trilogy so expect a review soon after the Crash Bandicoot: N⋅Sane Trilogy is released.

I wanted to mention to all of you that once I’ve handed all of my coursework in on Monday and once I’ve done my last Maths exam on Thursday next week, I will be able to publish more frequently to this website. This year has been full of hard work but it’s been absolutely worth it working hard as I’ve been able to produce more work and come up with new ideas for this website.

Until then, welcome to June!

Alex Smithson

Pray for Orlando

Out of respect and remembrance in light of the recent events of the 50 victims who lost their lives as a result of the deadly massacre, there will be absolutely no publishing of any articles for tomorrow and Wednesday as I want to pay my full respects to all the victims and all the families who are grieving at this time. Mother Nature will resume operation on Thursday 16th June.

Please show your support by placing the Pray for Orlando badge I’ve created today on your blog/website.

Pray for Orlando Support Badge

With love, full respects, tributes and condolences,

Alex Smithson x

Monthly Roundup: May 2015

As May rounds off on a good note, I will take a look back on the articles I have published on Mother Nature over the course of this month.

1.5.2015 – I welcomed you all back to Mother Nature for a month that would begin on a relaxing and delightful note. As we have been getting a lot of good weather recently, which is a first in a while, the Whitsun holiday was just around the corner, despite the fact there was a bit of a chilly breeze, which I was fine with. I also announced that there would be a 6th Case Study included in my third book: “My Journey Through a Lens”, given the fact that this book had just recently crossed over the 300-page target mark.

Also on this day, I published an article that focuses on the YouTube Vlogger, Alfie Deyes. As I share my love for YouTube, I wanted to dedicate this article to Alfie Deyes who, over the past few years, has taken to YouTube to upload videos to his YouTube channels, one of which is a gaming channel, while the other two are based around his life, as well as a lot of the funniest things that he has done with his girlfriend, Zoe Sugg (a.k.a. Zoella), and their little pug, Nala, who is so cute.

7.5.2015 – On the 15th April, I took a trip up to the Victoria & Albert Museum (a.k.a. the V&A), as I went with my class to take some photos that I could use to stick into my A3 Sketchbook for my UAL Level 2 Art & Design Course, and because of the fact I took those photos, this gave me the chance to showcase my photos here, and as well as that, I had thought that this trip was a lot more interesting than the previous one, given the fact that this museum had a lot of interesting works, artefacts, and not only that, some, if not, a lot of model designs that focused on certain building elements, such as the Model of the Crystal Palace.

17.5.2015 – This day was an absolute honour for me to talk about the YouTuber, Joey Graceffa. On this day, I published a special music feature article about this YouTuber, as Joey released his music video: “Don’t Wait” to the world on the 16th May, which had instantly blown me away, given the fact that it had so much sentimental value, and also a lot of meaning to it. Just days before Joey Graceffa released his debut memoir: “In Real Life: My Journey to a Pixelated World“, he officially came out as gay to the world. After a few years of speculation from a lot of his fans, he officially announced he was gay before the release of his book. As I support him and everyone else entirely that are gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender, I wrote this:

I support the LGBT Community entirely because for those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, I believe in equality, LGBT equality and gender equality entirely, no matter what sexuality the person is. I respect all of those who have come out and expressed their sexualities to the world, because everyone in this world deserves to be treated equally, no matter what sexuality they are, and everyone should be respected for who they are and also be treated with the full respect that they deserve. – Alex Smithson

Joey Graceffa’s music video: “Don’t Wait” is available now to watch on YouTube, and if you want to buy the song, it is now available for purchase via the iTunes Store, Google Play, and any other major music outlets that offer the song for purchase. If you want to watch the music video, please make sure to head to the “Related Articles” section below to view the article, or, if you want to get to the video a lot quicker, it can be found on the sidebar under “YouTube Music Favourites“.

31.5.2015 – As it was almost a year since I left school for good, I wanted to take a look back on yesteryear, given that my nostalgia for yesteryear has been really strong. I chose the colours, Purple & Green, as they are how I sense nostalgia, as those two colours combined symbolise my own nostalgic views with reality.

Until then, thanks so much to all of you for a fantastic month, and I’ll see you all in June!!!

Alex Smithson

Related articles

• The Victoria & Albert Museum | Tuesday 14th April 2015 | Croydon College
• Don’t Wait / Joey Graceffa / Special Music Feature

Don’t Wait / Joey Graceffa / Special Music Feature

It is an absolute honour to talk about Joey Graceffa’s new record, Don’t Wait.

Since Joey Graceffa released this record earlier this week, I was instantly hooked on it after I gave his record its first listen yesterday, and my god, it is absolutely fantastic.

Joey Graceffa uploaded the “Don’t Wait” Official Music Video to YouTube last night, and I was blown away, it’s that good, as it document’s some of his life struggles, with a friend of his being by his side to this day.

You may be wondering why I’ve used a wide range of colours on the image’s text. This is because I have made sure to celebrate Joey Graceffa for who he is, and for what he does. It has been revealed by Joey Graceffa himself that he has officially come out as gay, in the debut release of his first ever book: “In Real Life: My Journey to a Pixelated World“, which comes out and hits store shelves on Tuesday. I am absolutely proud of Joey Graceffa, because it takes a lot of guts for someone like him to come out and reveal their sexuality to the world, and I am absolutely proud of him for the fact he has chosen to reveal his sexuality in his own, and official style.

I support the LGBT Community entirely because for those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, I believe in equality, LGBT equality and gender equality entirely, no matter what sexuality the person is. I respect all of those who have come out and expressed their sexualities to the world, because everyone in this world deserves to be treated equally, no matter what sexuality they are, and everyone should be respected for who they are and also be treated with the full respect that they deserve.

After watching the music video, I was blown away, it’s fantastic, it has a lot of personal, yet interesting values to it, and Joey has managed to create this video in a way where everyone can watch it, and also find out more about not just his personal life, but some of the bad and good parts of his life as well. This music video has a kind of video-game effect behind it, because some of the clothing that Joey Graceffa wore in this music video has a similar, yet realistic approach to the video-game character, Link, from Nintendo’s Gaming Series: “The Legend of Zelda“.

After being hooked on this song, I took to the iTunes Store to purchase Joey Graceffa’s “Don’t Wait” Single. The single’s artwork can be found in its full, High-Definition glory below.

© Don’t Wait – Single – Official Artwork – Joey Graceffa 2015

In its full glory, here is the Music Video of Joey Graceffa’s latest record: “Don’t Wait”, which is now available to watch below in Full HD.

I recommend that you go and buy Joey Graceffa’s single: “Don’t Wait” on iTunes, Google Play and any other music services that are selling this record now. It has a lot of sentimental value to it, and it is the type of record that you’ll want to keep on listening to. This record by Joey Graceffa has a personal, sentimental and bold value to it, and it is something that will most definitely tug at your heart-strings. You’ll love it instantly on its first listen. Go on, you know you want to buy it.

Alex Smithson

© Joey Graceffa 2015

Note: Homophobic and sexual comments will not be allowed, and if any homophobic and sexual comments are made, they will be deleted.

The Glasgow 2014 XX Commonwealth Games | Day 9 – Highlights

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first blog post for August!!! Today has been such a perfect start for all of us, as we are still in front, placing first place on the medal table with an overall medal count of 140 medals (48 Gold, 49 Silver and 43 Bronze). Australia also face a lot of stiff competition and pressure as they are now placed second on the medal table, with an overall medal count of 124 medals (40 Gold, 40 Silver and 44 Bronze).

The excitement and pressure has been on for so many Commonwealth countries today, as many more medals have been won by those that have taken part in this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. With just 2 days to go, the pressure is on for the final amount of medals to be won, and the excitement will quickly increase as the time goes by. In honesty, the time has just flown so fast, I actually cannot believe we’re almost at the end of the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. It’s actually gone so quick.

Here, I will now quickly summarise today’s highlights, following on from the events that have just finished.

• In Athletics, Lynsey Sharp wins the 800m Silver for Scotland, while Usain Bolt leads Jamaica into the 4x100m final (400m). Australia’s Sally Pearson wins Gold in the Hurdles event, while England‘s Steven Lewis wins Gold in the Pole Vault event.
• In Diving, Tom Daley and James Denny win the 10m Silver, while Laugher/Mears win the 3m Gold.
• In the Bowls event, Scotland won Gold medals in the Men’s singles and fours.
• In the Hockey event, England’s women beat New Zealand in the shoot-outs to reach the Hockey finals.
• In Gymnastics, England’s Claudia Fragapane wins her fourth Gold, while Nile Wilson and Daniel Purvis also win.

Below are the updated medal table results, with England in first place, and Australia in second place.

Nations	Gold Medal Count	Silver Medal Count	Bronze Medal Count	Total Medal Count
England	48	49	43	140
Australia	40	40	44	124
Canada	30	14	31	75
India	13	23	15	51
Scotland	17	14	18	49
New Zealand	13	11	15	39
Republic of South Africa	12	10	16	38
Wales	4	10	20	34
Nigeria	7	6	14	27
Kenya	7	8	4	19
Jamaica	7	4	7	18
Malaysia	4	6	5	15
Singapore	6	2	4	12
Cyprus	2	4	2	8
Northern Ireland	0	1	7	8
Cameroon	1	3	3	7
Uganda	1	0	4	5
Trinidad & Tobago	0	2	3	5
Pakistan	0	2	1	3
Samoa	0	2	1	3
Papua New Guinea	2	0	0	2
Grenada	1	0	1	2
Bahamas	0	1	1	2
Mozambique	0	1	1	2
Ghana	0	0	2	2
Namibia	0	0	2	2
Zambia	0	0	2	2
Botswana	1	0	0	1
Kiribati	1	0	0	1
Bangladesh	0	1	0	1
Isle of Man	0	1	0	1
Nauru	0	1	0	1
Sri Lanka	0	1	0	1
Barbados	0	0	1	1
Fiji	0	0	1	1
Saint Lucia	0	0	1	1
Mauritius	0	0	1	1

Before I conclude this blog post for the night, I would like to say that with the events that finished today, the excitement and joy of today has been absolutely wonderful, everyone was over the moon with the end result, and with England placing first on the medal table, I couldn’t ask for a better start. Australia and many other various countries have done so well since the start of the Glasgow 2014 XX Commonwealth Games, and as we journey into the last 2 days of the final events before the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, this has truly been the best Commonwealth Games for all of us. What a perfect start to August!!!!!!!!

Thank you for reading this blog post, and make sure to leave a comment below based on what you thought of today’s events :-).

Alex Smithson

Related articles

• The Glasgow 2014 XX Commonwealth Games | Day 8 – Highlights
• The Glasgow 2014 XX Commonwealth Games | Day 7 – Highlights
• The Glasgow 2014 XX Commonwealth Games | Day 4 – Highlights
• The Glasgow 2014 XX Commonwealth Games | Day 6 – Highlights
• Fourth glasgow gold for fragapane
• Claudia Fragapane amazed by Commonwealth Games success
• Canadian gymnasts Morgan, Black add more gold to Commonwealth Games haul
• More success for home nations in gymnastics and track
• Fragapane picks up gold No.3
• Canadian gymnast Scott Morgan wins gold, silver at Commonwealth Games