Back from Haworth

Inspired now to almost complete reading a Bronte novel after seeing the family home and the village the girls grew up in. I shouldn't forget Branwell, the son who drank himself to death more or less - sad family tale in many respects. The two eldest daughters didn't make it into their teens and all of the one's who did were dead before they were fifty. The father of the family Patrick Brunty, who wisely changed his name to Bronte, outlived his six children which I think is a pretty sad state of affairs. They may have achieved but I'd rather live longer and achieve nothing with my life - which I think is the deal that God has offered me. I liked the walk up to wuthering heights a great deal - for scenery I generally don't think anywhere compares to Dartmoor on the whole, but Haworth does.

I had a little de ja vu in the YHA as well. The places that I have had dreams of before going there, for instance, Antigua in Guatemala, Xela in Guatemala now include Haworth YHA. I assume what has taken place is that someone has shown me footage of the interior of the building and this has taken place during one of the memory blanks that I've had. I assume again use of a memory inhibitor, or something that could strongly influence state dependent memory was used. I don't think for a second that dreams are a reflection of the subconscious - I think they're created by the manipulation of the individual using measures such as these - ho, hum, I do tend to go on about such things. To me there's adequate information in this paragraph for someone to totally shift the thinking that has led to Freud's or other psychodynamic theoreticians work but I've got to try to get a job in a call centre in the next few days.

Maylight

Here are the shots of Maylight from tonight.... like the band on the whole - why did they only play 15 minutes though....?

On a completely unrelated matter, I was looking at some tsunami comments I'd made on an old blog. It's interesting that they were viewed and not really commented upon. While I was working on the Three Estates New Deal for Communities project I tried to get a conspiracy theory group off the ground. This didn't happen, I guess to many people getting lots of 'paranoid' people together and letting them conspire together is not a good idea. What I thought could be achieved is using a group to explore norms and values within the area concerning what was generally considered normal to state - what was possible to talk about without feeling as if you're committing a faux pas. There are social rules about what is reasonable to state

What it may also have provided is a means to tackle the social stigma about those who don't have great faith in the establishment in Britain. Too often someone may come across as depressing or naive if they don't indicate any degree of confidence in the authorities - it's perhaps the complexity of the idea behind that kind of statement and broader awareness that's going to separate someone from being a 'nutter' who doesn't believe anything the government say from someone who expresses their opinions in a slightly more conservative manner and can come across as intelligent.

Conspiracy theory may also contribute to well being in some respects not undermine it: it shouldn't cause paranoia to get worse. Conspiracy theorising may perhaps even contribute to well being if done following certain guidelines -
It could contribute to understanding of political activity and then assist with awareness of how much control an individual has over social or economic problems;
It could result in plans of action which may assist with dealing with problems locally and doing something constructive;
It could contribute to setting norms within a group which may then influence norms in the locality which then contribute to social stability;
It could help reduce paranoid classification of individuals and self doubt over lack of faith in the authorities;
It may also reduce depression and negative self-images if a number of residents if they realise that they have relatively normal views that many people hold.

There are social rules about when and how to discuss conspiracy theories, which I assume are theories which are largely not recognised by the authorities as having sufficient credibility to be taken seriously, as opposed to what is considered credible, usually by the political establishment. A conspiracy theory is only an account of events which is not accepted by the political establishment who may have their reasons for ensuring that some theory is not investigated. Exploring this through a community group may have offered some opportunity to set group norms and thus reduce paranoia and depression which may be quite difficult to tackle outside of a social group and provide a means to ensure that residents can still participate in surveys, a number of communities of interest and place, use of local resources, influence over local resources and possibly even some decision making. If there were residents on the 3 estates who have more regard for conspiracy theories than what the government state then it may be reasonable to ask how they should be engaged in community groups. What is on the blog I wrote about the tsunami a couple of years ago is still there, it hasn't been removed by anyone so it's not impossible to speculate and survive.

Preparation for another call centre post.

Spell it out, say the bleeding obvious. Well, it's professional advice on a number of levels really. It's what people get told to say to each other in some instances. Shouldn't be cynical about the assistance that I'm getting at present. It's really been very good having the contact with work directions that I have had.

To the side is a glass lantern that sits in the window of the Bulls Head in Moseley. I didn't take shots of Steve Ajao when I was there - I was there for that purpose but something about the event didn't grab me. I'll have to try harder tonight when I go and see Lizzy Parks and Maylight at the Rainbow.

More Jazz online

After what was really not a bad gig at the CBSO Centre Stan Tracey's Hexad seem to be the best slide show that I've put up on flickr recently. There are a few other things in my recent UK shots but not a lot to mention - just failed photo-essays. These shots of Quiver from an age ago aren't bad. Will be job hunting more and more in the next few days now it's mandatory that I attend Work Directions. Time to prepare for interviews....

Last night at the fair....

There are a few shots of the Levellers online from the arts fest gig last night at Centenary Square cick the link forthe levellers. It wasn't a bad show by any stretch of the imagination though I guess that I can't really say that indie pop with the flavour of folk and punk that is so obvious in their work is my favourite thing in the world, it does come across well on a Glastonbury like stage in front of a few thousand people.

I was back home late and thinking about working on the shots. I didn't really get to it and they have only slightly been dabbled with. They're okay shots. The Metros did a good set as did the band on after them, who I didn't see because I was in the bar. Most people did the sensible thing and watched the bands and at £3.00 a pint who can really blame them.

There are also a few shots of Levi Frenchat the City Inn. It was a gig played in 2006 long before I'd entered the digital darkroom. I didn't really do anything to the prints before putting them online. Not fantastic shots but I guess that I can't really do very much about that at this point in time. They seem to work much better now, more magazine like in their quality especially with the colour levels dropped down so low now.

Earlier today....

There are shots online from earlier today of Tony Jacobs with Fat Chops or the slide show of the same shots if you're lazy. They're not fantastic despite having worked on the sharpness and colour balance a little. I was going to suggest that Fat Chops all wear styles of Gap khaki but I don't think it would really do anything major to add to the ambience of the place. It works because the music does all the talking in there generally. Tony Jacobs was good value - a near faultless singing performance and reasonably well selected Tommy Cooper jokes - he should go the whole hog on Cooper I think.

Storming success of the Corbett Quartet...

The shots I took of the Bryan Corbett Quartet are online - some are okay. I don't think I've taken a whole series of shots of a gig and never got one of the bass player with his eyes open. Maybe he sleepwalked to the gig....

There are also shots of the old haunts in Manchester, so much to answer for. They're mostly shots of architechture. Lots has changed in the city centre and in Withington, an area where I used to live. Withington has just lost it's ancient cinema which didn't sadden me but it's not great to see these types of buildings go anywhere in the country. They win in Manchester with the Restoration funds and then lose other buildings which I guess is the name of the game. All the old people's home on the Wilmslow Road are now converted to fun pubs, I guess that the north of England is not going to be a popular place to retire and go into a nursing home with the likes of Harold Shipman knocking around. Here's to fun pubs anyway...

Weekend in the city.....

Months now since getting back from Central America and I'm now in a position to get on with my life. My mind is still, I've got abilities of concentration and memory that I didn't think I'd ever regain to the extent I have and I can now exercise without feeling as if my head will cave in.

I've got a rather outlandish project of trying to get to grips with Italian and reading up on Tuscany and Umbria in the next few weeks before going there next month as well as trying to get up to a decent standard in tennis as well - intermediate lessons start on Tuesday evening.

In terms of photography, I've got a few lights to play with and hopefully will get some decent still life and portraiture done in the next few weeks - things are generally looking up, despite the fact that I haven't got a job, buggared up my car this morning and don't much else to do with my time but plan projects and engage in hobbies. Living with dad is driving me nuts....

I've added a shot of my hair largely so I don't have to describe it when I go to the barbers - it's a real drag that I can't describe a haircut - this is little more than a pudding basin cut for the thirty quid I paid for it - go to the most expensive salon you can afford is always the advice, somehow I think the cheaper one's are better value.

Time off following good behaviour.....

After a few weeks of job hunting I've managed to get a few more applications in the post and find a few more job hunting sites. It's been a rather frustrating time. I was hoping to find work within about a fortnight to a month and I don't think for a moment that I expected to be waiting around the two month mark which is what it will reach a week on Friday.

There's a bit of jazz on the horizon in the form of Stan Tracey and Liz Parks is playing the Town Hall for the release of her forthcoming single. There are almost hundreds of shots of her at Liz Parks with Fat Chops Big Band. Shots of the Sugarbeats from June 2007 are also online at the Sugarbeats.

There's a more recent series of shots which almost half work at St Phillips Cathedral, Birmingham and likewise, the thin end of the wedge. I managed to take shots of one of the buildings in the city centre that I love which is at the top of this blog - don't know if it's called anything, it's at the back of the Town Hall. I guess London and many of Britain's many other historic cities have dozens of this type of gothic like example. I've always liked it because it seems so different to everything alongside it on Paradise St.

Time to crack on with the job hunting....