Masanori Hikichi and Miyoko Kobayashi: The Way Home

Posted on July 4, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

This was written over two listens. The second had a fair bit of pausing which was unnecessary as it was nothing a third listen couldn’t have helped with.

I mostly wanted to focus on describing the song rather than getting into its imagery and I think in a way I succeeded, but perhaps not to the extent that I wanted. I’m still content with the result, however.

Masanori Hikichi (曳地 正則) and Miyoko Kobayashi’s (小林 美代子) “The Way Home” (“帰路“) is from Terranigma Creative Soundtracks (天地創造 クリエイティヴサウンドトラックス). It’s a soundtrack that covers some of the compositions used in the game known as Terranigma.

I hope you enjoy.

—

The sounds of something akin to a flute play decisively, clearly and in a spaced manner whilst something akin to strings oscillates underneath. Then suddenly a shift and the instruments rise higher, then descend. The strings suddenly rise, but only as a small flicker, then a brief pause in the music.

The sounds resume, now joined by bass moving simply and building on the melody. The flute returns and now the melody flows freely, almost on a breeze. More strings appear, further building on the melody, though their appearance is brief and they soon leave. They seem to hint at something else, but the gentleness and playfulness of the song continues.

The opening section returns but soon there’s a build on the strings, then the bass returns with some extra instrumentation. The song feels very gentle, yet firm. It’s almost gliding.

Suddenly much of the instrumentation drops away, leaving a single set of strings to continue oscillating, though now something underneath draws out and a new sound matches the strings. The strings that briefly appeared earlier now return, and the melody starts to rise.

Suddenly the music soars into its climax. A long and arduous journey finally has come to an end and now all that is must be left behind. It is bittersweet and beautiful, and moving, and aching.

Suddenly some instruments drop away and the song feels quiet and tender. The sounds create an expansive view, vast, with a long horizon. It is warm and perhaps comforting. A sense of playfulness returns, though it doesn’t last too long and soon it is just the flute and oscillating strings, quiet, riding the air as the song ends.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 968: Cockatoos

Posted on July 4, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

Cries of the cockatoos as they appear to rain more seeds from trees onto the street.

The cockatoos are far more numerous this year and that’s a good thing I think, though only if it’s not due to displacement. It’s nice to see them about, but at the same time they take over (perhaps rightfully so) some of the street and screech, then move a little from where they landed and proceed to screech some more, though maybe they don’t and that’s just my imagination filling in some imagery.

When they appear they appear in large swathes and they break small branches and then eat what they are after by going to the ground where the branches have landed and then proceeding to pick off what it is that they want. Many cockatoos on the ground, though some remain perched above.

These cockatoos seem a little more fearless than most birds. They keep an eye on passing traffic of both the foot and vehicle-related varieties, but they barely move, if at all. It’s a little worrying when driving, though it does mean you slow down a lot more. Perhaps the cockatoos are aware of how far they do and do not need to move, or perhaps they know they can just dominate everything on the street, for there is no doubt that they are indeed taking over everything.

Sure, they disappear for parts of the day and aren’t around during the night, but they know what they are doing and they know that, eventually there will be enough of them to engulf everything, which will then lead to nothing else being visible on the street. I’ll step outside of my house and it will be nothing but cockatoos eating all the things that they stripped form the trees which now also are covered in cockatoos. Maybe some other things will be visible, but otherwise nothing but cockatoos. Cockatoos all over everything and cockatoos taking over everything, creating a fine layer of cockatoos huddled up together whilst they go on about doing their cockatoo things and biting stuff.

However, I digress.

So it’s rather pleasant to hear more cockatoos in the area, even if it is an unpleasant pleasantness. It’s better than hearing traffic. It’s also better than hearing construction. I’d go as far to suggest that it’s better than hearing a lot of things out there, but that is not something that I quite feel like going into in any amount of depth beyond what it is that I have already said.

I’m wondering if there will be even more cockatoos next year. Perhaps there will, but I imagine that it depends on quite a few things. Still, for now the amount of cockatoos in the area is pleasant enough. Just need to remember to keep being careful when driving around them, but yeah.

Hopefully they don’t end up trying to take over everything on the street. Perhaps that would be a bit too much to try and deal with.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:45:21

Slow to write and kind of messy, but flows well I think.

Written at home.

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Gantry Crane

Posted on July 3, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

My understanding is that this is a gantry crane.

I saw this at Albury Station. At the time I found it to be an interesting structure (and still do). I also wondered as to what its purpose was, for whilst it looked familiar, it was not something that I recognised beyond passing familiarity.

I think the gantry crane works well in monochrome, though that might have a little to do with the clouds. I think the monochrome helps to bring out some of the shapes and angles.

I hope you enjoy.

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HOME: Resonance

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

This one was written over three listens.
“Resonance” is a song I’m familiar with but I found this easier to write than some of the other songs I’ve written about.

With this I was mostly looking to describe what was happening with the song but I delved into imagery. It was early on, but I ended up moving the imagery closer to the end as I felt it worked better there.

HOME’s “Resonance” is from Odyssey.
I hope you enjoy.

—

Synth seems to throb whilst moving about. Soon another soon comes in and builds on the melody, echoing whilst it also moves. The sounds are filling out and it’s not long before the beat comes in.

The beat stays steady, giving greater definition to the flow. The music seems open and cool, almost expansive and yet linear. The synths keep on moving forward and the groove carries easily. The song is not quite rhythmic and yet it is.

Something a little lighter, though almost like a muted twinkling comes in and the beat pulls away. It’s almost a breather, but perhaps there has been no need to pause for breath.

The beat returns, though only as the kick. The music seems to be building up to something, or at least rising. Then the beat comes back in full and the song moves through its closing.

The sounds continue to rise and reach upward and forward. It is the culmination of the warm and carefree feel of the song; Maybe it speaks of the idea of driving under a sky mostly free of clouds and along the coast, though maybe it speaks of a city at night, busy and yet still.

The sounds keep steady and muted, yet vibrant until they reach a point where they drop away and the song ends.

 

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 967: Sit Here, Dark Outside

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

So I sit here and it is dark outside and I try to get the things done, but perhaps I’ve left everything a little too late into the evening. I should have started earlier, but alas, there were things on that I needed to take care of and so now I am here and I am writing this out so that you can read that I am writing about the thing that is nothing to write about.

Yes, that is correct: there is little for me to write about at the moment.

I think I may have had something to go off of this morning, but maybe I’m just imagining that and instead I should just focus on this and see where this leads me. There is no point in lamenting a past that may not have actually happened, though maybe there is depending on the situation.

I guess that, for me to be able to something something and now I am not so sure as to where I am going with this, so I guess I should get on with that. I should find that and see where it takes me, if it does indeed take me anywhere at all.

Maybe there is no point in continuing on with the writing of this particular bit of writing, but of course I will continue as that is what I do. I will continue on with it and I will keep on going with the writing of what I am writing as that is currently what I want to do. After I finish this there will be even more writing to come. It does not end; it pauses periodically.

Now that I have clarified that I can get on with what it is that I am going on about during this particular evening. You see, despite all my implying that I have no idea as to what it is that I am currently going on about, I most certainly do know as to what it is that I am going on about. What I am going on about is my not knowing a stop what it is that I am going on about, and that truly covers the whole thing and so on and so forth. In knowing that, I can feel liberated and free to carry on as I see fit and so the subject will somehow deepen itself as I stare into the maw of its maw and wag my finger, expressing my shame at its attempts to swallow me up and lose me within itself, leaving me to feel bewildered and damned by this unfortunate series of circumstances that somehow led to me being swallowed by the subject.

That all said, maybe I will let it all rest. It is not quite late in the evening, but soon I will be required to take it easy and so taking it easy is what I’d rather do sooner, so that is indeed what I will do, but later on.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 05:17:05

Quick and messy.

I think that at one point I had something going that would’ve worked but I dropped it a little too quickly.

Written at home.

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Tree Among Tracks

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

There was another that still had its leaves nearby, but I like how this particular tree feels solitary due to the framing.
The immediate area around the tree feels rather dry and almost barren, but it’s there, still covered in leaves and still mostly green.

I hope you enjoy.

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Arching Structure

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

A photo of The Sydney Harbour Bridge where I feel as though I’ve tried to cram more of it into a frame than can fit.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Madness” for this week.
I suggest checking out Leanne’s photography, as well as checking out what other people submit.

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

I hope you enjoy.

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Mitsuto Suzuki: Shadow of Valhalla

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

This was written over two listens.

I may have heard the song before last night, but I’m not entirely certain. Regardless, I wasn’t too familiar with the song when I started writing about it; something I think was a good thing as I wasn’t overthinking what I was writing.

Once more I was trying to strike some sort of balance and I don’t think that happened until the last few sentences.

Mitsuto Suzuki’s (鈴木光人) “Shadow of Valhalla” (“ヴァルハラの影”) is from the soundtrack for Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy XIII-2 Original Soundtrack. The soundtrack was composed by Mitsuto Suzuki, Naoshi Mizuta (水田 直志) and Masashi Hamauzu (浜渦 正志).

I hope you enjoy.

—

Fade in. Perhaps wobbly, quiet, calm, unnerving slightly and cold, though also warm. Massive and distinct, yet in a sense formless.

Piano plays careful keys with a sense of fragility. More sounds appear whilst the piano twinkles around. Not quite shimmering sounds, but they do seem as though they are appearing, then disappearing as they move somewhere. The sounds shift into other places, creating something that vaguely feels both melodic and amelodic. The piano seems to counter and follow, but soon drops away.

Perhaps it is night. Perhaps this is in an oddity somewhere. Maybe things aren’t as they are perceived as they are meant to be. It is possible that all is as they are believed they are meant to be perceived, but something remains off.

Among it all is a melancholy threading itself through. The sounds remain constant and yet seem to warp, gradually flowing and spreading out whilst remaining linear.

Something new enters for a brief moment and the piano returns. It is a slow dance, steady and brief, and everything seems to wrap around itself as the song ends.

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Tarô Iwashiro: Breath of Fire IV ~ Opening Animation

Posted on June 29, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

This was written over four, though maybe five listens.
There were some pauses, though the song is quite short.

I tried to strike a balance between imagery I was getting and what was happening in the song. The imagery was the easier part for me as I’ve thought about the song and the imagery I get from it quite a fair bit. I struggled a bit with describing the instrumentation as, whilst I also have thought about that aspect of the song, I hadn’t thought much of the words I’d use for its description.

This is by far one of my favourite songs to appear in a game. It does so much to paint scenery and is rather succinct in its delivery. Just a great song overall.

Tarô Iwashiro’s  (岩代 太郎) “Breath of Fire IV ~ Opening Animation” (“Breath of Fire IV ～オープニングアニメーション～”) is from the soundtrack for Breath of Fire IV, Breath of Fire IV: Original Soundtrack. The song is Taro’s only song on the soundtrack, with the rest of it being composed by Yoshino Aoki (青木佳乃), whose compositions for the game are just as great.

I hope you enjoy.

—

A flickering of a stringed instrument, then an echo on piano responds. Underneath a calm, low synth draws out whilst percussion lightly and steadily plays on. Somewhere among it the sound of something rising in the distance is briefly heard before it dissipates.

Suddenly the song shifts to something a little more, and yet the same. Percussion is more striking and prominent, and now both vocals and bass make an appearance. The bass plays single, spaced notes and the vocals seem to rise up, almost as though the sun is soon rising over a vast grassy plain. The synth remains low, calm and flowing.

A different set of strings appear, calling forth a journey at its start. Underneath it another set of strings seem to accentuate, though only lightly. It is not long before a destination high atop a cliff is reached and from there the dawn passes and the vast plain expanse can be seen below. Wind blows through the grass and it is there that will be where the journey continues.

Something akin to electric guitar descends along with the music, as to the vocals. The sense of wonder is great, yet the song remains calm.

The initial flickering of a stringed instrument and echo on piano returns and the fuller percussion and the bass joins in. The calm synth seems greater and fuller, though perhaps it is as it initially was. The feel is much the same as it was earlier, though also different, as though something foreboding lurks at the far edges. This follows through when the melody returns to the initial vocal section; then a sudden sound – perhaps whatever it was that was rising earlier, now much closer – strikes out, along with one last bass note and one last percussive strike. The different strings and something akin to a twinkling join the synth, whilst the flickering strings play out one last time, slowing down, then leaving, as do the other sounds, leaving the calm synth flowing as the song ends.

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Road and Walls

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Stupidity Hole

Here’s a photo of part of The Hume Highway as it passes through Albury.

I think the lines on the closest side of the highway function well as leading lines to the oncoming traffic. It helps impress a sense of approaching motion, or business.

I hope you enjoy.

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