Katoomba Station During a Sunny Afternoon

Posted on July 21, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

Sunny, yet cold.

I like how the higher vantage point gives a really good idea of the platform’s length and curvature.

I think that the photo may be a little too bright, but at the same time (in conjunction with no moving elements) it helps to make the area feel more quiet.

That in turn helps to reinforce the idea of the station being part of a small town, which to me makes sense as Katoomba is a small town.

Well, it’s a big town in some ways, but a small town in others.

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

The theme for this one is “Small Town”.

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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Belle Haven: You, Me and Everything in Between Review

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

I was going to hold off on sharing another Cool Try review for a while (I think), but assignments are stealing my attention and I’ve a longer post I’m editing that I should’ve gotten up a while ago, but… well, laziness, which is now paying off in spaaaaaades.

I cannot remember how this sounded, which may be proof to myself of one of the things I said in the review.

I think this is a review that needed expansion. It’s a bit rough.

Fixed a spelling error, but otherwise this is as it was.

My colleague and I are working on growing Culture Eater so we can cover more stuff whilst taking the pressure of continually putting out content off of ourselves; Hence our going onto Patreon.

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. 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.

—

Belle Haven have released their 2nd album, You, Me and Everything in Between.

Here’s the review.

Here the band is seen embracing a sound that is mostly grounded in anthemic, grandiose metal. Everything is played with a great deal of enthusiasm and energy, with the band sounding as though they are giving it their all and then some. There’s a fun feel to just about everything on the album as each segment moves into each segment.

Whilst there is little diversity to be found as the album switches mostly between melodic and not very melodic, mid to up-tempo songs, the album does come off as very focused on ensuring the songs work together.

Two of songs sit a little apart from the others. The first, “Hollywood”, is a bit slower than the rest of the album. It focuses on the bass, drums and vocals and creates more of a brooding atmosphere whilst sounding closer to industrial metal than the rest of the album. The other song, “By Hook or by Crook” highlights why (aside from this song) this album works.

“By Hook or by Crook” is a soft and delicate piano track with what begins as dramatic, somewhat quiet vocals. Eventually the vocals change to melodramatic screaming, asking why someone had to die whilst at one point having the viewpoint character state that they hate themselves. This goes on for a while before going back to the somewhat quiet vocals.

There’s some very decent musicianship on the record and it seems that the band are earnest, but they take things a bit further than they need to be. The riffs and percussion are more full on than they need to be, the vocals are a more dramatic and angsty than they need to be and the melodies are usually more anthemic than they need to be. When earlier described as being anthemic and grandiose, it is due to how much the band goes into excess. Through a combination of these, instead of being a bunch of songs bogged down by too much, they lead to an overall fun and energetic record.

You, Me and Everything in Between should be worse than it is. It is due to its being excessive in sound and vocals leading to maximum cheese, as well as the perceived earnestness of the songs that manages to make it a good record. It may not be remembered in time and it probably isn’t good for the reasons that Belle Haven had hoped, but it is fun whilst it lasts.

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Ibis in the Air II

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

The same ibis as the one in the last shot.

This shot has more apparent motion to it.
It feels more like an ibis in flight.

It, like most birds, has a certain grace and power to it.

If you want this image, it is available here as a print, among other things.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Wednesday” for this week.
Leanne recently resumed having a focused day for monochrome photography and is inviting people to participate.

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.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 592: More Words Than Necessary

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

Colds mornings are always cold mornings.

Well, I guess that was something that did not need to be said, but I’ve said it, so there you go.

I had breakfast this morning. That isn’t out of the ordinary. I just thought I would say that as though it was important information.

Maybe it is.

So I was having breakfast with a friend of mine. This friend started off as a colleague of university academia pursuits, and now we’re friends.

So we were conversing and we were discussing things, as you do. We were also eating food, but part of that time was spent waiting for food. However, whilst there was waiting. there was a counterbalance with eating. There certainly was the consumption of delectables and there there was the conversation of the words.

Words were used to converse and we were inside where it was warm, as outside it was cold and it seemed like we did not want to be outside, as being outside would’ve meant being in the cold and it would not have been a pleasant experience in that bit of time in where we were looking to be warm, eat food and converse.

Being outside would not have served the situation well. That said, there is no denying that at some point we had to go outside, for we could not spend the entire day inside. If we spent the entire day inside that building, we would have been overstaying our welcome and I don’t think that buying all of the food and drink at that place would have served others well.

Well, that and our wallets unlikely extend that far anyway, but you get the idea.

So we ate, we conversed, we drank and we conversed. There was conversing and consuming and then after the act of exchanging financial representation for sustenance, there was the approaching the motorised vehicle in order to go from one place in space to another place in space.

Motion was had and it was something that allowed us to move in a general direction in order to reach another place, for I had places to be and my friend had places he wanted to be, so therefore there was the approaching of other locations and once those locations were approached, they were considered as something arrived to, or something.

So now I’m at university, for there is the eating of the knowledge and the passing of the torch tat allows for the progress of the knowledge and the further passing of the torch. However, instead of doing that I’m thinking about the consumption of the food and the delivering of the words in a way that expresses the things that I am looking to express.

Either that or I just want to eat more, but instead of eating what I should do is get things done so that progress can be made and a torch can move from a hand of one being to the hand of another fellow being.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 05:48:07

To summarise: I had breakfast with a friend which was followed by him giving me a lift to uni.

Written at university.

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Ibis in the Air

Posted on July 14, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

A few days ago whilst walking to a railway station I was afforded the opportunity to capture this moment.

I was trying to get close to the ibis when it took to the air, so I kept on snapping.

I think that whilst this is clearly a photo of an ibis flying, due to its form, it looks like it’s suspended in air and not flying at all.

I like how well some of the details of the feathers have come through. There’s a crispness to them that I think works well with both the few shadows and the rendering into monochrome.

If you want this image, it is available here as a print, among other things.

This is my submission into The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.

The theme this week is “Detail“.

It’s a fun weekly event. I’d recommend checking it out and considering submitting.

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 week is hosted by Patti and next week’s will be hosted by Leya.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 591: The Wrist

Posted on July 14, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

The wrist hurts, but it continues on with moving under its own will, looking for something beyond the skin. Therefore, it bursts out and goes on a little journey in order to find something new that can placate its desires. It looks across the wooden surface (or at least that is how it appears) and moves silently, despite creating a massive ruckus only a few seconds prior.

There are gaps and the wrist looks down those gaps, hoping to see something new, but instead all it finds is distance that it cannot be bothered to try and surmise with the action of moving through it.

So the gaps get cross and the wrist continues on, looking for something else that will lead to an intrigue. Something that could provide a salacious snippet of which it could use to wrap itself in and divine some sort of higher purpose beyond just being a part of the body.

It dreams bigger than what it is for due to the tedium of doing what it has done for the longest time and desiring more from it existence, even though what it does holds greater purpose than it shall never decide to acknowledge, but that’s not for now. That is indeed a thing for another time to get into.

So anyway, the wrist went on its merry journey, looking for things new and exciting and all it could do was keep on searching.

Eventually the surface ran out and it indeed needed to drop down, for the ravine was far too large for it to be able to cross. There needed to be a descent made somehow and it needed to get away from the chaos that had been unleashed from it bursting forth from its captivating prison.

And so the slow descent began. Over the edge and then crawling on the underside of the surface until it found something that it could use to go down and onto a new surface. It was slow and arduous. It also was not long before a large pole of sorts was found, giving something for the wrist to follow down.

Lowering itself down on this was of course much easier to do, as there was little worry of losing traction and falling freely over a distance of an unexpected distance. It was a smooth descent and it seemed to go by in no time.

Of course, by the point it had reached the newer surface, it had been noticed as getting away and so the chase began.

The wrist moved as quickly as it could move, but  of course those that were going after it to return it to its station were in hot pursuit. They were, of course, much faster than the wrist, so the wrist, of course, had to make good use of its cunning in order to stay ahead of the game.

And so its cunning served it well, and soon it escaped to new horizons in a large swathe of new freedom.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:46:64

Well, this is silly.

Pardon the shift in tense.

Written at work.

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Quiet Aisles

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

This was shortly after the power went out in Burwood Plaza.

I think that the lighting changes the feel a little.

This kind of feels like it was recently abandoned, or that the supermarket was shut for the day.

I like how the shelves’ shadows are distinct and create a pattern on the floor.

I also like how the cold area’s reflection is slightly distorted by the floor.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 590: Starts With a Crash

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

It all starts with a crash and then we need to avoid an entire systematic collapse, somehow.

Like the waves licking at the shore, the electronics lick away at the fabric of society, but then we all go into a panic and freak out and then accelerate our decline into something far less than what we hope to be.

However, not all is lost. We need to remain vigilant in some way and look for the gap in all the chaos. There is always a way through and so long as we can follow it, no matter how inconvenient, then we can survive and make it to something else.

That’s the thing with bad situations. There is always a way through. There is always a way to turn things around. Well, there usually is a way to turn things around. Maybe there are times when it is not possible, but that is not what I am looking at at the moment.

The thing is that despite there being ways to turn massive societal issues around, people don’t take them due to the perceived inconvenience. Often when we’re in a nosedive, we pull through due to varying factors, but to prevent (or at least diminish their effects), we need to do more as individuals.

Sure, we can point fingers at companies and talk about how they’re the worst at the things we need to turn around, but a lot of the stuff that needs turning around needs to be done by everyone. It’s easy to point the finger if it means you can more easily deny personal responsibility, but at the end of the day it doesn’t change the fact that blaming what is ultimately an entity powered by people doesn’t remove your responsibility to work toward turning things around in times of crisis.

Everyone has a role in which to play and everyone needs to work toward changing things for the better. We all need to stay calm in times of crises, read the information at hand, learn more and then work out how we can all do our bit t o avert disaster. This is all stuff that’s important, and yet we continually shy away due to inconvenience, or “someone else isn’t doing as much and getting away with it and that’s unfair”, and so on and so forth.

I don’t think I can say more without repeating myself far too much (at least in this one post), but I can’t stress enough that in times of crisis, we can do more to turn things around. We can do more to prevent issues creating a knock-on effect and increasing in severity. We can do more to make sure that everything has better coping mechanisms.

Working together for the overall betterment of both our lives and the systems that we are a part of is beneficial.

That said, instead we could just hope for the best. It seems to have worked out for us a few times in the past.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 09:04:74

When I started writing this, it seemed like it was going to be more poetic.

I think that what I wrote rambles and repeats too much.

Still, it gets the point across.

Written at work.

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Headbanging

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

When I took this shot, I was trying to be arty.

When I processed the shot, I still was trying to be arty.

Not too sure if I was successful, but I am kind of pleased with the result.
I shall remain pleased with the result until I improve and am no longer pleased.

The hair kind of reminds me of fire.

It’s a moody photo.
It’s also “experimental”.
Well, it probably isn’t, but considering what I’m usually doing it could be considered as such.

Not sure what else to say.

This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s “Monochrome Wednesday” for this week.
Leanne recently resumed having a focused day for monochrome photography and is inviting people to participate.

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.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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mewithoutYou: Pale Horses Revew

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Stupidity Hole

If all is correct, then this was the second review I wrote for Cool Try.

This one is better than a fair few of the reviews that came after, but there still was a lot of work that needed to be done, I think.

This one is entirely as it was when it went onto Cool Try.

My colleague and I are working on growing Culture Eater so we can cover more stuff whilst taking the pressure of continually putting out content off of ourselves; Hence our going onto Patreon.

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. 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.

—

“Neigh”.

I thought it would be good to start the review with a stock horse sound.

“Pale Horse” kicks off the album with relaxing guitar shortly followed by drums and mournful sounding vocals, setting the tone for most of the remaining songs.

A lot of it sounds fragile and delicate in some way or another; there’s a lot of gentle playing on the record and much of the sound is quiet in a sense.
This allows for the more intense-sounding sections to come through much stronger than they normally would. However, instead of sticking out, they end up forming a cohesive ebb and flow with the quieter sections.

At times there can be a bit too much reverb. Maybe this was done to make the songs sound more delicate and fragile than they already are but it can be distracting as it tends to stand out more than it should.

The band play quite well here. No one sounds like they’re trying to take the spotlight and everyone rises and falls in unison with each other which helps to further enhance the songs as they are overtly rhythmic. The vocals blend in well and seem to be treated more as a sound to add to the music instead of a mouthpiece to sing over the music.

With that being said, the lyrics haven’t been neglected and they sound quite decent. They seem to be poetic in nature (“All dark effects I’d long withstood / Upon my room advanced / The moving shade of Birnam Wood / Disguised by broken branch” from “Birnam Wood” is a good example) and add imagery that matches the music without coming off as ham-fisted.

Overall, Pale Horses is a good album.
Nothing comes off as overplayed or out of place and none of songs drag.
Due to its sound, it isn’t an immediate album but this gives more of a reason to keep listening to it as it doesn’t reveal itself straight away.
I’d recommend it.

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