Corrosive Shame

... it feels like a very long time since my last confession.

Today I have governors meetings so have the excuse of working from home. Actually I'm having to work pretty hard, but this is a moment of diversion. One of my new colleagues said to me the other day "You've fitted in very well. It feels like you've been here forever." - I think it was a compliment. Needless to say my performance review started with "You're doing very well" and then went on to "Like me, you might find you have to be more politic and less direct at times". I smiled, which was probably the best thing to do in the circumstances.

I'm not sure when I last updated, but since then work has been mostly fun and in my spare time I've been mostly exhausted. Of course I missed Whitby, but then I went skiing in Tignes IN MAY. A long weekend (out Thurs, back Monday, Ski 3.5 days) was just what I needed. We even had snow. There are some pictures here. For the first time I dragged an SLR up the mountains and despite falling on it a couple of times the results were good. I was with a guide off piste for a couple of days (though one was cut short with a hospitalisation) and actually felt my skiing was good enough to make it worth it.

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Other than that, weekends have been spent quietly contemplating taking over the world. But more of that in 2009/10.

Last night, because I can remember it, I'll talk about Ian McKellen. Everything oxfordgirl said is true. He did seem to be very well endowed. Sylvester McCoy also looked alarmingly like a hobbit which added to the confusing buzz in my head. Oh, it was King Lear in Stratford if you weren't sure what I was on about.

This weekend is secret plans, next weekend is WGT. Hi-ho hi-ho it's off again to the Eurozone I go. Though I'm not sure I should after the travesty of the 2007 ill-fitting trouser competition in Helsinki. Go Moldova!!

Now, to work. Still love you all, etc. Even if I don't reply to your emails in a timely fashion and so on...

Enjoyment ratings, in order of photos.

• Oh dear. Please stop. The joke, like you, is old.
• Good fun. Very good fun. Not challenging, and the previous guitarist was cuter.
• Enjoyed more than I thought I would. Actually would bother seeing you again.
• Interesting. Hmmm. Probably worth another look.
• Getting better. Best live show to date but still prefer recorded.
• Better than I remembered but not especially memorable.
• Oh dear. The upbeat songs were ok, the ballads were terrible.
• I didn't get it. At all.

( Photos )

Off to Whitby later, where I will stay for a variable amount of time based on how much I enjoy myself. At the moment I'm tempted to come home on Sunday as the 80s night would be more out of habit than enjoyment - but I might feel better when I get there!

Last weekend was reasonably relaxed. Friday night hanging around with some friends; Saturday 9-10 miles on the bicycle without letting my tyres down by mistake followed by cinema and clubbing; Sunday spent relaxing even more and having another crack at the spare room. Monday and Tuesday were spent shopping for shoes and being annoyed by HEIs; Wednesday and Today will mostly be about work.

On Saturday I saw A Scanner Darkly which was ok. It took a while to really get going and I suspect I had a better time with it than fishthecat as I'd read the book. Still, technically it was interesting even if it goes some way to demonstrate why Blade Runner is a better film for not being a faithful adaptation of Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Not quite wanting to go home I had a quick nose around their exhibitions and convinced myself I should fill in the paperwork to display some of my own stuff there; but there was some brilliant stuff to see - like a couple of examples from the Roadkill Family Album (not as bad as it sounds and well worth a look!

Then it was back to the cinema for The Children of Men. Clive Owen reflected perfectly a dull wooden dystopian future and it was, when all is said and done, a relatively enjoyable romp. Michael Caine was terribly grating though - with his characterisation mostly limited to saying "amigo" at the end of every sentence.

Curry on Sunday was lovely - though vegetarian restaurants, in this case Jyoti in Sparkbrook, still slightly confuse me by having a decent amount of choice - but of all the things in the world to complain of...

Now I must get on with things, but to have one less band in the backlog - here's the full set of pics from Lacuna Coil the other week.

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It seems like an age has passed since I updated here. I'm sure it's less than that - but going away a couple of times gives the impression of large gaps in the reality-that-is-my-LJ. I suppose I'd better get started before I lose more readers.

This spring I have managed to fill pretty much every weekend with something to do. This is mostly a good thing, but does mean that pausing for breath has become a luxury rather than commonplace.

Anyway, I've done some LRP, planned for more LRP, been to the sea, been to France and been to London. I've applied for some jobs, I've taken some photos and I've wondered how to get to London for 9am on Sunday morning.

So, LRP. My enthusiasm goes up and down faster than a tarts knickers, but is probably cheaper. Maelstrom was a jolly jape in some respects but there were some ugly management issues, a sprinkling of ugly politics and I wasn't terribly happy with my photos. Hmm, reading that I'm not sure how I can say it was jolly at all. Oh well. Some photos will follow - you know you want to look...

The next one is in a couple of weeks and I'm determined to get more out of it. In fact, determination seems to underline my mood at the moment.

In the meantime there is NWO. Worship at the twin idols of pax_draconis and immerwahr has begun and the highlighter pen has been out. It continues to be terrifying and exciting in equal measures. I hope not to take a single picture all weekend, but you never know quite how it will go.

The Ski season is over. It lasted longer than it normally does, thanks to an awesomely extravagant trip to Tignes that worked out at something like £200 per day on the slope. If I'd have done the sums before I went... I'd have probably done the same thing. The most interesting discovery from the weekend was introspection on my nature. When I wasn't getting a lot out of the first day I had two choices - be a wallflower or say something. I've always liked to think I would do the latter, but in all honesty that's not true. However after some soul searching and rehearsal I let my mouth run away with itself - and got pretty much exactly what I wanted.

No sniggering at the back

Somewhere was the weekend that was Whitby. I wasn't especially keen to go just before, but after making an arrangement with kantti I got in the car and drove up. However, after an initially rather dull evening with a book, I relaxed and had a most pleasant holiday. I tried to enjoy myself, I tried to spend time with my friends, I tried to make new ones - to a pretty resaonable success. The only problem now is finding the time to do the photos.

It's in danger of becoming a habit, so I shall be careful in October, but that's months away.

The job situation continues to be an irritant. I have employment until the end of June but really need something better. I've applied for jobs in Coventry, London and Amsterdam; with varying levels of pay compared to my current salary. Where it stops - nobody knows...

Now the trivia, to remind myself of things I might forget.

"Dear Simon, indulge your passions more and don't forget to do some writing. The ideas are bubbling".
"Dear Simon, avoid romantic comedies. Tristan + Isolde: Ultimately hollow dribble that shows perfectly well that pretty costumes can't compensate for characters without substance that you can't care about no matter how much you try."

The weekend is coming soon, there is probably FNGS on Friday, something on Saturday and possibly London on Sunday. Original plans have been rather compromised so it's the state of blissful anarchy again.

Anyone still there? Hello?

Another go-to-London-for-short-meeting day...

Thankfully there has been some good news - I seem to have waved the magic-press-plag for WGT 2006. This is very exciting and will make me absolutely terrible company for my partners in crime no doubt - so I should apologise in advance. davefish - will you be "working" or "playing"?

Now all I have to do is work out how to get all my gear to Europe in one piece.

Hopefully Placebo tickets will have popped through the door, which leaves me a fantic packed shooting schedule for the rest of the year already just with festivals (Dark City, WGT, Whitby x2 [kinda counts] and Infest) and then there are the separate gigs I'm hoping to confirm (HIM, Placebo and Nitzer Ebb). Plus all the people I hope to shoot in the gaps. Plus all the other passions I want to enjoy. This weekend could be three shoots - Scarlet on Friday, Diamond Rendezvous on Saturday and Placebo on Sunday. Ow - my backlog!

Crikey.

Luckily I bought another 600GB of hard drive the other day and spent much of yesterday watching them mirror another volume - which took about 8 hours over USB).

Now at Euston. What a jetsetter eh!

Last night I went, with baloobas, to see The Modern at the (rather small and frankly shite) Bar Academy in Birmingham. The signs weren't good - name not on the list, no support, band on at 9:45.

However, they put on a storming set that felt unfairly short. If there is any justice they should go somewhere. But there seldom is.

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If any of you are (mis)fortunate to read UPG you'll see a massive ongoing row over photographs at Whitby. This amuses me for many reasons - primarily because I'm not in the firing line and I've had conversations about doing "press" shots at WGW in the past without any joy; and partly because of the package I just recieved in the post.

Some of you might remember In The Nursery who played Whitby in April this year. I was browsing their site a while back and noticed they didn't seem to be aware of my super photos. So, a quick email exchange and in return for use of my photos I have three CDs of their music.

Ok, so I'm betraying the NUJ by selling out my profession - but to me it's not a bad deal - Art for Art. Well, kind of anyway...

In other news, survived London, spent many hours doing photos and cleared 15GB of photos off my HD so I don't need to buy a new pair quite yet.

Here's a set of photos of Queen Adreena from a couple of months ago... (Click for the full set)

Another couple of samples



The Modern, Whitby Goth Weekend, 28/10/05
Click thumbs for larger

Little time, off away again tonight. Hello to everyone, more soon!
Click on thumbnails for larger images

I'm at a conference for european networking folk in London at the moment, and despite being awfully busy thought I would relate this tale...

The chap sitting next to me is from Hungary, and has the most wonderful "I vant to drink your blood!" faux-Dracula accent. I couldn't help but smile.

Easily pleased I know.

In other news I seem to be going to Whitby with berrega. I hope this is not a mistake.