Gargoyles and a bit of housekeeping

While taking a sort-of break, I had a little nose around and tried to zhuzh up the blog a bit. There's now a search function (how very chic!) accessible in the sarnie menu (top left corner) and I've added a new tag: Pleasantness. This tag is for those who'd like some specifically curated blog posts with things that people might find relaxing and/or uplifting. I'm also working on an intro post which will have the main tags together, ready to go without needing to pull up the menu and dig through the clunky list there.

The lengthy rambles about various video games (specifically The Evil Within, Alone in the Dark, The Sinking City and Still Wakes the Deep) have been shelved for the time being, because in order to properly get my thoughts in order about them, I should probably play through them again and see if any fresh observations occur, but finding the free time for that at the minute is a bit of a fool's errand.

In terms of real-life housekeeping, I'm working on repainting the woodwork in this room, patching up some bits of worn plaster and freshening up the green on the walls. Not exactly riveting stuff, but it needed doing, and the room is already looking significantly better now those little details are being sorted out. We're also planning on dressing up the front garden a bit, things like an itty bitty fence around the similarly tiny lawn, a couple hanging baskets, maybe a new colour on the front door and painting the gate to match. The Cupboard of Doom under the stairs is also in the process of being cleared out and tidied up, and I'm looking at sticking some shelves and storage boxes in there, so that we can actually access the things that we need, without having to dig through copious amounts of shite that might've been useful at one point, but no longer is.

Now, onto these gargoyles. There's a shop in town called Hadfields, the oldest business here, which has been going since 1755 and is reportedly Britain's last drysalter. Their colourful flags enticed me to their ginnel, and their gargoyles! This tired/grumpy one is my favourite of the bunch, he is very relatable.


Fuck yes, moody gargoyle. Fuck. Yes.

There were also these lovely lions, very regal and very chill.

And a look at these cheerful flags...


Also didn't notice this in the moment but there's a really beautiful celestial wall plaque there as well. This place has a really appealing, characterful vibe about it, like a kind of naturally-occurring eccentricity - it's genuinely delightful.

Onto the world of the internet now, there's this lovely creature I found while just generally looking for pictures of more gargoyles (as you do.) He's so attitudey, I love him!

Look at that mischievous face!

Anyway, that's the housekeeping and gargoyles attended to for now. I will attempt to get back into some kind of regular posting this week, as there are a lot of photos still to catch up with.

Tags!

Further rambling

Twa Thousand Corbies

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Going to start this post with an illustration, because of this blog layout, posts lacking images tend to look a bit pants. The art here is by G. Howell-Baker. A while back, I was joking about gathering together as many versions of Twa Corbies as possible, and finally, here we are. This is going to be a continually evolving list, so if you know of a version that needs to be included, or if you've recorded one of your own, then by all means, let me know. You can put a comment here or e-mail me at looksinnocuousnenoughchaps [at] gmail [dot] com. Let's begin! 1.  Folly Bridge - My personal favourite, performed completely a capella with some beautiful, eerie harmonies. 2.  Hamish Imlach - A live version, and a very close second favourite. Hamish's distinctive voice works wonders here and we're treated to some elegant sitar as well. 3.  Ayreheart - This one features the lute and a passionate vocal performance, it's quite pleasant. 4.  The Corries - Quite a brisk and e...
'Ave a gander 'ere

Some thoughts regarding Silent Hill Downpour

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Getting up at 3am for work is never a recipe for focussed and cogent thought, but it does seem to result in getting down some rabbit holes. On this occasion, after feeling an overwhelming desire to know what A Lyke Wake Dirge would sound like done in the style of Pookiesnackenburger (for the record, Alisdair Reynolds' version is my personal favourite) and weighing up whether or not to pursue a change of setting in an absurdist comedy script-in-progress because it feels like a repurposed shipwreck might provide more fertile ground than a haunted theatre, I got to thinking about Silent Hill Downpour for a bit. This game gives me some very mixed feelings; overall, I'd come down on the side of being fond of it, there's definitely a lot to love here but there's a near-equal measure of things that are frustrating about it. I guess the one-word summary would be "undercooked". It's got a lot of potential, and the green shoots of some really interesting ideas, but...
'Ave a gander 'ere

Revisiting Crapston Villas (while actually sober)

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So recently, I played the Silent Hill 2 remake (really enjoyed it, a nicely done update of an old favourite) and while scrambling about in the flats, something emerged from the dusty caverns of long-buried memories: namely this stop-motion animated cat, lurking in the sallow light of a knackered hallway with blood dripping from his jaws. Quite the sight. Look upon him!!! To be honest, if it were a toss-up between the cat and Pyramid Head, yeah, I'd rather take me chances with the Traffic Cone Twat, thank you. So as it was, the only other things I could remember about Crapston Villas were an homage to that one King Crimson album, a scene involving a horrific-looking fish, there was a lot of gallows humour and the fact that I was howlingly drunk on questionable ale when I watched it (this was around 2013.) Incidentally, it seems to be a running theme with people that I've talked to over the years, whenever the topic of Newcastle Brown comes up, someone always has a story about...
'Ave a gander 'ere