Mass Above the Land

Posted on January 26, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

A view from a place with a view.

I went a bit heavy on this one and I’m not sure I can justify it, but I like the result. It brings out the clouds pretty well, I think. It also makes this kind of sort of feel like a painting. Maybe.

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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Eduard Artemyev: Stalker – Theme

Posted on January 26, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Two listens for this one.
With the first I only listened so as to get a better feel for the song. I’ve heard it before but I wanted to go in with a slight bit more familiarity as my first listen was only recent. At least that is why I think I did the first listen.

Did it pay off? No idea.

I think the writing here is a bit stilted. I captured something but I don’t think I did a great job overall.

Eduard Artemyev’s (Эдуард Артемьев) “Stalker – Theme” is part of the soundtrack for Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (Сталкер). It appears as though the soundtrack (or at least part of it) has been featured as part of compilations more than on its own, such as on Solaris, The Mirror, Stalker, a release combining pieces from the three films that form the compilation’s title.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Notes ring out as though flickering in a breeze among an open landscape. Soon woodwind comes in and moves through the notes which soon start moving with the woodwind. They move together through a quiet openness and they move with a steady space.

Something underscores the sound and rises up but never to complete prominence and soon a chiming sound joins the flow and it’s almost as though everything is coming alive. That underscoring returns and follows along, as does something reminiscent of vocals.

Once more sound pulls away and returns, and the journey takes on a new shape. It seems to pause for some sort of reflection and acceptance and holds until it is time to resume.

Full again in an open and vast space of quiet and perhaps of solitude, the sounds are together but they feel lonely and mysterious, but they keep on going as they fade out and the song ends.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1213: Time to Apply Myself

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Another day of hiding from the sun; another day of hoping that it will get cooler sooner rather than alter but I know that hoping and doing are two different things and I know that I cannot control the sun.

I sweat in this room and I race ahead and try to get some things done before I head off but I’m just sitting here and sweating and not doing much of much else.

A lot of a little hard work but still gonna drive on to where I must drive to in order to get the most drive out of whatever it is that I’m trying to get done.

I think that that captures something but I don’t know what it captures, but anyway.

My fingers are tiring already but I am working through this as I need to work through this. If eel so sluggish but it’s a sluggishness I’ve created. Too much lazing about and not enough powering on through things to get to where I need to get.

I don’t like doing that whole “New year, new me” thing but I feel it’s important to try and be a bit more productive where I can and last year lacked a lot of productivity, I think. Some stuff done, not enough and you get the idea. Now is the time for me to really apply myself as not doing so lets me stay here but here is not where I want to stay.

I think that in saying this I have to admit that I have been productive, but I haven’t been productive in the way that I want to be productive, if that makes sense. The wheels have been turning but the vehicle is currently held off the ground. I’m going nowhere and I’m not growing and that’s a thing I should start pushing away from. You get the idea.

Right now I think my fingers hurt but I’m just racing forward and I’m trying to race out of this pointless cycle I’ve become comfortable with and I’m sure I’ll get there but I need to keep on pushing on to get there. I need to break down a lot of things and start taking a hard examination at what I am and am not doing. I need to tear it all down and maybe I need to start again.

Doing that will probably hurt a lot but it feels like it is a necessary step to take. It feels like at this point I’ve become stuck in a rut, admitted that I’ve been stuck and then chosen to stay there and that is not the way to go about things. That doesn’t help me and it doesn’t help anyone around me, so maybe now is the time to put the above into play. It’s a new year but it’s the same me but I’m just gonna chug on and start working toward something better.

Easy to say, but will need to actually make it happen.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:39:40

Sometimes I feel these would be better if I could think of better titles. Of course that has no bearing on the text, but it likely has a bearing on perception.

Written at home.

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Junya Nakano: Phantoms

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

One listen for this one.

I started this yesterday evening but I wasn’t satisfied with what was coming forward. I think I may have been too tired last night and so writing was a struggle. This came a lot easier than what I tried last night but I’m also more tired. Maybe I wasn’t tired enough.

I think this works. I think on another day I may have written something much stronger, but overall I think this works.

Junya Nakano’s (仲野順也) “Phantoms” (幻想”) is from Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack, the soundtrack for Final Fantasy X. The soundtrack was composed by Nakano, Masashi Hamauzu (浜渦 正志) and Nobuo Uematsu (植松 伸夫).

I hope you enjoy.

—

Chiming sound in a quiet space soon finds itself joined by additional gentle sounds. They move in and the space expands and takes shape. Mystery and wonder comes forward and it is as though all is moving at a steady pace.

Soon the sounds take a little shift and more percussion comes in. Something weaves its way around the scene and the flow. It moves with a sense of stillness and soon it stops. Once more that early expansion returns and it keeps things feeling cool and easy.

Once more that additional percussion returns and the sounds move along in a unified form. They move elegantly, and float in the air, though soon much pulls away.

There is less now and a focus on a different motion comes forward. Something draws out and slowly things seem to wind down. They seem to become quieter, growing softer, letting that sense of mystery remain a mystery until all return to that initial expansion, and once more the sounds are releveling themselves. Once more they are spreading outward, but soon all fades out as the song ends.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1212: The Afternoon Drag

Posted on January 23, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

And so another afternoon draws to its rough middle point and once more I am sitting here, treating a keyboard horribly in the hopes that I can write really quickly. I do this in a great deal of pain but I push on through as I can still move my fingers pretty well, so I’ve got to get something done before the end of the day and the start of obligation.

I think I’ll get there, though naturally it’ll be pretty rough.

So anyway I bang away on the keyboard and push through the being in pain and I wonder as to how long it would take to get to where I need but I don’t know where that is and in not knowing that I think I’m a little lost. Maybe confused. Bewildered.

I look around and all I see is what is familiar but it holds no memory and it holds nothing and all I do is try to push through the pain to find some sort of meaning within these objects but all they are are objects that form shapes and imagery with no meaning or sense.

What kind of reality am I seeing?

I see what I see but I drift away as all things are just objects and some have a use and purpose but most are purposeless and exist only in relation to desire. Convenience is a great resource and something that can be relied upon but all it offers is more time to get distracted and procrastinate. There is littler here on offer that justifies itself other than fill time with nothing to do and little time to do it and all there are are shades and tones and stacks of things that don’t see use enough to justify their inclusion in this space. They are clutter and they consume space that could be better used for clutter that also consumes space but in a much more aesthetically pleasing manner, and that’s the real shame of it all.

Some of this stuff has practical design and so it does not look the smoothest, but it would be better if it looked more appealing, even if that came at the cost of longevity. It would be better for this stuff to exist in a manner that provides some sort of attraction in an eye-catching manner but it does not.

It would be better if the stuff raised more questions than it could answer and if it did no one would question it and maybe in that manner it would hold some sort of value but right now it doesn’t and so in not holding any value it is worthless refuse that sits in a room and I slowly float away from it all and into a void that I tore open and so…

Yeah, so anyway I’m in a lot of pain right now but I’ll survive. I’ll probably float around for a bit longer but I’ll survive and keep on resting for today.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:24:55

Bit of a tangent here. I think that I was either trying to express some sort of meaningfulness among meaninglessness or just express meaninglessness. No idea.

Written at home.

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Coastal Flying at Sunset

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

I’ve been meaning to share this photo but haven’t found the right time to share it, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself right now as the real answer is that I haven’t gotten around to sharing the photo until now.

Anyway, here’s a photo of a silver gull at sunset in the area known as La Perouse. It’s a lucky shot; the scenery is nice enough but I think the gull makes it better somehow.

I hope you enjoy.

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Sakanatsuri: Into the Shade

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

One listen for this one.

I sort of let go, sort of thought about things. Some bits of this were easier to write than others but I think overall it works. As with a lot of things it’s highly impressionistic but I think it says a lot about the song.

Sakanatsuri’s “Into the Shade” is from Sadness Defines Your Happiness.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Quiet, quiet though growing louder. Into focus, into the present, shining , bright, endless. Cool and calm, carrying weight. There is relief but there is heaviness. Vague and specific move around each other but do not circle; they continue on, stretch and compress and remain as static as they do constantly changing.

Fragility unfolds though all is perceived as not being so and thought turns inward and grows out from there. It is a patch of respite under an overbearing sun and the ground appears cracked in places, but it also is lush and full of vegetation and this space is alive and vibrant and it changes as rapidly as it never does. It offers what it offers and in a moment all holds still and it lasts.

It offers relief and it offers joy, and it lightens the load, even if only for a held moment, and it continues on as it fades out, leaving one remaining sound to play out at the song’s end.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1211: Almost got There

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

So one of my colleagues thinks that I cannot write all these words in under five minutes. My colleague is not aware of the length of time I’ve been doing this challenge of my own creation and so therefore he is going to be in a world of minor impressiveness, or something.

So anyway I think I can get it done and I’ve got nothing to go on and that’s my own problem, really, but I think I can get it done so long as I stick to the plan. That plan is to bang out as many words as possible in a small amount of time and I will get there so long as I keep my focus on the prize. The prize is the ending of this bit of writing and the opening of the door into the next world of writing, wherever that may lie.

So I think I can get there but in truth I have no idea. It is a lot of work and I need to go a lot faster than I already am, but perhaps if I try hard enough I will get there. So long as I try I can get there.

Already I am struggling to generate thoughts in a manner that gets me away from this little loop that I constantly ride, but I think if I can get off the loop then I will find myself on a road that leads to somewhere. There will be distance but I’ll walk away from the road as I’d rather go through the thicket. It is far less productive and far more destructive and I’ll get lost and then I’ll need to try and find my way back but I won’t be able to.

After going through the thicket for a little bit I’ll realise as to how foolish an idea that was. Then I’ll end up falling into a hole and in that hole will be a grand lake. I’ll be confused as it will throw off the perception of space, but there will be fish. I will have a rather cordial conversation with the fish and as I’m having that conversation there may or may not be a storm outside.

I’ll then realise and I’ll tell the fish that I have to go home. The fish, not understanding the human language, will approve of this decision and will bid me adieu. From there I’ll need to morph my legs into something better designed for going up a wall that has a lot of water and no traction and I’ll go up and then turn my legs back to normal and then after all of this I’ll just go back to the road.

The storm will have passed and that will be a good thing as I’d rather walk home in the dry and not in the wrt. Sometimes walking through the rain is fun, but in this particular instance it will not be, so yeah.

Anyway, that’s that little adventure.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 05:01:00

My colleague was still impressed.
However, I’m quite certain plenty of people could’ve done this in a much shorter time.

Written at home.

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Spencer Nilsen: Heart of the Giant

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

Two listens for this one.

I feel like I didn’t get much done here, though I was mainly trying to describe the song as it happened and I think I did alright there.

Spencer Nilsen’s “Heart of the Giant” is from “Ecco: Songs Of Time“, an album compiling re-recorded songs from the first two Ecco the Dolphin games.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Murmurings of a deep as gradually sound throbs into prominence. Mystery becomes apparent as woodwind moves among the sounds that are already there. It seems graceful in its motion and it draws long whilst the throbbing continues.

Soon the rhythm is scattered and many sounds are cast outward and a space is there, but they cannot be held away for long and soon the throbbing returns. Rhythm reveals itself and it continues onward with a sense of closeness, keeping space external to the procession.

Once more the sounds are cast outward and now the space is more internal due to the change in the closeness of sounds. Perhaps it is a pause for a moment of calm, or a slower descent than before. The scattering is familiar, but it seems different to the previous time.

Soon the sounds come close again and the throbbing continues onward as it fades out and the song ends.

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Water Falls From the Path

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Stupidity Hole

A photo focused on part of this feature.

The droplets hang in the air and create some sort of noise whilst also expressing motion which is something I like.

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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