Now my life is free from the worry of literary devices and media terminology, this weekend saw the celebration of freedom in the form of rambles through the countryside rain; dodging pot holes in the dark, trench foot from a nice boggy walk, a lovely presentation about the Northern Lights (from a man who pronounced 'because' in a very unique way), very dramatic and humorous re-enactments of nature programmes, bed and breakfasts and a frog!

(and lots of bunting) We had a great time! Here is some photographic evidence and everything:

some of my favourite people!

Britain

Sheep and fields - how Britain should be. 

INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE

I am so inspired by Solange Knowles (and just life in general!) She and her blog are so vibrant and beautiful - she almost makes me wish I were an independent black woman with braided hair and a strong accent. Just have a look at every single page and you will feel joyous and appreciative about life and intrigued about patterns and cultures and photography (at least I did):  http://mydamnblog.com/page/16

The lights look like weak stars trying to shine in a polluted sky.

Words escape from your eyes and lips and hands,

Swimming to me like swirling dust particles.

(the poem has little correlation to the picture)

Although never away, Maximo Park are back!

An uproar of utter hysteria has enveloped my house since the release of this album. Maximo Park's The National Health is just one big 'YES!'. It's passionate, angsty, venomous and unignorable yet delicate, fragile and romantic - like the band themselves. I don't wish to compare it to previous work but on the first listen the new album sounds complete. Complete with undertones, detail, maturity, lust, honesty and talent - not that the previous three were lacking in any of those areas, especially talent, but there is just something forceful in the title track that I've never heard before. Fullness, confidence, a message. 'The Undercurrents' and 'Write This Down' both powerful  and gripping. 'Banlieue': gnarly and gritty with heavy, snarling guitars and the first single 'Hips and Lips'; both teasing the ears with a deep and secretive whisper, that builds to such heavy, anthemic energy. If you were dramatic you could even say 'Reluctant Love' and 'Unfamiliar Places' were almost perfect. The second last on the album and almost silent,'Unfamiliar Places' is soothing and melancholy yet hopefull. Ideal listening for the candlelit shadows of night and the warm breeze of summer - appropriate for any time, any place, any mood, any weather, anything. It's solitary but beautiful. Contrastingly, the video for German single 'Write This Down' although has the potential to be really good, I feel resembles more of an unfinished draft of how they initially planned it to be. The pink paint (smartly the same colour as the album cover) flying from the instruments, in my opinion is more of a distraction than a feature. The performance of the song itself is great, with a minimalist and clean setting the band's energy is amplified and the brilliance of the song takes centre stage, but I think the paint effect would look better if it were dripping from the instruments or running down the wall. Animation of the album cover's bird flying against the wall or from the guitar would have looked nice too. But regarding the more important; my life has more excitement after the release of The National Health and this album makes me feel not only hopefull but happy about music today.  

Edinburgh: visit 1

Hello there, sometime possibly last year the art department took us on a lovely trip to Edinburgh and I had an excellent time being all touristy and stuff - here is a collection of Scottish photos of various things like Emily's face, Tony Cragg sculptures and the inside of a lift.

Colours of night time

What are these things called? Light spots? Glare? Blur? Sun filters? A mistake? I don't know but I love them. The photo above (which I think I've posted before) actually was a mistake, I was taking photos through the car window (which explains the raindrop) and that happened. Those little red and yellow circles must be the out of focus streetlights and vehicles in the background. I love that they make night time look so colourful - because it is, industrial lights and the glow from peoples homes lighting up the dark, it's beautiful. Ever since this photo I've been trying to recapture the same enchantment - and now I've learnt how! The photos below for example were taken on the camera's close up setting and all I did was zoom in to a pile of blue and green marbles, that meant that the camera couldn't focus and it did this. Moving around the marbles and getting different angles meant that I could almost control how many light spots there were and how much colour I wanted in the background. Not only am I thrilled with the results but I'm also really happy that I learnt how to do it myself.