Damaged Crown

Over the weekend I went for a drive early in the morning, in part to photograph the sunrise at this location. I ended up driving through a storm in the dark, and it was still raining when I got here. Still took photos, such as the one below.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week, and the theme is “Travel“. “Monochrome Madness” is a weekly community challenge involving sharing monochromatic photos. It’s open to anyone to participate, and I recommend doing so. If you do, then include the tag “monochrome-madness” in your post. If not participating, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography as well as what other people submit.

I hope you enjoy.

 

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1352: What?

What am I doing right now? What am I writing about? Where am I going? These are all questions.

These are not just questions; they are questions I just asked, and now I have to wonder: What purpose do they serve?

They serve to make one think and in thinking one might ruminate about what they mean. What do they mean? Do they mean? Maybe the median. I don’t know; I’m not a mathemagician.

So I sit here and I think. I think about what the questions might offer and I think about what a time it is to be alive. I think about what it is that I am doing and how it is that I still am. I think about not thinking at all, and if that is a thing that can happen, or if we are all doomed to think and just forget that we think sometimes.

Sometimes I wonder about writing things and, even though I try not to be superstitious, how much those things could tempt fate, if they can at all, and then I delete them. I do not publish them for I do not want to put myself into a position where I’ve put something forward that risks catching the eyes of the universe and putting me into a position that is a cruel trickery, so I try not to. Probably tempt fate far more often than I do, really, but I imagine most do and they’re not even aware, or something.

Where am I going? What am I doing right now? What am I writing about? These are things to think about and they have answers, and sure, I could just answer them, but the answers are obvious and I don’t want to be too annoying. I’d rather think about them. I’d rather think about them and perhaps move on after some time. Issue is that I’ve already answered them and are ready to move on. Perhaps now is not the time to be trying to think about these questions. Maybe later. Maybe when I’m a little better rested. I don’t know.

What I do know is that as I sit here and listen to music I’m writing this out and then I need to get up, get ready and head out so I can pick up my partner from work, but I’ll allow myself a little bit of time to walk. A slight indulgence, and maybe I’ll think about other things during that walk. Maybe I’ll think about how I’m trying to deal with issues that plague my life at the current time; maybe I’ll think about the built environment, and how much of it we can dismantle before it is too much.

I think most people would resist most restoration of an idea of the natural, but it is something that needs to be done.

Right now I’m thinking about these questions, but I don’t think I am. I think I’m just telling myself I am rather than actually thinking.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:34:37

This is some pretty surface level stuff, but it’s the fun kind of surface level to write.

Written at home.

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Behind the Fence

I don’t think this is a good photo, but I really like how the blurring of the fence sort of “melds” with the colour of the sky at one point. I also like the shift from dull to vivid.

I hope you enjoy.

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Bathurst Dawn

A photo of Bathurst… at dawn.
Still waking up, though parts may have been awake for a while, and all under a massive sky.

This is my submission into the two hundred-and-ninety-first Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Cityscapes“.

The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:

Tina

Patti

Ann-Christine aka Leya

John Steiner

Sofia Alves

Anne Sandler

Donna

Egídio

Ritva

Patti is curating this one. Next week Tina is curating.

I recommend participating in the challenges as they provide a fun way to interpret theme. If not participating, then at least you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.

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Flora Framing

If I remember correctly, I took this photo with the intention of framing the view using the trees, and I think I succeeded. I like the sense of context as well as the way the trees frame the view, but there’s something a bit hokey about this.

I hope you enjoy.

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Masashi Hamauzu: The Soulsong

One listen with a few pauses, as I started thinking about the amount of sections between some of the parts. Threw me off a bit Should’ve kept going, but I didn’t.

I feel like this song alludes to some of the ones from Final Fantasy XIII. I’m not completely certain, but I feel it does. If so, it’s a nice thematic callback in the sense that the past is being recontextualised for something newer without being entirely obvious; at least, in terms of sound, that is.

Masashi Hamauzu’s (浜渦 正志)) “The Soulsong” (“忘却(レテ)の禊”) is from the soundtrack for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack. The soundtrack is comprised of compositions from Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta (水田 直志) and  Mitsuto Suzuki (鈴木光人).

A droning, firmly of this world, but seemingly pouring out from another. Low, menacing. Something seems to rumble before a bell is struck right at the moment a chorus heralds some sort of terror, or perhaps heavy foreboding.

It comes and goes, and just before each return the rumble beforehand grows in prominence. It’s not long before the drone shifts and the chorus grows quieter, or at least grows from quiet to almost loud. Languidly harp, or at least what seems like harp plays along and through everything, and the atmosphere keeps pressing down and enclosing.

Over time the chorus falls into a murk, and it seems the droning is weakening, and eventually… silence for some brief seconds. From there strings rise on up and seem to reach into memory, though it is vague. They rise and pause, then start descending in parts whilst rising in others, growing faint and fragile, as though fine threads.

Another, more brief pause before the chorus returns and all is grandiose and perhaps haunting, and revealing, and expansive, and most is swept away by a percussive shimmer, leaving lower sounds and spaced percussion to press on forward for another few seconds until the song ends.

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Mitsuto Suzuki: The Angel’s Tears

One listen for this one.

I had a few restarts so I decided I’d pause at parts to try and capture my thoughts better. I don’t think it was the best way to go about doing this, but it’s what I did and I think the writing is kind of better for it. Kind of. I got a lot more out than I normally would and I think that, in this particular case, it gets a much better idea of the song across.

Mitsuto Suzuki’s (鈴木光人) “The Angel’s Tears” (“天使の涙”) is from the soundtrack for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack. The soundtrack is comprised of compositions from Masashi Hamauzu (浜渦 正志), Naoshi Mizuta (水田 直志) and  Mitsuto Suzuki.

I hope you enjoy.

Sadness wafts in, and from a thin line woodwind rises. As it does it seems to offer some sort of counter from the dramatic and into whimsy. It seems like it will take over, then a scattering of keys sweeps everything away and descends into silence, and some sort of unease.

Keys continue on and take the lead, pressing parts and letting that sadness come further in, but with an oddness. Soon it’s back to woodwind leading, however, and it seems that moment repeats what just came before. Then it all compresses and sounds compressed in a way that comes across as referencing memory, perhaps, but it seems chopped. It “flows” but there are cuts and it does not flow.

The key scattering returns, seemingly adding some sort of tension or distortion, twisting and warping. When they fade out percussive ringing with some sort of ambient sound seem to caress, but everything feels off. Everything feels twisted, and this isn’t as gentle as perhaps it should seem, and it continues on into a low hum that quickly fades.

Once more a repeat with woodwind, and it seems more comforting this time, but before anything is solidified the sounds fade out and the song ends.

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Sunset Line

As seen from Bathurst.
Bit of a minimal photo. Low on detail which makes things more distinct. Maybe.
Quite atmospheric – I think – and feels like witnessing a disappearance.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. “Monochrome Madness” is a weekly community challenge involving sharing monochromatic photos. It’s open to anyone to participate, and I recommend doing so. If you do, then include the tag “monochrome-madness” in your post. If not participating, then at the least check out Leanne’s photography as well as what other people submit.

I hope you enjoy.

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Masashi Hamauzu: The Cradle Will Fall

One listen.

I don’t think what I wrote is anything particularly interesting, but I do think that for once pressure helped out quite a lot. Had to rush out shortly after this but I was feeling relaxed about the whole thing.

I think that perhaps I focused too much on describing the song and not pulling out imagery, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. I think you’d get a good idea of the song if you read this whilst listening.

As a side note, this reminds me of Ryota Kozuka’s (小塚良太) “Empyrean” (“至高天”), though seeing as this came first, I should probably be thinking the other way around.

Masashi Hamauzu’s (浜渦 正志) “Setting You Free” (“終焉の揺籃”) is from Final Fantasy XIII‘s soundtrack, Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack.

I hope you enjoy.

Distorted, twisted sound phases into view. Somewhere from behind something that sounds akin to voice rises up and comes forward before more shifts and warping lead to a brightly dulled sound engulfing everything. It sets a platform, or a view and it’s not long before a beat appears and pulses with a thud.

Strings draw long in lines, fading in and almost out, seemingly casting majesty, and that voice bubbling is there, but also not quite.

An oddness; a sense of things being not as they seem, and then more sound comes in. Mainly percussive, echoing out and those voices seem to come forward, or at least further into visibility without coming too far into the front.

This seems so otherworldly, but before it can continue the sounds drop away and reveal something seemingly more familiar that rapidly expands, engulfs, overwhelms and grows louder and louder before dissipating, leaving that vaguely familiar sound to draw out on a precise moment. It reaches that moment, then suddenly stops and the song ends.

 

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Sunlight Spreading

When I took this I just wanted to see if I could get a nice vertical view of the scenery, and I think I did okay. There’s a sense of transition here that I like and I think it works well with this particular framing.

I hope you enjoy.

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