Cooking

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

There’s a reason as to why there’s little light in this shot.

I won’t say why. However, I will say that the setup is what motivated me to take the shot.

I like the way the light falls in this image as it makes the idea of cooking (at least, within the scene) feel rather moody and dramatic.

It also removes just enough detail from the image to allow the mind to fill in the space.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s photo challenge for this week.

The theme for this one is “Your best photo of 2019”.

Not sure if this is my best, or one of my better ones. However, I think it turned out pretty well.

I suggest checking out Leanne’s photography, as well as checking out what other people submit into the challenge.

You can find the challenges here.

I hope you enjoy.

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Inflatable Deer

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

Here is an inflatable deer.

You get a flow of air into it and it inflates.

I was trying to get an angle that would make the deer look menacing. I don’t think I succeeded, but I do think I made it look pretty big.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s photo challenge for last week.

The theme for this one is “Christmas Red”.

I suggest checking out Leanne’s photography, as well as checking out what other people submit into the challenge.

You can find the challenges here.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 612: Abyss of the Monitor

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

Staring into the abyss of the monitor and it always seemed as though the letters and numbers would spill forth and engulf everything within that very small cubicle. Seemed, but never happened, much to the disappointment of the person occupying that cubicle between the hours required to appear to have completed anything.

It was difficult to see just as to what was being completed, or if the work contributed to anything at all, but when the position was open, they had to jump on it, lest they be out of work for a period far longer than they knew. That had been a while ago and now they had realised that whilst there was very little to do, they still had to appear as though they were busy so as to keep the work and keep the money coming in.

Even then, they were scrutinised for not doing enough – although this was only on the odd occasion – whilst also never being either offered enough, nor given enough when they asked. It wasn’t as though there was work that their employers were refusing to provide; it’s that there wasn’t enough work to go around.

Of course, that was not something that they were complaining about. It afforded them more than enough time to do things that would better their lives outside of the office. If angled carefully, it also allowed them to appear as though they were busy doing their job. However, the more time they were afforded and the more they were able to work on stuff they weren’t paid for, the more they couldn’t shake the feeling that their role and the whole business was providing meaningless, unfulfilling work.

Any day now the monitor would burst open and a whole lot of things would fly on forth. Any day now the papers would fly around and some sort of unexpected event, or series of events would create confusion and panic in the office, and they would revel in it due to a desire for the repetition to be thrown off by something the office would not be able to cope with, for that is what they desired.

However, desire as they might, that would never come and thus they would have to keep on working on trying to appear as though they were working without alerting suspicion. The occasional scrutinising of their work was just as meaningless as the work they were doing. It kind of felt a bit like a reset button. Perhaps it too was a desire to appear as though someone was doing their job by making sure that discipline and order was maintained.

Ultimately it didn’t matter. Everyone there seemed to need to appear to be doing their work, and many of them were good at doing so. However, one person was better than everyone else part of the time, and worse than everyone else part of the time.

And so they stared into their monitor, hoping for something to change, hopeless as that was.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 08:00:46

I think it was possible to fit more into this. It feels like it shouldn’t have ended where it did.

Could have been better.

Written at work.

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Atop a Power Line

Posted on December 25, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

Well, here’s a shot of the sun as seen among a large amount of smoke.

The sun looks rather intense against the dull sky, I think.

Also kind of ominous.

I hope you enjoy.

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Ride: This is not a Safe Place Review

Posted on December 25, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

This took a lot longer to write than I was hoping.

A lot of the review came together through sporadic bursts around two months to one month ago. University and work took more priority than I would have liked and so this (and a bunch of others) had to be put on hold. Other than that over the past few days I struggled with writing a conclusion. I ended up re-working the last two paragraphs which allowed me to add a sentence which I feel works as a closer.

I’m somewhat-satisfied with how this turned out. I feel as though there was too much time spent on writing it, as well as trying to work out what to write. It’s not as comprehensive as I would like, but I feel as though the review gets across what I was trying to say.

Most of my review and interview work is now 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. One of the things we’ve set up is a podcast with each episode coming out fortnightly to every three weeks. 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.

—

Ride are back again.
I found out about their reunion 2015.
I was going into King Kong honten in Osaka and saw a poster promoting them touring. Not sure if the poster was for a tour in Japan.

That has nothing to do with this review, but I felt a need for an opening paragraph. From here on commences the review of This is not a Safe Place, (currently) the newest album from those stalwarts known as Ride.

Probably the best way to describe This is Not a Safe Place is as a rockier album than some from Ride’s past. The shoegaze is still there but the songs are often more direct than on prior releases.

A lot of this comes from Ride sounding as though they were looking to see what they could co-opt whilst still sounding like themselves; The result is that there’s a bit of variance throughout the album without too much branching away from a central style.

“R.I.D.E” is a bombastic introduction that’s full of bravado and energy. Following from there is “Future Love” which is more redolent of Ride’s earlier work without pushing hard on the shoegaze elements.

“Repetition” leans more toward pop, as does “Shadows Behind The Sun” and “Clouds of Saint Marie”. “Eternal Recurrence” embraces a relaxed approach to shoegaze, whereas “Fifteen Minutes” and “Dial Up” (mostly) sound more like stripped down shoegaze. “Kill Switch” and “End Game” adopt a ‘darker’, harder sound than the other songs.

The remaining two, “Jump Jet” and “In This Room”, sort of straddle a line between a few of the other tracks. “Jump Jet” has a harder sound whilst also being more pop-like; “In This Room” embraces the shoegaze elements a bit more whilst alternating between being grand and soft.

This leads to the album’s sound and energy being fairly variable, though more often than not the flow remains smooth. It makes sense for “Future Love” to come after “R.I.D.E” just as much as it does for “Fifteen Minutes” to follow “Eternal Recurrence”. From “Dial Up” to “In This Room” the flow falters slightly. The album goes from being soft and gentle to moody and dramatic, then back to gentle (albeit less soft), then back to dramatic. It would be easy to suggest a slight rearranging, but it’s difficult to imply that that would be an improvement. It’s the same for suggesting removing a track. The flow would be a bit more gentle, but it wouldn’t necessarily make the album better.

However, at the end of the day this is a small blemish on an overall decent album. With This is not a Safe Place, Ride don’t sound like they were looking to play it safe, as it were. Instead they sound free and unburdened by their early history. Their ‘legacy’ probably matters to them somewhat, but it’s not something they’re looking to exhume; rather they’re more willing to explore and recontextualise familiar sounds in direct forms.

Ride took to the songs with a great deal of confidence; not one moment feels uncertain of itself. The music sounds precise without sounding technical; the songs mostly ditch fat whilst focusing on sound, leading a fairly lean and punchy collection. Some moments are weaker than others, but This is not a Safe Place is a satisfying, genuine-sounding album.

This is not a Safe Place is available here.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 611: Amount of Time

Posted on December 24, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

And so there was a thing and that thing led to another thing and all of this swirled within and of its insides into itself, and then there was another thing that was caused by an event which is really just a reaction to an action which led to some consequences, though some were good, as not all consequences lead to bad things, although some do and that is something to bear in mind as you never always know how things are going to turn out so you need to make sure that if you are indeed going to do something that carries some form of risk, that you understand what the risks are so you can try and mitigate luck as much as possible and hopefully make sure that you come out at the other end as intact as possible, lest you don’t prepare at all and end up in a situation that you most likely did not want to end up in as then you may have difficulty getting out of it and thus you’re in a bad position and forced to live through said position for an indeterminate amount of time unless you can somehow predict the future, in which case you’d know just how long the whole ordeal will be, but as most of us cannot see the future you’d have to work through the situation and thus be forced to experience time at a rate of one minute of time per minute of time which means the only way out is through waiting and, assuming that it is able to create an impact on the factor of getting through the thing, hard work in order to better your situation and yourself as just because you’re in a situation that is less than desirable, doesn’t mean you can’t improve yourself and work toward being a better person as that is something that can always be done, except for when it cannot be done, in which case you cannot work on yourself, but when you can work on yourself you should work on yourself to some extent as whilst that is something that should not necessarily rule your life, it is still something important as we are all on a journey through life and we all need to make sure we are doing what we can to be better people to both ourselves and the environment around us so as to make sure that things are as optimal as they can be rather than sub-optimal, as anything less than acceptable is not acceptable and generally leads to a lot of suffering and pain and general malaise which is something that, whilst cannot be completely avoided, is best mitigated where possible as if we have no need to cause pain and suffering for others and other things, then why should we go ahead and do such a thing when we can just avoid doing so and working toward creating a better environment for everything that exists out there?

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:32:47

Five-hundred words can certainly appear pretty compact.

This one is another of those pointlessly continuous sentences.
It doesn’t say much, but it sure was fun to write.

Written at work.

 

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Drummer Within the Light

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

So this was taken early last month. I think it is Freedom of Fear’s drummer.

I really, really like the framing of the light beam, and how it makes the drummer come off slightly… well, mysterious is probably the best way I can put it right now.

I’ve included the monochrome image as I feel this one works a bit better when compared to itself.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s photo challenge for last week.

The theme for this one is “Christmas Green”.

Whilst not taken around Christmas, there is green in the photo, so I feel it counts.

I suggest checking out Leanne’s photography, as well as checking out what other people submit into the challenge.

You can find the challenges here.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 610: The Horse Left

Posted on December 21, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

There was a short stir before the horse left of its own accord and headed off to only horses know where, for there were horse things that needed to be done and there were dresses that only horses knew that needed to be addressed.

Over the logs and along the path it set for itself the horse went. Its speed was faster than a trot, yet slower than a gallop. There was haste and there was precision, but there was no urgency. This was the horse approach.

Well, only in this instance it was. In other instances there would probably be faster movement, but on this particular day at this particular time, there was a need for something a little faster than slow, but also a little slower than fast. The horse knew as to how fast it should move and in which direction it should go. It also knew that it did not need to hurry; instead a steady, determined yet jovial pace was maintained.

Around objects, around trees, over gaps, avoiding pits, the horse moved forward steadily. It seemed almost as though it was dancing around what it needed to and of course it moved with a grace that only horses knew.

Its mane not flowing with the movement, for there was no need to give the idea of untapped power and beauty. There was no need to show off. There was only a need to keep on moving for the foreseeable future.

And of course that is how the horse moved; in an ongoing, unrelenting manner. There was more than just one reason, of course. Horse things did indeed need to be addressed, but leaving the original location was also something that needed to happen, for it was no longer a place in which horses could remain.

Well, it was, but at that point in time this particular horse knew that it had to leave and go elsewhere. If it had remained where it was, then there would have been events that it surely wanted to avoid and so off it went. It was fortunate that there were other things out there that needed to be addressed, and this was just the horse for addressing those horsey things.

There was nothing that could stop its movement, for the horse knew how to go through the most dense of forests and the most wide of ravines. There was no object too great a challenge that it could not surmount, for even though it moved at what one might describe as not being a most full pace, its actions belied its power, as this was one being that was far more powerful than one might think. This was an organism that could hide its strength with no difficulty. It was not a requirement to show power, and it was better to not always do so. The importance of obfuscation was not lost on this great creature.

Of all the horses, this horse was truly the most horse of horses.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:17:19

Not sure as to how this came to be. I think I wanted to write about a horse.

Written at work.

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Trim

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

A shot taken just after leaving The Sydney Harbour Bridge.

I saw the bottle of milk sitting on the wall and tried to get a good shot.

It clashes harshly with the rest of the image, but I’m happy with that.

The deposit coming out of the hole could be lime. Not sure. I like how it looks sick.

This is my submission into the seventy-sixth Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.

The theme for this one is “On Display“.

I don’t feel nostalgia for the city, but some might; hence the sharing of this photo.

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 hosted by Amy. The next will be hosted by Patti.

I recommend checking out the challenge to see how people interpret each theme.
I also recommend giving it a go.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 609: Placed Their Eyes

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

Once upon a time, in a land far and away from here by a great measure of distance, there was an object of great desire and all who placed their eyes upon it would find themselves blind, for removing one’s eyes from one’s sockets was generally considered a bad idea. Still is, to be honest.

Of course they could have just kept their eyes in their skulls, but this too would lead to future sight-related problems, or at least an increased chance of such a thing occurring. It generally was not a good idea to place one’s eyes on anything really. Maybe some things on one’s eyes, such as contact lenses, but the other way was more often not a good thing to do as it really caused some issues and you’d have to deal with them sooner or later.

Of course, if you were one of the lucky ones to not have to worry about such a thing, then, well, good for you. Congratulations. You gambled with your health and somehow managed to win. However, those kinds of people were few and far between.

Most people did not put their eyes on stuff as they knew better, but there were some who took things a little too far and instead did the thing better not done. They would take their eyes out of their sockets, place them on the object, then curse everything around them rather than accept responsibility for their follies, thus only increasing their misery but at the same time giving them a band-aid that that could appreciate despite the fact that they were trying to cover what was essentially a wound far too large to be covered by a band-aid. The only way that they would truly be able to feel better is to let it hurt and accept the consequences of their actions instead of trying to pin the blame on others. Only then would they be able to get on with their lives and find a new way to get on and the best that they could potentially be in any given situation.

But be that as it may and despite all attempts and providing of knowledge in order to avert the foolish act, people would still continue to do so. They would continue to remove their eyes and place them on the object. There was no reason; no explanation for the act  that could be found as to why people would continue on doing this. The object had no particular allure. It nothing that could be considered enticing and at the end of the day, had no legend attached to it. It was just an ordinary object with nothing else other than some ability to draw people into doing stupid things around it.

So even though there were attempts to stop the stupidity around said object, there was no way to prevent people and so a large case was placed around the object as it was jettisoned out into nothingness, never to return.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:45:61

I feel as though this could have come out as something creepy, or confrontational.
Instead it came out as something rambling and silly.

Huzzah!

Written at work.

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