Wet Platform

Posted on March 8, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Another shot of Dulwich Hill Station in the rain.

This shot shows the non-sheltered part of the station.
Not sure why I mentioned that as it’s obvious, but there you go.

I think this shot gives a good idea of the platform’s width without overtly revealing said width.

I also think it gives a good idea of the length due to the sense of depth.

Bits of the rain came through quite nicely.

Overall this feels like a rainy day photo. It’s kind of quiet and wet, and a few “Reflections” on the platform’s surface come through, though they’re more a suggestion than the objects they’re reflecting rather than a replication.

This is also my submission into the eighty-seventh Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.

The challenge is hosted by four people and cycles weekly:

Week 1 – Patti

Week 2 – Ann-Christine aka Leya

Week 3 – Amy

Week 4 – Tina

This one is guest hosted by Miriam Hurdle of The Showers of Blessings. The next will be hosted by Leya.

I recommend giving the challenges a go and seeing how you interpret each theme. I also recommend checking out what other people are doing to meet the challenges.

I hope you enjoy.

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Mass of Masts and Wires

Posted on March 7, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

I think I could’ve made this photo a little brighter, or at least increased the contrast.

I also think this photo is a little dreary, though I do like the framing.

I think the clouds look great, and I like how the masts and wires almost feel like too much.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 631: Relaxed Morning

Posted on March 7, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Of course the window has a light cloth over it so as to dampen the effect of the light, or maybe it’s more to give some sort of aesthetic appeal to the room. I’m not really sure. What I’m sure of is that it’s there, it’s present and it probably is dampening the light a little. It is full of holes, but those holes are patterned, of course. The cloth is more like a mesh of sorts.

There are some patterns closer to the cloth’s base, but those are mostly invisible due to being obscured by furniture and other objects.

Outside the window it’s an overcast, bright-looking day. Not the worst of things, not the best of things. Just is. Hopefully it rains. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t, though I’d much rather have it rain so I don’t have to worry about watering the plants, if I am to be honest. Kind of feeling lazy.

Those clouds out there seem to be carrying a lot of light. Some of it gets through, but not quite. Most of it is definitely obscured. The clouds almost seem as though they’re glowing.

Inside it’s a nice amount of light. Kind of feels good. It’s a relaxed morning. Banana pancakes are being made. I’m sitting here, typing away. Enjoying music that is not my own and doing my best to not think about it from a critical point of view. It can be difficult as I enjoy thinking about things in an analytical way, though I wish I was better at doing so. Still, it’s just a nice, pleasant morning overall.

What won’t be pleasant is the dishes. I’ll have to wrestle with those sooner or later. More glasses and mugs than anything else. Not fun stuff, let me tell you.

The COFFEE is finished. Not going for another one. Two will be too many at this juncture in time. Not tired enough to warrant the attempt. Too tired to not be lazy. That’s my excuse, at least.

I’m relaxing and it’s nice. Today will hopefully be a good day. Not sure yet. Might be on the pain train, as they say. Still, that is (hopefully) unlikely. Hopefully what is likely is the doing of the things. There will be the taking of the photos and there will be a multitude of other things that will hopefully be fun.

When I say multitude, there actually isn’t that much that’s happening, but I want to be dramatic. It doesn’t matter though. What matters is that the day is lived. What matters is that I’m relaxing right now. What matters is the banana pancakes and the pushing against all the things that are stressful and adding more pressure than I think is necessary. This morning is a relaxed one and I’m taking it easy, though still trying to remain busy and lazy at the same time.

Maybe I’ll do a bit of reading shortly. Maybe I’ll just look at this cloth. Not entirely sure right now.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:43:14

I think this might be a bit too small in a sense.

A relaxed bit of writing that I guess functioned more as an exercise than something worth writing, but it’s here now, so… yeah.

Written at home.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 630: Don’t Stop

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

It’s not long before the starting begins, so I need tor ace on ahead and try and see something on the distance. Where is my focus when I need it? It’s not here. Ahead is hard to see. I have to keep on pushing on. There’s so much to do and so little time in which to do it, and all the work just keeps on piling on. I need to be careful so as to not lose myself within all of it. If I do, then it’s going to be pretty difficult to surface. Just need to keep on pushing on, as they say.

Well, I do. There’s a thick sandstorm around me. The granules of sand seem to whip and claw at my being, but I keep on pushing onward. I need to keep on going. Maybe I’ll need to crawl. Really not sure at the moment. For now, I can stand, so I keep on walking ahead. Shield my eyes. Keep on pushing forward.

It gets thicker, but I don’t stop. I don’t slow down. I just keep on going. Need to do so. Need to get to whatever it is. Need to find a way before the starting begins. The starting is inevitable, but there is preparation that can be done so as to prevent it from being a surprise and turn it all into a non-event. That’s the whole idea, after all; turn the whole thing into a non-event and keep on going as though there was nothing to be worried about in the first place. Can I do it? Can I prevent the smothering? I don’t know.

Just keep on going, no matter how it hurts. Keep on pushing on. Need to keep on driving into the heart of the matter and pierce through to the other side so that I can say that the resolve is there. The resolve to keep on going is there and it’s okay to be weak. It’s okay to slow down once in a while but you have to keep on pushing through the storm, no matter how impossible and insurmountable it might seem. There is always a way out. There is always a solution and maybe it might take a while, but it’s there and it can be found and I can reach it, but I need to push on forward. Even if crawling, I need to keep on pushing forward so I can find that which I am seeking.

The sand thickens and moves past faster and more furiously. Still, I will not be halted. I will keep on going and do my best to reach that which I seek. I will do my best to keep on pushing on.

Despite how much the storm wants to rage, I can see an exit. I can see something that is revealing itself to me and it’s almost within my reach. There’s not much longer before the start, but the exit and leap into preparation is much closer.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:41:96

Kind of a reality fiction wrapped in a merely okay metaphor.

I think my personal life is seeping in a little too much.

Oh well.

Written at work.

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BATS: Truthless Faithless Review

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Once more, a review from the Cool Try days of my reviewing “career”.

I think this one is much more fully formed than some of the others I’ve been sharing. To be fair to some of the other works, this came out in November of 2017. I’d been writing for Cool Try for close to two-and-a-half years at that point, so if there hadn’t been improvement, then there would be problems. Maybe.

That said, I think I only did an okay job of covering Truthless Faithless. I think I did a good job of getting part of what I wanted to get across across, but at the same time I could’ve fleshed out some parts a lot more and probably talked about some other things of the album.

Oh well.

I didn’t do any cleaning up for ease of reading, so this one is as it was.

Now for the part where I plug other stuff:

Most of my review and interview work now appears on Culture Eater.
My colleague and I set up a Patreon to further develop Culture Eater as a source of good quality arts coverage from both ourselves and our contributors.

We’re looking at what we can give to supporters as we don’t want to set up a one way relationship, so suggestions are welcome. Podcast Eater is one of the things we’ve got going. We’ve recently switch to weekly releases and soon will be giving the patrons a bit more.

Please consider supporting, or at least sharing the Patreon page with others. Please also check out what our wonderful contributors are contributing.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

—

Truthless Faithless is the first album from BATS, so here’s a review.

Well, it’s predominantly a rock album, seemingly designed to capture a live sound. There’s a lot of energy and, despite the last two songs engaging in the dramatic and (almost) theatrical, there’s a good deal of groove to most of the songs that helps them roll along smoothly. the songs are pretty tight. There’s some minor “psychedelic” flourishes found throughout the songs that add enough to each song without being dominant and the vocals are usually shouted which works.

A lot of the album hits hard and loud whilst sounding like a band finding out a bit about how to work their own sound whilst still being strongly guided by their influences. This isn’t a bad thing as parts that sound like they could have come from other artists are melded pretty well and it doesn’t sound as though these moments were a conscious act. Furthermore, there is something a little different running throughout the album that does make the songs here BATS’ own.

In regards to the closing tracks, “Bad Handshake”, the penultimate one goes for a more theatrical sound than the rest of the album and gradually builds up to a nice climax, whilst “Faithless” is an acoustic track that goes for a more dramatic sound and feels more like a postscript to the rest of the album. These two songs work well, but they feel very much at odds with the rest of the album.

Sans “24 Hours” and parts of “Alexus Nexus” which still fit well with the album, the last two tracks seemingly come out of nowhere. There’s a thread of seriousness throughout the album both in the sound and the lyrics, but most of it is anchored by a lot of the album sounding really fun and lively. Suddenly there’s two songs that come in that switch to something so much more serious and, especially in the case of “Faithless”, much less lively in sound, throwing the balance right out which is a shame as they’re both decent songs and work well as closing songs.

Vocally the album is strong. Mostly shouted, or at least sounding as though they are shouted, the vocals match the energy of each song very well. Sometimes there’s harmonies that work really well to accentuate some of the lyrics and sometimes the vocals soften a fair bit, but the vocals always match the songs, sounding as part of the songs rather than apart from them.

It is clear that effort went into recording Truthless Faithless and in ways that effort pays off. For the most part it has a nice, lively rock sound and is quite fun. There are some parts that don’t quite work, but the album is a strong debut. Here’s hoping that BATS continue to develop their sound.

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Ibes on an Incline

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

This shot was taken early last year. I’m not sure why I didn’t share it then.

I think it might be due to it feeling a little too saturated to me.

That said, I do like the way the ibes are positioned as it’s almost in a line.

I also like how they don’t take up much space and yet still draw in attention.

I hope you enjoy.

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CBA Rant and another thing

Posted on March 5, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

This one might get a bit more personal than I had hoped, but currently I feel the need to write about what’s on my mind. I might feel as though I should’ve written about something else if I ever look back at this, but I don’t live in the future. Future me will have to deal with that if it ever comes up.

Over the last two days I’ve received three calls from The Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Like many others out there I have debts that I’m paying off, and just like a bunch of those many, I’m currently behind rather than ahead. It’s the first time since sometime around 2011 that I’ve been behind.

At the moment I’m not getting enough hours at work to be able to survive as comfortably as I’d like, but I can survive. Of course that means other things have to go out the window, but that’s fine. Now that I’m not studying I’m looking for work elsewhere. Getting another job is taking longer than I hoped, but I have to keep on trudging along.

Problem with all of this is that there wasn’t enough money to pay stuff off last month; hence the having arrears.

I’m trying to stay positive about the whole thing, but right now I’m pretty scared as there’s no certainty of work continuing at the moment and whilst I can survive, admittedly I’m struggling. If hours at work don’t reduce further or I get another job, then I’ll be able to catch up on my debts and overall should be okay. Might have to be careful with food consumption, but overall I should be fine. I grew up mostly poor and kind of flirted with doing well for a while before dipping back down, so I think I can ride this out, but I digress.

Yesterday were the first two calls. I missed the first one by not looking at my phone. The second one I received at work. Realised what the missed call was about. Went through the ID process, then asked in a rather blunt and somewhat-forceful tone “When are you going to pay the arrears?” This isn’t how the question was asked verbatim, but it is close.

This was two days after the due date. This wasn’t weeks or months down the track.
I know that financial institutions have processes they need to follow, but that doesn’t mean I agree with those processes. I’m fairly sure that the numerous, repeated written reminders CBA put in front of me (and continue to do so) when I access my account via an online connection are more than enough to get the point across.

I reacted angrily as, well, I feel there are better ways to ask something instead of in a manner that implies the person asking feels as though they’re speaking to someone who can’t be responsible. I gave them my situation, told them I’ll catch up as soon as I can and that I didn’t want a call back or to speak to hardship. End of story.

Come this morning and I received another call from CBA advising that I’m in arrears and asking when I’ll catch up.  think. It’s possible that they didn’t get to the question as I… well, I didn’t lose it but I was angry.

Supposedly CBA’s system will automatically dial people if there’s no “pay by” date lodged. I gave them two months and told them to stop calling me. I told them it was borderline harassment (which now I’m not so sure about) and that it was making an already stressful situation even more so.

I understand that this was someone just doing their job. I said that to them and that I wasn’t angry at them, which I wasn’t. This guy was a fair bit friendlier than the one the day prior. I don’t feel good about him copping the brunt of my frustration.

Ultimately this is a really minor thing and I feel silly for writing this out right now. I’m thinking about this as I write it and wondering if I really should share it or not.

Yes, I’m aware that my debts are my responsibility. However, I don’t think that CBA have a good process here. A couple of days that contain a number of written reminders (on another side note, I don’t know how it is for others but they remind me to pay my debts before the due date quite often regardless of if I’ve already paid them or not) should be more than necessary. It shouldn’t be a couple of days followed by three calls. The automated system shouldn’t be so eager to jump on people. If the system requires a date put in that will stop it from calling, then a customer service rep should let a customer know.

Now, with that out of the way here’s a bit that I’ve talked about before that I’m going to mention again.

I have prints (and other forms) of some of my photography available for purchase. Additionally, Culture Eater has a Patreon. There’s links on the right-hand side of this page for these, so I don’t know why I’m including them linked here.

Anyway, any purchases / support helps and personally I’d rather have something to offer than make it a one-way transaction.

If there’s something I’ve shared here that’s not available as a print and you’d like to purchase it, then please let me know and I will make it available.

Most importantly though, if you don’t want to support, please let me know why. If you’re going to like this post and then “walk away”, then please at least share it or let others know. Don’t just like and move on, and please don’t ignore what I’m asking. I don’t feel as though asking people to share this with others is a big ask.

End rant.

 

 

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Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes: Blossom Review

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

This was my twelfth review for Cool Try.

This was written in 2015 but it is only now that I’ve found out that Blossom isn’t a “solo” album. I’m mentioning this as I imply it is with the opening sentence despite strongly implying the album was the work of a collective near the and of the review.

I think that with this review I was getting a bit closer to what I wanted to at the time which was something a bit more in depth and explanatory about why parts of what I was reviewing did and didn’t work, though there were parts that needed to be fleshed out.

There also needed to be editing for consistency.

I can still remember a part of a song on the album and it intrigues me enough to want to listen to it again. Maybe it’s held up.

I’ve fixed up some of the review’s sentence spacing it reads a bit better, but otherwise it is as it was.

Now for the part where I plug other stuff:

Most of my review and interview work now appears on Culture Eater.
My colleague and I set up a Patreon to further develop Culture Eater as a source of good quality arts coverage from both ourselves and our contributors.

We’re looking at what we can give to supporters as we don’t want to set up a one way relationship, so suggestions are welcome. Podcast Eater is one of the things we’ve got going. At the moment it comes out fortnightly, though we are looking to go weekly. Please consider supporting, or at least sharing the Patreon page with others.

Please also check out what our wonderful contributors are contributing.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

—

Despite being around for a while, Frank Carter is now striking out with an album of his own.

From the heavy opener “Juggernaut”, it is immediately clear that this is not going to be a light listen. Much of the music is highly abrasive in nature, sounding like it was designed to cut with precision and finesse, whilst Frank’s screaming (and occasional singing) about various subjects (death, pain, and hatred are some of the subjects covered) is highly incisive.

Some songs seem to go longer than they should have (“Paradise” probably could have been split into two songs and not suffered), but for the most part, a lot of the songs are in and out quickly. This is good as had the songs been too long, they would have lost much of their impact due to how intense the music is.

“A Beautiful Death” is a real highlight here. As the song moves through its sections, Frank sounds more and more pained, as though he is breaking down from the weight of grief.
Everything comes together excellently here: The band sound just as downbeat as Frank who puts in an incredibly strong performance. Lines such as “And I’m sorry I can’t tell you / That I love you anymore / Or that I care about you more now / Than I ever did before” work well here as they’re screamed at near-incomprehensible levels, accentuating the pain he is trying to get across.

Conversely, “Rotten Blossom”, with it’s philosophical waxing about dying doesn’t quite work. Whilst the delivery that Frank employs is usually on point throughout the rest of the album, the lyrics don’t let it work as well. “Are we food for the worms or dust for the earth ? / Are we more complicated than we are at birth?” sounds good, but the vocals are too strong and the music is too uptempo. It ends up giving the song a cheesier feel than it should have.

The closer, “I Hate You”, with more of a blues/ rock sound, doesn’t seem to fit well here; at least not as the last song. At this point the album had ended nicely with “Primary Explosive”, a highly hard-hitting stomper. “I Hate You” comes in after it and almost immediately has Frank describing how much hatred he has for someone. As that’s all he does on this song, it can leave the listener wondering why Frank hates this person so much. The song isn’t bad; it just would have worked better if it didn’t close the album.

Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes have put a solid amount of effort and utilised their experience well to make Blossom. The result is an album that, despite some missteps, works quite well.

As someone who is unfamiliar to anything the musicians here have made in the past, it leaves me looking forward to hearing what they make in the future.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 629: An Evening Ramble

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

Well, it’s the evening and it’s the first time I’ve written in the evening since the last time I did, which I believe was a while ago now. Probably doesn’t matter, but maybe it does. Maybe the writing in the evening versus writing in the morning is a different approach and a different perspective. It is darker outside, but maybe that has nothing to do with it at all. I’m really not sure. It probably doesn’t matter. I’m writing and that’s what matters right now.

Though now that I think about it what really matters is how tired I am, which just so happens to be quite. I need a bit more rest, but that’s not going to happen for a few more hours as I need to do a few things before the going to the location known as “bed”. Maybe it won’t be a few more hours. Maybe instead I’ll just go to bed after writing this.

It’s been a long day and they just seem to be getting longer. I thought that things were meant to get shorter the older you got, but it seems that hours are stretching themselves out more and more and I am powerless to do anything about it. Maybe I am not. I don’t know.

It’s kind of nice though as it feels like I’m getting more out of the time that I have and it’s good to make the most of what time you have when you can, as it is not always possible.

It’s almost as nice as not having an evening warmer than the morning. Maybe some people find that nice. I don’t know. I do know I don’t particularly enjoy it, though I must admit that sometimes it can be beneficial. Depends on a whole bunch of things, I suppose.

Well, this is going nowhere fast. It just seems like more ramblings and rambling on is something that I kind of want to avoid at the moment as it doesn’t seem to focused on anything, but then again I have to let myself ramble a bit as that’s the only way to get to the heart of things sometimes, though you do need to make sure that you’re leaning inwards when you’re rambling if you want to get to the centre, but you don’t want to lean too much; just enough so that you kind of slowly but smoothly make your way in and don’t skip anything on the way.

There may be better approaches, but right now this is the approach I think works best. However, instead of talking about that I want to talk about the evening and all that it offers. I don’t quite think I have the time to do that, however, so I guess that will be something that has to wait for another time.

Can it wait? Can I wait? I really don’t know. However, the only way that I can find out is by moving through time at a steady pace.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:37:14

I think I prefer writing in the morning as I’m less fatigued and more easily able to put words forward.

However, now that I think back, I’ve written some things I’ve felt are more interesting whilst in the evening, under the pressure of being somewhere around the last ten minutes of work and needing to finish off before leaving so I can get the train to home, or maybe cycle.

Not sure if I cycled home from St. Leonards after doing one of these challenges just before finishing work in the evening when I was working in St. Leonards.

On a side note, it’s been around five years since I started doing these.

Written at home.

 

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Scotch Row

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Stupidity Hole

It’s raining a lot right now, so in celebration of the rain falling from the sky to grace us with its presence, here’s another shot from my walking around Sydney CBD during a storm a few weeks ago.

I think this photo turned out well.

The image seems to be quite sharp in a few places which might be helped between the contrast between shades.

I like that the light runs so clearly from top to bottom as it draws attention really well, I think.

The rain creating a slight reflection is nice, and overall I think the image is composed quite well.

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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