These New Puritans: Six

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

This was one that came out easy but as I was listening I had concerns about struggling. I think the issue there was that I felt I should have been writing something more than just about what was happening in the song.

Overall this covers the song fine enough. It doesn’t reveal everything which I think is good. Just could’ve been better overall had I said something beyond a base level.

These New Puritans’ “Six” is from Inside The Rose.

I hope you enjoy.

—

A bright sound, maybe some sort of organ shines on over something lower. They rise as a voice stretches into existence, but doesn’t quite make it. Another voice comes in, seemingly locked to piano keys. Those keys step up and down and all is gentle. All is grand and quiet and small.

The keys disappear and the voice that was attached comes through with a greater sense of smoothness. It is here. It is detached and it flows through the melody. It disappears. That other voice had changed its approach earlier and now it has more focus, and there’s now a sense of ease. A sense of peace and calm, and then it’s just the organ stretching out as it had been, carrying a blissfulness that seems tempered with melancholy, and the voice that remained comes back for a moment, and both fade out as the song ends.

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Harvesting Grevillea

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

This is the same set of bees and Grevillea as seen in this photo.
If I remember correctly, this and the linked one were the two that turned out the best, hence why I processed them. I think this one could probably be a bit busier. Seems a bit empty, but sometimes that’s the best I get. I still like the photo, but I think I should’ve taken a few more than I did. Maybe have a bit more motion going on.

This is my submission into the two hundred-and-fifty-second Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “What’s Bugging You?“.

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

Week 1 – Tina

Week 2 – Patti

Week 3 – Ann-Christine aka Leya

Week 4 – Amy

Week 5 – John Steiner

Week 6 – Sofia Alves

Week 7 – Anne Sandler

Week 8 – Donna

Week 9 – Guest host

Donna is curating this one. For the next one Brian of Bushboys World is guest-curating.

The challenges are fun to engage with. The themes are specific enough to keep some focus whilst loose enough to allow room for interpretation. I recommend participating as it’s a fun community to be engaged with and it’s a good way to focus on subject. If you don’t participate, you should still check out what others of the Lens-Artists community are submitting.

I hope you enjoy.

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These New Puritans: A-R-P

Posted on June 3, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

One listen for this one.

I feel as though there was a duality to the song and I think that came through in what I wrote. I was mostly aiming to just capture a sense of what was happening and I think I did well there. A bit rough in places but overall I think this gives a decent idea of the song.

I think if I listened more than once I could’ve fleshed out details about the vocals and some other things. Didn’t want to go for a second listen, however.

These New Puritans’ “A-R-P” is from Inside The Rose.

I hope you enjoy.

—

A synth arpeggiating in a silence and soon it is built on by another. A beat strikes out with a thick harshness. Disappears. Then strikes again. A slight melodic flow hidden within. Keys play and strings draw out from the keys. They draw long and the arpeggiating continues, as does the beat. The keys and strings shift note, shift back, shift again, shift back.

The beat disappears and a new note comes in. Vocals rise up and over, and seem to float on through it all. The beat returns for a moment and the vocals continue to move on through this full emptiness. All continues moving on and the vocals seem disconnected in a way. “I see You” as they seem to stretch before a new motion in sound begins.

Delicate are the notes here as the melody becomes more apparent, but the sounds are more gentle. Less rushed in a sense. Fragile. Delicate. Still as they move through the lens of the passing of time. Something seems to rush and it’s a return to the main melody.

All seems to rush again whilst the vocals go slow, but there is more of a stillness. There is a pensiveness, or at least a sense of pensiveness. The beat returns, but in a differing form. There’s still a strike but there’s a flickering, a fluttering. Distance and closeness and the space remains, and the vocals start to echo out, moving away, and on the last notes – on the last “I See You” sounding as emotionally withdrawn as it does heavily emotional the beat continues on, as do the strings, striking out steady and drawing long until they stop and the song ends.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1263: Racing About

Posted on June 3, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Racing about, trying to get things done before work commences. Still a lot to do but there is also very little. Just churning and burning, as they say.

So much to pack, so little time, don’t want to fry, just keep going and pushing on and trying to not have some sort of emotional breakdown due to being overwhelmed, or something. Just getting through it all and continuing on. Preparing to move to a new place. Not completely certain of where, but it’s happening and it’s happening soon.

Kicking up a lot of dust but that was bound to happen. Need to do more dusting. Never do, but need to do it. Need to keep things a bit cleaner. Need to get on with life.

So I’m sitting here and I’m crapping all of this out, not because I want to (though I guess I do), but rather because I’m trying to cram as much as I can into the next thirty minutes. Maybe a little more than thirty. I’ll find out soon enough. Trying to do the cram and maybe, just maybe I’m successful for once. Should’ve started earlier. Didn’t, but I should have, but that is a missed opportunity and so I just need to keep on going.

Why am I writing any of this? It’s pointless. There is no substance to what I am crapping out here. There is no reason for me to be writing this. I’m offering nothing other than my own ego. That is a bit of a shame really, but that’s life at this point, but I could be saying something more. I could be talking about how some people look down upon others under the guise of religion. Is that worthwhile though? Some might say yes. Some might say no. Ultimately it doesn’t matter, but it would probably matter more than someone talking about moving in some messy manner.

I think tat at the end of all of this I’m just gonna keep on cramming. Need to keep moving and get on with things. Need to keep doing the things that I’m doing. Need to get on with living and hope that I get to the end of the day in one piece. Probably will, but sometimes you never know. Maybe you’ll get to the end of the day in two pieces. Then what? Do you smash both parts of yourself against each other and wait for them to congeal into one whole?

Sometimes I think about what people who are no longer with us would be doing at this point in time. I wonder if they would be moving to, or if they’d have settled down. I can’t know for sure; I can only guess. I keep moving through time but they were forced to leave the train a while ago, and that was their exit and it’s hard. It’s hard to not be riding the train without them, and it sucks, but things keep going and I keep on packing.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:14:91

Bit of a mish mash. Some heavy stuff in here which may not have been best to include. Not sure.

Written at home.

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Hazmat Trujilo

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

I’m not a fan of Metallica. I’ve tried to get into them a few times but, outside of a few songs they’ve not done it for me. Occasionally I’ll check out what they’re doing though. To an extent they’re culturally important so I think it’s good to be informed where I can, and I might eventually be swayed into being a fan.

Recently they released a music video for “Too Far Gone?”. I think its concept is interesting but there isn’t much of anything done with it which is a shame. Anyway, whilst I was watching it, or at least skimming through I paused it at a point which I’m pretty sure is meant to be Rob Trujilo rocking out, or at least a representation of him rocking out.

I found the shot humorous so I decided to draw it in MS Paint, leading to the below which was done earlier today. Not the best I could’ve done, but I’m happy with the result.

I hope you enjoy.

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Takuya Kuroda: TKBK

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

One listen for this one.

I didn’t know what I was going to do going into this which led to just describing the song. I think it worked though. There were some parts where I started falling behind but due to how the song flows I was able to catch up so I wasn’t too rushed. That said, I think the writing is a bit flat.

Takuya Kuroda’s “TKBK” is from Fly Moon Die Soon.

I hope you enjoy.

—

The sounds of a station and people talk over a steady beat. It all fades away, then the beat comes back in whilst a bass sound smoothly slides along. Brass enters with a sort of soft joy. It takes a breather so more synth can come in, then returns and the sounds are layered in a way, doing their own thing that builds on the melody in a cohesive way.

The beat takes a shift, almost cruising whilst the other sounds dance around. The details of scenery come through as the sounds grow busier, but nothing is fully revealed.

Suddenly it’s just percussion and brass. The brass plays long and short and as it does that bass sound returns, peering at the edges. More brass comes in to build on the rhythm whilst the main continues its motion and movement in quick and slow and quick.

Then it’s just percussion and synth building a familiar, yet new melody and rhythm. Bass sound returns to the edges once more. Vocals come in as does brass. Here the vocals take centre stage, calm, revealing things but in quiet, yet prominent tones. The brass is at the edges and then it all returns to that cruising moment.

The sounds are free but focused, keeping things sleek and sharp. They go on until the opening beat returns. Voices come in, the beat echoes out, someone says something about going and the song ends.

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Trail of Blood

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

This was started and finished today.

I wanted to make the first MS Paint work I did be that idea and so through a combination of procrastination against other things I kept putting off starting. Eventually the first one of my “return” ended up being RSI which I think may have worked out better as I then wanted to make sure I got this one done soon instead of putting it off for another few months.

What also helped get this done is wanting to see if I could start and finish an MS Paint drawing quickly as the previous two took a few hours. This was around an hour; I think most of the time was spent trying to get the angle of the puddle making sense in terms of perspective. Didn’t quite get there but it’s much better than the first one I drew.

There’s probably a lot of meaning that can be pulled from this. I will say that this is a bit sillier than it may seem, but don’t let that get in the way of what you get.

I hope you enjoy.

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Palm Sunrise

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Very roughly two weeks ago a friend of mine took a photo during sunrise. He was awake early, decided to take the photo. I found it pretty pleasant and so I decided to try and replicate it in MS Paint.

The below took around four hours to complete. I think it could’ve taken a bit less time had I used the laptop stylus rather than the mouse. Then again, I may have ended up spending far too much time making many small adjustments and I didn’t want a repeat of Shifting Mouldscape.

The other time-consuming part was trying to get a colour gradient that worked. My initial attempt involved trying to set colour based on picking from the photo and I feel it wasn’t something that worked. I then tried to work with yellow which produced a smoother gradient but also a harsh image. The final attempt was with orange which didn’t produce the smoothest result, but it ended up easier on the eyes.

This was started and finished today.

I hope you enjoy.

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Anemone hupehensis var. japonica

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

From what I can see this plant is also known as Japanese anemone and Japanese thimbleweed. I don’t know which common name is more correct, but I know that I decided to take a photo of this plant when I saw it a good few weeks ago whilst doing some behind the scenes photography.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week. Participating is pretty straightforward and something I recommend. 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.

A lot of what people are submitting will likely end up here.

I hope you enjoy.

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Shifting Mouldscape

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

This was started and finished today.
I sat down thinking I’d work on this for only two hours.
Ended up being around four-and-a-half as there was a lot of cleaning up of the shapes.

This is based on a photo I took of some of the mould caused by water damage where I live. I was trying to get a photo of the mould that would work as album art. What I took would work if everything was in focus so I might retake those photos again.

This was in part an attempt to work with viewing angle and it kind of worked. I think if I’d clearly marked them out it would be better, but at the same time I feel like that would be insulting to anyone viewing.

The title comes from an idea of the mould moving toward a point where it would then start rising. I imagine the movement would be similar to the way cloud shadows moves.

I hope you enjoy.

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