The Woe Of Audiobooks

Yes, woe indeed! Is it not possible for audiobook companies to find anbody with a remotely interesting voice with which to read their, on the whole, crappy books? I have always seen audiobooks as a real great idea for someone such as I. That is, not the most diligent of readers but who wishes they had time to read a heck of alot more than textbooks. The idea is further improved by the advent of the humble MP3 player allowing listening to said audiobook on the move and therefore filling boring moments. Now, I would like to add at this point that it is by far my preference to flip those pages everytime. The audiobooks I have partaken of in the past have always been either books I have read in the past and simply wished to recap or books which I felt would simply be a waste of my time spending precious hours wading through. I have one such audiobook in my possesion as we speak, the exorbitant price tag being negated by a free loan from the local library, namely Chronicles Vol.1 by Bob Dylan. For those of you not aware of this title, it is an autobiography starting during his Grenwich village days. The obvious attraction over all the other books being that it is straight from the horse's mouth, so to say, and not from some illiterate footballer but one of the greatest lyricists ever seen. Now, I also have a slight bee in my bonnet about biographies and point blank refuse to read them under normal events, dreadful tripe most of the times, not that I have read very many. There are always far better books to read than a biography. Anyway, getting back to the narrative, I took out this audiobook in good faith hoping to expand my knowledge of where some of the songs I love came from e.t.c. and may well still do. However, getting back to the beginning, they had to hire some arsehole who sounds like he's putting on a ham American accent. Will this detract from a promising title? Well as I seem to drift off each time I turn it on maybe so, could just be the writing though. Will let you know.

So this photo was taken during Haloween (don't care if I just spelt that wrong) celebrations. In a nightclub...blah, blah, blah. This reason I put it up here is because it looks cool. However it worries me that it seems to do it in an extremely 80's fashion, a decade I normally revile at, style wise. It conjures images of films like Flashdance and that Kevin Bacon classic, Footloose. I once bought my friend Alex a copy of this film as his dancefloor moves reminded me of the film, maybe it was just the tight black jeans and billowing shirt with under t-shirt combination. But did Kevin Bacon have Italian shoes? The picture looks grimey while attempting to look sheek, another 80's word. Did they have audiobooks in the 80's?

Heil The Return

Yes it has been a while since I wrote on these pages. No, I haven't been overly engrossed in my work.
Yes, now is certainly the time to gain some re-enthusiasm for writing posts.

I would lie my lack of posts at the feet of a paucity of photos to exhibit. However once again delving into my growing arhive I have still managed to dig out some interesting shots. My iPhoto collection seems to be increasingly full of the usual gurning/drunk faces. I suppose being a student it is almost inevitable, especially with the advent of that great sin, the digital camera meaning no drunken night out is safe from some git with a camera. There are only so many times I can pose with a pint glass and a stupid look on my face! Intriguing as these photos will be in years to come, give me 1/10 of the quantity and I'll give you 20 times the quality any day.

I must get out the old analogue snapper some day soon. I still don't lend much cop to these new fangled jobs. I am sure that's due to my poor use of them but I kind of liked the idea that you really have no idea what would come out with film and it would often suprise and confound in equal measures. I don't claim to be a good technical photographer, in fact I'm a dreadful technical photgrapher and almost stumbled upon cool images by mistake perhaps in spite of my efforts. I have often thought while taking a picture that "this one will be great", sometimes it is. Most of the time it's either medicore or just downright poor. That is the fun of it for me. I believe if I knew what I was doing then getting what I wanted from the camera would be extremely boring. I would rather be suprised by the odd shot in between vast numbers of rolls of film than a whole roll of great shots which I knew were coming. Believe me I have taken some awful rolls of film in my life.

So with that reminiscent rant over, we can return to what I have essentially just critisced on two points. First the picture above is taken with a digital camera and secondly it is in essence one of those drunken shots I was talking about (level of inebriation unknown). However the one thing this shot does have for me is a slight weird quality provided by the off kilter wallpaper. This simply adds to the look of Joe, convincing you that he was drunk. Well I'm here to tell you that he in fact wasn't. Ha, you see it's all in the wallpaper.

This type of photo has become a regular occurence in my shots. Bored with the stuff coming out of usual eye-viewfinder-head arrangement I often shoot things from the hip or wherever ala Walker Evans' Subway Shots to try and inject a bit of inspiration. Most of the time you just seem to end up with peoples elbows and the like but the odd one's at least interesting. Well done to the wallpaper. Interesting.

Wales Of A Time

I seem to be growing a habit of making quick goodbyes at Birmingham New Street station just recently. Today I returned from Pembrokeshire, South Wales visiting Joe and Ben. One of the major things on my list of to do's being the further development of mine and Ben's project. However, my, I suppose idealised, idea of the trip
featuring myself and Ben getting some good jammin' and general writing done in the midst of a fairly deserted but appreciative gathering of fellow rail passengers was rather disrupted by the bank holiday movement of the masses meaning that at times we weren't even seated together. So, we both reached New Street at which point I was to head back here and he to Leicester. My train however, as we looked to the board, was leaving in just enough minutes to reach the platform. So, shaking his hand we made our goodbyes. This follows my rushed farewell to a young lady at the exact same station under a week ago. I did however manage to add to my growing collection of Haggartraits, taken while on the train between Carmarthen and Bristol. The first picture I took of Ben was actually much better than this but unfortunately the exposure is all wrong and bleached. It features Ben in a pose that makes me think he is thinking about all the stuff I have written on these here pages about his dislike of the camera and therefore has decided to stare it and I down. I will have a fiddle with that one to see if it worth showing. So, a happy new year to one and all.