Now something I do not accept as art is graffiti. I hate seeing paint plastered over the sides of buildings, under bridges, on buses and trains, at railway stations and so on. People try to defend it saying it is street art. Vandalism is not art and there is no place for it in society.
I was in New Norfolk recently and we came across the back of this building which had been painted probably by an artist with these colourful murals. I was very taken with it and thought it looked fantastic. I expect they were having trouble with graffiti artists messing up the back of their business and got sick of cleaning it up. It would be a great shame if someone messed this up. I would much rather see this than so called street art everywhere. This is much better than the boring grey besser blocks too.
Number 1 annoys me because frankly there is far too much of it. It’s even recommended by blogging tutorials as a way to format a post. I was asked to do it when I wrote a guest post for Ruby Lane but it’s really not my style. Once in a while, I write a list but these things are subjective anyway. My 50 most beautiful classic movie stars won’t be yours.
Number 2 annoys me because I don’t like being told that everything I ever did is wrong. I won’t read those because they just make me mad at the twenty-somethings who write them.
Numbers 3&4 are clickbait and I try to avoid them but sometimes I get sucked in by a nice photo or actually wanting to read about the subject but I don’t want to spend fifteen minutes over it, and no, I never click on the accompanying ads.
Number 5 annoys me because I notice spelling errors and it’s becoming more common than ever. Spell check is not enough on its own but sometimes it seems as if nobody cares about correct spelling any more.
Everyone talks about “content” and being “an influencer” it seems that too many people just write any old thing to make money.
Yes, the internet is full of rubbish. Thank goodness for the journalists and bloggers who still provide material worth reading.
This song by V Spy V Spy was released in 1986 and I relate to it, even more, today than I did then. It makes me both sad and angry when fine old buildings are knocked down only to be replaced by ugly concrete stacks especially when those stacks are so badly built that people can’t live in them as has happened in two recent cases in Sydney. It makes me mad when people are made homeless because a stupid reality show buys the boarding house where they lived to refurbish but not as public housing; or when the refurbishing is just a token saving of a facade. Our cities are losing their character forever. This song is a musical rant about that.
I’ve been having a bit of trouble blogging for the past couple of months. I haven’t even had the enthusiasm to write posts for our doll blog. I can’t say exactly what the trouble is. I’m not tired of blogging. It’s just hard to find something new. I guess after six years of pretty much continuous blogging that was bound to happen.
I remember feeling like this last winter too. The weather does have a bit to do with it. Not only because the dark days affect my moods sometimes. My house is rather dark which makes taking doll photos a bit tricky. I either have to use lights or bring them into the kitchen or wait for a nice day to go outside. The lights are handy but they have short cords so it limits where I can put them. I may have to think of a better set up.
A scene from my Barbie fashion shoot last weekend
With this blog, it’s more about the lack of variety in my life I guess. I rarely go anywhere new to take photos and photos are often the starting point of what I want to write about. Unless the person with me is also interested in taking pictures I really prefer to do my photography alone. I am sure that friends would take me somewhere if I asked but I hate feeling like someone is waiting for me to finish. It makes me rush and I don’t take as many pictures as I’d like to or I don’t spend as much time thinking about what I want to do.
Little Blue Lake, Tasmania by me.
So, what to do? Blogging challenges are good. I always try to participate in my favourite photo challenges even if it means editing and reusing old photos. Writing prompts help too although sometimes I skip them because the word of the day leaves me stone cold uninterested.
This month I joined in a music challenge a few times and that has been fun so I think I will have to look for a few more new challenges to try.
I could write about politics, current affairs and opinions. I do that sometimes but I don’t want to turn this blog into a continuous rant. Not fun for me or the people who bother to read it.
Even if I don’t write anything myself I read and comment on other people’s posts. Sometimes a post I’ve read will give me an idea for one of my own. If I find my comment is half a page long that’s usually a clue.
I took this in a park in New Norfolk
I think that one good day out might blow the cobwebs away so I must find a way to do that even though the days are short and I feel guilty when I leave Cindy at home alone on a non-Op Shop day. In the meantime at least I’ve managed to cobble a post out of nothing. If Seinfeld can do it so can I.
I read that in China today many young people have never seen this famous photograph taken in Tiananmen Square. The Chinese government has edited it out of existence.
That sounds very Orwellian to me so even though I don’t suppose anyone in China will see it here it is again. My photo of Tiananmen Square was taken just a few months later in March 1990.
The cricket World Cup is just beginning and after some debate about whether I could afford it or not I decided to subscribe to a sports streaming channel for a month or so in order to watch some of it as it is not on FTA TV.
A World Cup Trophy
I received an email from the streaming company which included this paragraph.
Out to dinner when a match starts? Just whip out your phone and start streaming LIVE at the table or watch the replay the next day on the bus or train. You can also Use Apple TV, Telstra TV, Android TV or Chromecast to watch it on the big screen.
It really annoyed me that they would suggest getting out your phone to watch live TV when you are out to dinner. How rude is that? We should not be encouraging that sort of behaviour but they speak about it as if it’s perfectly acceptable to ignore your family and friends. This is what replays and recording TV was invented for.
I know. It’s just advertising spiel but it really got my goat. I will be watching the cricket at home on TV. It will be at night so it’s unlikely I’ll miss any but if I had company or was out when it was on bad luck. I’ll watch the replay later.
It has rained every day this week and the next few days are looking no better. There has been no opportunity to go anywhere except to the Op Shop and yesterday out for a meal with friends. As I’m having trouble thinking about what to write about I thought it would be interesting to go back to June 2013 and see what I was writing about back then. What do you know? I was writing about the weather. I had just started joining in with the Daily Prompt and this one was about rain. It is interesting to look back considering that since I wrote this we’ve had drought conditions again and the terrible bushfires last summer.
Singing In The Rain
When I think of these words I immediately think of the famous scene in the movie of the same name where Gene Kelly dances in the pouring rain. It’s a catchy song but I have to say that on the few occasions I’ve been caught in a rainstorm and soaked to the skin I did not feel in the least like singing and dancing. Squelching along with sodden shoes and wet clothes sticking to you is no fun, especially if you know you have an hour long bus ride home to endure before you can get out of them. I can remember two or three occasions when it has happened to me and most of them seem to involve rained out sporting events.
However, I do enjoy listening to the rain when I’m snug and cosy at home. It feels good to be in a warm room or a warm bed listening to the rain thundering on the galvanised iron roof.
“It’s really coming down out there.” David and I used to say to each other.
“I’m glad we’re not out in it.”
Of course, there is more than just being grateful for our good fortune in having a roof over our heads. After a hot dry summer, it is wonderful to see how everything turns green again after a good rain.
Many people think that it rains all the time in Tasmania and parts of it are quite wet at times, but Hobart itself is the second driest capital city in Australia. Adelaide, where we used to live, is the driest.
Lakeside Topiary group, July 2008
Topiary Group December 2009
There were drought conditions here for some years in the mid-2000s and the Midlands and east coast of Tasmania really suffered. Farmers had to put stock down because there was no feed. Lake Dulverton at Oatlands dried up completely. I was told that years ago they used to have sailing and even speed boat racing on Lake Dulverton, I have walked around the lake and seen the remains of moorings. There was even a sailing club and the building is still there. That year the lake itself reminded me of the cover of the Midnight Oil album “Red Sails In The Sunset” which showed Sydney Harbour with no water.
It would have made a great dirt bike track at that time.
What Water?
Finally, there came a wet winter, it rained and rained. Gradually the lake filled and finally, in spring of 2009 it was full for the first time in many years. I remember visiting the lake around this time and seeing people rowing and fishing on the lake. That did make me feel like singing.
So even though I curse it when I get caught in it or when David used to spatter the washing with mud with his car or I fell over in the garden I really do love the rain because it brings new life.
