Sunday 20 October 2013 0 comments

Smells Like Teen Spirit Isolated Vocals

So hauntingly beautiful. Kurt Cobain was definitely taken too soon.

Friday 27 September 2013 0 comments

Lip Sync Battle with Joseph Gordon Levitt, Stephen Merchant and Jimmy Fa...

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"#Hashtag" with Jimmy Fallon & Justin Timberlake

Thursday 26 September 2013 0 comments

Tuesday 3 September 2013 0 comments

7 Reasons 'Sons of Anarchy' Should Be as Big as 'Breaking Bad' | TV News | Hollywood.com

7 Reasons 'Sons of Anarchy' Should Be as Big as 'Breaking Bad' | TV News | Hollywood.com

Now, I absolutely love Sons of Anarchy - it's one of my favourite shows on TV, but I just don't think I'd enjoy Breaking Bad. Can someone please convince me otherwise?
Wednesday 28 August 2013 0 comments

Reckless Abandon

Abandoned things fascinate me. Abandoned cities, buildings, theme parks; any place humans have used up and discarded as if it never mattered, as if there were never memories to be made there. Some are famous, some are not, but all are like a snippet in time of where we once were. I have not had the fortune to explore a major abandoned place, be it a city or factory or ship, abandoned hospital or asylum or school. However, I think my fascination started as a child when I used to spend many a sunny day roaming around concrete bomb shelters that littered the fields behind my house, finding new ways to climb through the ruins on a regular basis, intrigued by the history of them. Like so many things, they were demolished to make way for new housing because those that are in charge don't seem to grasp the concept of nostalgia, but the memories linger on in the minds of those in the know.

With that being said, I thought I'd share with you some of the ones I have "discovered" whilst trawling through abandoned pictures and websites dedicated to urbexing, or the URBan EXploration of abandoned places.  As stated in the previous paragraph, I have not had the pleasure of being able to explore any of these places, so the photographs I will post are not my own.  I will give credit where it is known, and should anyone prefer I not use their photo, please let me know and I will happily remove it.

Pripyat, Ukraine

Pripyat, on the northern Ukraine border, is infamous as the site of the Chernobyl disaster which took place on the 26th of April 1986, when an explosion and subsequent fire at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant released a large number of radioactive particles in to the atmosphere. The decision to evacuate the population of approximately 49,400 was taken the day after the disaster and buses and trucks arrived to shuttle people away.  In the years following the disaster, no-one has returned to live in Pripyat, as the radiation levels remain too high for it to be habitable, but tours to the area are possible as the radiation level isn't concentrated enough to affect short-term visitors.

Inside Pripyat is an amusement park that was scheduled to be opened on May 1st 1986, but was never officially opened due to the Chernobyl disaster.  It did, however, open for a brief period on April 27th in order for the residents to enjoy it prior to being evacuated.  Today the Ferris wheel and bumper cars stand as an eerie reminder of what once was and many of the buildings are so unsafe that tour guides are no longer allowed to let people go inside them.

An abandoned ferris wheel and a merry go round at the Soviet Palace of Culture
Ferris wheel at Pripyat amusement park - Michael Day/Barcroft USA
Bumper cars
Bumper cars at Pripyat amusement park - anotherview/Flickr
Swimming pool
Sports Hall overlooking Pripyat amusement park

Hashima (端島), Japan (aka Gunkanjima [軍艦島] [Battleship Island])

Located to the north east of Nagasaki, Hashima is an island once inhabited as a coal mining facility that was operated by Mitsubishi from 1890 and included housing for its workers.  In 1959 the island was one of the most densely populated on earth as it recorded a population of 5,259 sharing just 16 acres.  With the increase of petrol as Japan's major fuel source, the coal mines began to close down and the Hashima mine was officially closed in 1974 and the residents relocated.  The island remains abandoned today, with strictly limited access to tourists being granted in 2009.  Special permission from Nagasaki City Council is required to visit certain areas of the island, including "Stairway to Hell", seen below.

The
Stairway to Hell - Jordy Theiller
Hashima - Google Street View
Decaying beauty: The ruined architecture of Gunkanjima is every urban explorer's dream

The deserted island on the west coast of Japan is slowly crumbling away

hashima-gunkanjima-gakuranman9
Michael Gakuran

Six Flags New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

Permanently closed in 2005 due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina, the Six Flags New Orleans amusement park had only been operating since 2003 after previously operating under the guise of Jazzland between 2000 and 2003.  Located on a low-lying area of eastern New Orleans, the parks drainage pumps failed during Katrina and the park was submerged to a depth of up to 7 feet in corrosive brackish flood water from Lake Pontchartrain, forcing the park to be closed indefinitely.  Upon inspection it was discovered that all of the park buildings were 80% demolished, all of the flat rides on site were ruined by long term saltwater immersion and the Mega Zeph ride was damaged beyond repair. The only salvageable ride was Batman: The Ride which had an elevated platform and corrosion-resistant support structure that was relocated to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in 2008 and renamed Goliath. Six Flags determined that the damage done to the park was too costly to repair and eventually came to a settlement agreement with the City of New Orleans to terminate the 75-year lease on the land.

Today, Six Flags New Orleans remains untouched by developers.  Items that could be taken and reused from the park by Six Flags have long gone and the remaining structures are covered in graffiti and the floor littered with debris.  Whilst the City of New Orleans now controls the land upon which the abandoned theme park sits, there has been no consensus on how to redevelop it, despite many proposals.

Six Flags New Orleans 14/09/2005 submerged after Hurricane Katrina - Bob McMillan/FEMA
erikjorgenson303/flickr
Pontchartrian Beach entrance - willcrusta/flickr
Barbe's ice cream shop - willcrusta/flickr

Mega Zeph - willcrusta/flickr
This is it for the time being.  As I have the time I'll add more places and pictures to new posts. If there is anywhere in particular that you would like me to cover, please let me know, and I'll do my best to provide you with some information!
Tuesday 27 August 2013 0 comments

2013 MTV VMAs: Everything Was Black, Except The Winners

2013 MTV VMAs: Everything Was Black, Except The Winners

I actually think the most problematic thing is that in 2013 people are still insisting on separating black and white. We are one race, the human race, and the colour of a persons skin is still going to be an issue as long as people keep talking about it. Moaning that white people are doing "black" things is no different to black people being called Oreos because they're acting "white". Black people (and white people in some instances) are never going to be seen as equal as long as they keep singling themselves out as different.
Thursday 1 August 2013 0 comments

Yorkshire Airlines



In honour of Yorkshire Day, an old, yet still funny video!
Monday 29 July 2013 0 comments

Live By Night

There's something really peaceful and comforting about this time of day. It's almost like you're privvy to a secret world that the rest of the country is missing out on. Right now I can hear a few late night cars on the motorway in the distance, the occasional jingle from the collar of a neighbourhood cat that roams the night solo and, every once in a while, a train passing through the station to an unknown destination with no passengers to speak of. 

My room, my solace, bears no light bar the one emitting from my iPhone as I type and the little dots of colour that reveal the electronics that clutter the space at the bottom of my bed. The silence, as they say, is deafening. Yes, there is background noise, but my mind seems to forget it is there and is able to clear itself completely from the mundane things that normally consume it.

I wonder how many people are awake at this hour, knowing it won't be too long until they have to wake again, ready to start a new day. The insomniacs, the new parents, the just-got-ins, the workers. We share the night with the creatures who inhabit it with as much comfort as we embrace the day, and yet it is this time that makes me feel so alive, so content. To live by the darkness is to see the light in our lives and to embrace that which we cannot see leaves us open to the possibility of life and love and laughter; and in the end isn't that what it's all about?
Thursday 13 June 2013 0 comments

Suicide & Redemption

In the past week has come the shocking news that Paris Jackson tried to commit suicide. What do you say if discussing it when someone asks what would drive people to that, when you've been there? The thoughts that run through your head, the planning, even if the eventual execution never takes place. When you look at a bottle of pills and wonder if you took enough if you'd just drift off to sleep and not wake up; when you wonder if it's possible to learn how to tie a noose and hang yourself off of the rafters in your garage; wondering how much damage jumping off of the roof would do (probably not a lot); knowing how easy it would be to jump in front of traffic. All of these thoughts have crossed my mind at one time or another, and I can't say that one specific thing made me think it. I could point to a list of things that get me down; I could sit here and give you a 'woe-is-me' tale of my childhood, right through to adulthood, making pit stops at all the upsetting and frustrating situations that have made me who I am today. I could show you the countless scars that mark my body, all brought about by own hand, that are daily reminders of how miserable I can be, how miserable I sometimes am.

I would like to be able to say that I never cut anymore, that I never think about cutting anymore. I would like to, but it would be a lie. It is a daily struggle to not pick up the razor blade and press in to my skin until the oozing red liquid comes out. The release it gives is like washing my mind of it's problems, all be it temporarily, and the satisfaction of not being in emotional pain, for however brief a time, makes the scars worthwhile. I look at the scars on my arm often. I reflect back on the pain that I was in to mark my skin in such a way that is marred with both fondness and forlornness. The most visible of scars are well healed now but that does not prevent me from trying to hide them. The looks you get from people that notice them are those of pity, shock, disgust and confusion. They want explanations, they need rationale to digest what they have realised, but how can you give this to people when you can't recall the exact thing that made you slice your arm open in the first place? When you can't explain the release, the goodness, the pure feeling of just being when you do it. It's almost like a reminder that you're alive and you just need to get something, anything out. Letting go of the blood is much quicker, and easier, than letting go of the thoughts that plague you. It's hard to explain to people who've never been there, never wrestled with the razor, with the voices telling you to do it and with those telling you not to, why you do it. How there's no real pain - it's so instantaneous that it doesn't register - and how it makes you feel better. It's a contradiction of it's simplest form - harming yourself makes you feel better. How does that make sense? It doesn't. But neither does the dark thoughts, the misery, the sheer pain, the wanting to rip your heart out just to make the pain stop.

All the scars and the misery makes it appear as though I hate life. I don't. I love life. I have a passion for exploration of the abandoned, travelling far and wide, music, rugby league, ice hockey, escaping to another world in a good novel, photography, nature and animals.  I am constantly amazed by the wonders our world has to offer, at the same time as being scared because I know there will never be enough time for me to see all I want to see and do all I want to do.  I don't want to settle for the life I currently have.  I want to dream big and explore and discover.  But I can't help the way I feel, and there are often days I don't want to get out of bed, I don't want to get dressed, I don't want to live. I don't want to speak or see people and I just want to lose myself in another world where the pain doesn't exist. I want to hide from reality and not deal with the aching void that consumes the space where my heart should be.  But I make myself, I have to make myself, because if I don't get up today, there may be no getting up tomorrow, and that would be another day of amazement that I would have missed.  It is just hard to rationalise the sheer marvel I have for our world with the torment that takes place in my head and the aching in my heart.

I hope no-one ever has to feel so low that they are desperately clinging to life, holding on to every single minute sliver of joy; holding it tight and using it to fuel their mere existence.  Suicide is the very last resort for anyone, and for those that don't understand what it takes to get to that point where you think that you have no alternative, I am sorry; I can offer no explanation as to why some people get to that point - there isn't one. There can be numerous reasons and none that can be put in to words, but you will never be able to make them understand fully if they have never been there themselves.
Tuesday 11 June 2013 0 comments

OMG! Red Wedding!


This looks just like my reaction to the Red Wedding episode of Game of Thrones (season 3, episode 9 - The Rains of Castamere).

Monday 10 June 2013 0 comments

All The Right Friends

Events this year have made me look back and examine numerous friendships over the years. I think back on all of the things I've done for other people and how it just seems like it constantly gets thrown back in my face. I don't believe I'm high maintenance, I don't ask a lot of my friends and yet somehow, I'm the one who is always made to feel like I've done wrong by them. It would be nice sometimes if I could just feel like I was worthy of friendship. Instead, I'm made to feel unimportant, disposable, a nuisance. It would be nice if the same loyalty I offered to them was returned to me. I am not loyal for loyalty in return, but it would be nice to know that I am appreciated and wanted/needed. I will not stop being loyal to those who are there for me when I need them, but I refuse to be trampled over anymore. I have been hurt too many times in the past that I would rather be alone than in a friendship where I am neither appreciated nor valued.
Monday 27 May 2013 0 comments

Will & Jaden Smith, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Alfonso Ribeiro Rap! - The Graham ...

Monday 4 February 2013 0 comments

Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up) [2 C...

 
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