Ah, The Fall. Definitely top ten. Hex Enduction Hour, I've got on vinyl. I prefer The Unutterable though.
Is there such a thing as Pancake Day or Shrove tuesday in America? I'm just curious. It's a big thing here in England, and it happens to be today.
Such a lush day.Got my chequebook, played the Fender Mustang again, got three job interviews, all's fine and dandy, again. Bought a necessary lightbulb, fixed my broken iPod. Ahhhhh.
Booked tickets home, learnt some new songs on the guitar... Still can't play an F too well, dreaming of owning a Fender Mustang... Stuff's good. It's a sunny day, which makes all the difference, too.
How's life at present? pretty good. I've got a ticket to the Hop Farm festival, with Morrissey, Patti Smith, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, and it was only seventy pounds, which for one day of seeing four of my favouritew artists is a steal. I'd pay that to see Morrissey alone. Other gigs lined up? The Kills, Belle and Sebastian, both for the second time, and Crystal Stilts.Very exciting for me. I've also been learning guitar, and I've come on pretty quickly if I don;'t say so myself. I can play The Headmaster Ritual after just a week. Is that good? I'm not even sure. Everything in my life is pretty good, except the massive lack of money and lack of a job or university until next September. Why do I feel like I can be really frank on this blog now? I kind of like it. It's quite cathartic, exposition.
To conclude- Here's another picture of Chinatown that I took. I love neon lights and that kind of olde-worlde nostalgic look.
How for now.
New format. How about a photograph and what I'm listening to, eh? Or why not listen to the song while reading the following text or admiring the photograph?
So- Here's what I'm listening to:
They're a band from Manchester, formed by Howard Devoto of 'Buzzcocks' fame, straight after the frankly seminal 'Spiral Scratch EP'. If you don't like this then I don't know what you possibly COULD like. But then again everyone's interests are their own and as such the best in the world, no? Totally egocentric, we are, as humans.
And for those of you that, perhaps, genuinely like my pictures, well, here, have one to industriously pore over!
This is a Berlin train station. We went in the winter, and we were ill for two of the three days that we were there, violently ill.But on the one day that I and my girlfriend were fine, we took some nice photos. I didn't like Berlin though. It still, to me, seems to be suffering a post war austerity, and the majority of the nice things there were blown up in world war two. There's not too much to see of great beauty. It's mostly horrible late twetieth century architecture. The people there are often rude, too, and that's saying something from someone half British half French. Maybe it's just their way of life. maybe I'm overcritical. I'm not fussed either way.
Now this is really Home. Newcastle's where I've lived since birth, despite being in manchetser for university. This is probably one of the best pictures I've ever taken; it's a triple exposed picture of the Tyne Bridge, the National Heritage plaque commemorating where The Blaydon Races was written and first performed, and a signpost directing you to some of Newcastle's finest sites. I just did it all blind, but it just happened that it was exposed with the Tyne Bridge and the plaque in the negative space on the left and right of the picture. Such a stroke of luck, and so dear to my heart. I love Newcastle so much.
This one wasn't actually taken by me, it was taken by my girlfriend, but I suggested the subject matter! They're little gashapon machines. I love the angling of the picture and the colours are so nice. It looks very 1970's, I think. It was taken in the Chinatown where I live, I got a lots of pretty cool pictures there. The whole prace is pretty retro, lots of neon signs, etc. I might have to go back and see if it's any different to a couple of years ago...
I'm gonna pick a photograph at random today. Allons-y.
Hm, not too interesting. This is from Italy as well, Sermione to be precise, which is probably the nicest place in the world I've been to. It has a huge lake, with a castle in it on an island. And the water is so clean, and warm, and it's just so... natural. There's loads of little beaches, and it's never too full of tourists either. You can get the best ice-cream in the world there. I'd give anything to be there right now.
A picture I took on holiday in Verona. I love Citroen 2CV's. Italy is the most beautiful place I've ever been by far. Their no-nonsense attitude is to be envied as well, in a time and place of infinite political correctness and regulations. You can just not pay for the bus, or can have a conversation with the driver while he's doing his route. They're chivalric, too. I want to go back.
Well, here we are, finally a picture of me. This was taken on the Canon A1 sometime last eyar in my girlfriend's back garden, while cleaning it out so she could move away. And... I found this golf pole. I love the colour the Canon A1 can reproduce. It's not quite perfect, but it gives so much more life and vibrancy, no?
Well, here we go. I've just managed to get all my Canon A1 pictures, so no further need for these Diana pictures. Anyway, this is a picture I took in the middle of the night in Paris, of my girlfriend. Albeit only her legs. This is probably the highest quality Diana picture I've taken, but it's spoilt by the... lack of upper body. We rented two velibs, and we cycled by night around neuilly. it was pretty spectacular.
Black and White film's such a pain. I think these two were literally the only two that came out well. It's like coupling a bad camera with bad film, the lighting has to be just right. This was taken right in the middle of the day, and it looks incredibly dark. I really like that the two can be pieced together to make one full picture though, it's probably my favorite picture of all time, not least of all because I love France.
Right, so here's another picture taken on my diana and scanned in- note the finger prints and stuff. This is definitely one of the better diana shots I've taken, if not THE best. It's so hard to do anything decent. It's kind of annoying that they're like, sixty quid, but back when they were in use they were throwaway toys. Ah well, that's what hipness does things, I suppose. Anyway, this was in regent's park, in London. The robin's sitting on a sign marking where the 'diamond jubilee' flower grows, but as you can see, it's dead. It must have been winter when i took this, I can't remember. I think it's good though that without the use of any sort of zoom-lens I still manages to get a good profile of the robin red-breast.
So, this is a picture I took of my home town. I love how the Canon A1 makes it look slightly more dreary than it even is, if that's possible. What more do I have to say? Not a great deal. I wish I were there righjt now though. It's beautifully decrepit, it's cold and it's rainy, but it's Home.
'kay, so I've decided I'll make this primarily a photograph blog. Every day I'll post one of my photos with a little explanation. Cool? So we begin, above. This photo was one of the first I took, on a rubbish, cheap digital camera, while I lived in London last year. I lived right by Fitzroy Square, a place where a one-bedroomed flat costs something like four million pounds. Virginia Woolf lived there during world war 2. It's pretty beautiful there's a residents-only park in the middle of it, with sculptures and things. Maybe I'll upload a photo of it. Anyway, I was walking back from Camden and I saw this, people filming a movie through an open window. I love the colours in the picture, and I think with what little means I had it's a pretty nice picture. Oh, to be in London again!
I really like photography. I always did, but I never really had the means with which to do anything decent with it. Then I found an old Canon A1 analogue camera in my loft, and from there I ran. I'd already bought a Diana, but they're hipster garbage. Like, really bad cameras. It was a constant struggle to get any pictures to come out. At the minute, all I've got is my Diana pictures. I'll hopefully get them uploaded in due course.
Despite being pretty anti-blogging, just beause of the lameness associated with it, and the 'woe-is-me'-'dear diary' sort of user it connotes, I've decided, that, I'd do it. Why? As a release. I can talk and talk and talk with anonymity, I can explain things I've done. I can use it as a notebook of sorts, and maybe, just maybe, some other people'll be interested in it too. Fingers crossed.
