#barlow is rocking it tho

[husshow]

The jets going outside of the box by drafting a full grown man

[neopianbiologyproject]

Trudy's Surprise

Now that we've verified all the base petpets, we can discuss Trudy's Surprise, its candidate specimens, and how their origins affect our determinations.

What is Trudy's Surprise?

To summarize this Jellyneo article, Trudy's Surprise is a daily activity. Essentially, it's a slot machine without the slot.

If played on consecutive days, prize values increase each day, up to 25 days in a row. That is, the player still rolls to match icons, but each icon is worth more depending on how many days in a row the player has spun Trudy's Surprise.

Excerpt of JN's chart on this:

If the player's streak is broken, or the player reaches day 26, the counter resets to Day 1. It's one of those daily log-in bonuses MMOs all have these days (tho, to be fair, you can fully ignore Trudy's Surprise and turn off notifications about it if you so choose, without missing out on much).

There are minor exceptions which you can read in the linked article, but these don't really matter for our purposes.

What's important to us is the items Trudy's Surprise gives out. For a streak of 7 days (so, Days 7, 14, and 21 in the 25-day cycle, if playing consecutively), the machine will also give out an item. Many of these are exclusive to Trudy's Surprise.

What Trudy's Surprise items are notable to us?

You can see the full list on Jellyneo, but here are some items I want to highlight. These are either species candidates, informative about a candidate, or informative about Trudy's Surprise itself.

Key: 🎰 Exclusive/unpaintable Petpet 🖌️ Non-exclusive/paintable Petpet

Pool 1 - Trudy's Surprise theme: Gold Frogarott🎰

Pool 2 - Terror Mountain theme: Cloud Snowbunny🎰, Rainbow Abominable Snowball🎰, How to Build a Snowman: A Petpets Guide

Pool 3 - Beach/summer theme: Elderly Darpinch🎰, Woodland Yoakie🖌️

Pool 4 - Neovia theme: Bloody Finger Hotdog, Floating Figures, Ghost Tyrowbee🎰, Glowing Melton🎰

Pool 5 - Kiko Lake theme: Corals in Kiko Lake, Water Smiley🎰

Pool 6 - Tyrannia theme: Tyrannian Blibble*, Tyrannian Gulper🎰

Pool 7 - Maraqua/Krawk Island theme: Barnacle Burrito, Island Yullie🎰, Pirate Altachuck🎰

Pool 8 - Cottagecore theme: Cloud Weewoo🎰, Strawberry Eizzil**

Pool 9 - Stargazing theme: Eventide Felly🎰, Starry Baby Space Fungus🎰, Book of UFO Mysteries and More, Space Rock Collection

Pool 10 - Disco theme: Disco Tasu🎰, Jelly Barlow🎰

Pool 11 - Skater theme: Checkered Cadro🎰, Fire Sharky🎰

Pool 12 - Arts & crafts theme: Clay Bika🎰, Sketch Tasu🎰

Pool 13 - Camping theme: Fire Dofrey🎰, Woodland Snicklebeast🎰

Pool 14 - Food theme: Chocolate Albat🎰, Strawberry Plumpy🎰

Pool 15 - Pizza theme: Fire Cofferling🖌️, Picnic Geb🎰

Pool 16 - Grey theme: Grey Mini Trudys Slot Machine

Pool 17 - The Void Within theme: Grey Bowla🎰, Grey Doglefox🎰, Nyx Action Figure, Tavi's Hair & Tail Shampoo

* The Tyrannian Blibble is unpaintable, but available to buy on Krawk Island. ** The Strawberry Eizzil cannot be created through painting (no other Eizzil can be painted Strawberry), but the Strawberry Eizzil can be painted to another color.

What do we know about how these items are generated?

The way that Trudy's Surprise "gets" these items to award them to Neopians is unknown, but we can tell the box is seemingly aware of current Neopian events (the above themes relate to on-site plots, holidays and announcements). For the items that are non-exclusive, it may stock itself with existing items, maybe by having Trudy gather items and stock the machine herself. But for items that are exclusive, and particularly the living ones, it's not possible for Trudy to be creating these specimens herself; the machine must be generating them or drawing them in from elsewhere, automatically and magically so.

Let's look into the history of Trudy's Surprise itself.

It's hard to find articles from when Trudy's Surprise first landed on the site; the Neopets fansites don't document its discovery, rather focusing on what it does for Neopians and how to interact with it.

Clicking the [?] button on Trudy's Surprise itself brings up the following story:

A strange feeling nagged Trudy, a curious Ixi, for days. A forewarning of doom perhaps, she thought. Soon after, on one of her long, solitary walks that spanned the length and breadth of Neopia, something strange happened. She heard an unusual rustle in the bushes. Curious, she took a peek. Hidden among the bushes was a slot machine! ‘Ka-ching, ka-ching,’ it seemed to whisper. Trudy hesitated only for a moment before she succumbed to its call. She pressed the button on the machine, unsure of what she may unleash. To her amazement, she was awarded Neopoints. Trudy fell to the ground and cried with joy. She could finally afford a fancy frock for the ball. From then on, Trudy took more walks, hoping luck would smile upon her again. And it did. She discovered she could play the machine once every day to win prizes. With each consecutive day, the number of Neopoints awarded increased. Occasionally, the machine was extra generous and gave her a Gift Box. On the 25th day of playing, she won a phenomenal number of Neopoints! After 25 days, things changed, leaving Trudy puzzled. This FAQ, helped her make sense of everything, though.

From this we gather... Trudy doesn't know what the Slot Machine is, either. Also the FAQ for Trudy's Surprise wasn't crafted by Trudy, but another artifact (artiFAQt) that she seems to have found somehow? The link is broken, now, and according to this reddit post it always has been.

No one knows where the Slot Machine came from, or where Trudy was when she found it -- just that it generates coins and items and dispenses them in a predictable pattern over the course of cycles of 25 days.

So, in summary:

Trudy's Surprise is a slot machine

The Slot Machine dispenses neopoints and sometimes items

No one knows where the Slot Machine came from; just that it was found by Trudy

The items dispensed by the Slot Machine can be living creatures

Each item dispensed by the Slot Machine corresponds to a set of items belonging to a single theme

The set themes sometimes correspond to site events

What we need to determine, specifically, is whether the Slot Machine is generating these items, or bringing them in from elsewhere through something like teleportation of items, or being stocked by ghosts.

If all of the Trudy's Surprise petpets were exclusive to Trudy's Surprise, I would say the Slot Machine is creating them, somehow, and all items from the Slot Machine should be considered Constructa with a local habitat of wherever the Slot Machine is located. However, we know some species, like the unpaintable Tyrannian Blibble and the paintable Fire Cofferling, are available elsewhere in Neopia, so the Slot Machine isn't making up items, just relocating or fabricating copies of them to be dispensed. The Slot Machine also seems to do this with a particular interest in items that are so rare they exist but are extremely difficult to find elsewhere. In the case of living specimens, these species are so rare in the wild, they had yet to be discovered, but did already exist. We know the machine is "interested" in generating wealth and valuable items, so is it possible that it's selecting these petpets because of their rarity in particular?

We don't know where Trudy found the Slot Machine, but as long as we aren't considering the Machine to be the sole origin of these items, that fact strikes me as irrelevant to this question. The items can be associated with any region and the ones available elsewhere don't have any correlation in location.

Another theory is that the Slot Machine is of alien make, and somehow crash-landed in Neopia, later to be found by Trudy. In this case, the petpets it dispenses could be rare because they don't exist in Neopia. But I find this conflicts with the petpets being named for existing petpets, even if they constitute different species by way of being unpaintable. I suppose that hinges on whether we trust the naming force to be accurate in its assessment of similarity.

I think our best bet is to call these petpets Neopian rather than alien, as we have evidence that at least some of them do exist naturally. On top of that, the creatures' habitat of origin should be considered based on the pool of reward items the creatures were added with. E.g., the Water Smiley would be from Kiko Lake, as it was added with the Kiko Lake-themed items.

So, without addressing exceptions yet, we can determine the following habitats:

Set 1 - Wealth: Unknown, could be anywhere in Neopia.

Set 2 - Terror Mountain

Set 3 - Beach: The plants Bludberry and Krakuberry (ingredients in the Bludberry Urgoni Cupcake and the Krakuberry Shake) are from Mystery Island. The petpets Darpinch and Yoakie would come from Maraqua if they weren't painted. I think we call this one Mystery Island, which already has a strong beach association.

Set 4 - Neovia: Haunted Woods

Set 5 : Kiko Lake

Set 6: Tyrannia

Set 7 - Beach 2: The items Sinking Pirate Ship Background and The Endless Tales of Pirate Adventures have a Krawk Island association. The Maraquan Frisbee, Summerfun Flotsam Beach Ball and Jetsam Mini Fan are associated with Maraqua. The Barnacle Burrito is from Kiko Lake. I think the pirate associations here are so specific, and the rest of the items have a beach/island/stranded theme, we place this set in Krawk Island overall.

Set 8 - Cottagecore: None of these items have a particular location association, but the vibes are very Meridell/Brightvale or Neopia Central. Without a strong "medieval" or even farming lean in the theming, I think we'll call this Neopia Central.

Set 9 - Stargazing: Space. These items are either from space, about space, or made to look at space.

Set 10 - Disco: Unknown. Possibly Neopia Central. Slim chance it's Tyrannia, which has a large disco scene.

Set 11 - Skating: Neopia Central. Only in that it's absolutely nowhere else.

Set 12 - Arts & crafts: Unknown. Possibly Neopia Central. Crossbow gives medieval vibes, though.

Set 13 - Camping: Unknown, likely Terror Mountain.

Set 14 - Cooking/food: Neopia Central, based on the "Egg-onomics: Best Ways to Cook an Egg" and "Inside Neopian Fresh Foods Shop Background" items.

Set 15 - Pizza: Neopia Central, based on the Pizzaroo Playset and Inside Pizzaroo Background items.

Set 16 - The Void Within: Space, probably. Need the Void Within plot to conclude to be sure of its origins. Because we decided the Slot Machine isn't generating any new items, Grey items are converted from their existing variants, and don't count as new species.

There are some exceptions, but this post is WELL long enough and I'll address them in their individual posts. For the rest of the items, I'll classify them as indicated here and with respect to their original variants.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts on my logic here! I'm curious about possible alternatives or anything I might've missed about Trudy's Surprise. Thank you!

[awhilesince]

Thursday, 30 August 1827 (travel journals)

7 3/4

10 40/60

Breakfast at 9 in the public room – at 10 1/2, 3 guides and as many mules, and off to the Mer de glace –

at 12 stopt to let the mules drink at the Fontaine des Caillés 1/2 way –

at 12 much Rododendron (rose des alpes) what we saw so beautifully in flower –

at 12 1/2 arrived at the pavilion (maison des plaisirs) at the top of Montanvert – several goats about, and a shepherd there all the day – very arduous ascent – formerly one could only go about 2/3 the way on mules – obliged to walk the rest – about 2 years ago the path made up to the Top – Took all the 40 guides 100 days labour – the pavilion a little room where one Takes refreshments, the provisions one takes up, tho’ there are cupboards there full of bread and wine – magnificent mountain scenery – looking Towards the Mer de Glace (in front of us, and on the east side of the Mer) L’aiguille de Bonchard, then ditto de druis, ditto rectes, ditto du Moine (behind which is le jardin, 5 hours ascent from the pavilion and 3 hours to return), then la petite Jorasse, then the grand ditto, then the Tacul, then the aiguille du géant, ditto des Charmots – ditto du Grepon – the behind one is the aiguille du Bletière – all these are the chain of mountains that one sees round the mer de Glace –

off to it from the Pavilion at 12 40/60 – went above 200 Toises (about 1/4 mile English upon the ice – no idea it was great an Exertion – the iron heels of my boots very slippery – I could scarce keep foot-hold at all in ascending and descending the very steep parts – the mer de Glace Extends 12 lieues in length – consideringly less in breadth just under the pavilion within these 4 years – the large blocks of granite one sees now left bare at the margin called in the country patois moraines – brought away a small piece – called the mer de Glace down to about as far as the Chapeau, a very little knoll with a few (7 or 8) larches upon it, which we afterwards saw in descending le chemin de la figlia down upon the source of the Arveron – called the glacier des bois from where the ice becomes more level, which descends almost close upon the village des bois – gained ground upon it till within this last year or 2 – (but is now losing ground and becoming smaller – one can get very easily to the Chapeau to look down upon the mer de glace) but must there cross it to get to Montanvert – the crystals are found 7 lieues from Montanvert at the very foot of the needles – dangerous going there on account of the stones that fall from the needles – l’aiguille de Druis the finest in the whole chain of alps – One ought to go to the top of Mont Breven (4 hours to ascend and 3 to descend) for the finest view of mont Blanc –

In returning from the mer de Glace at 1 18/60 sat a little while on the Pierre des Anglais, – and then ascended by a longer but much less steep path then we had descended – a Frenchman and his wife and little boy who had breakfasted this morning at one of the Table d’hôte while we breakfasted at the other were dining or eating their provision at the pavilion – we had ours (I took very little) and we all became very cozy – They were going down to the source of the Arveron – we went too – the man at the pavilion was very well satisfied with a franc each of the 2 parties –

off at 2 35/60 – not time to send our mules round – they went down before us – very steep – much worse than the way we had come – quite impossible to go it on mules – wonder how the animals could get down – 1 of the guides led one and the other 2 followed – 1/2 down heard the thunderous fall of an avalanche –

at the bottom of this Chemin de la Montagne de la figlia at 4 10/60 – the fine cascade from the glacier des bois forming the source of the Arveron we had seen almost as well en montant this morning – the fine vault there was under the ice in the month of July now quite destroyed by the heat of the summer – sauntered about admiring the fine view of the Aiguille de Druis, and then down the valley to Prieuré – we found the French man sketching the mer de Glace – we left him sketching along the Arveron, crossed the broad bed of Debris to the other side the valley and set off home at 4 10/60 – I was very hot, so had my mule led, and walked to the end of Prieuré where I mounted merely for the sake of riding up to the Inn where we alighted at 5 1/4 –

Mrs B– [Barlow] foot sore from descending the Chemin de la figlia, and both she and Miss B– [Barlow] very much fatigued – I not fatigued at all – in mounting this morning rode à la califourchon up the roughest and steepest ascents and thus saved both myself and mule Exceedingly –

spoke to my guide seriously about my liking to ascend Mont Blanc next year – too late this year – there had been fresh snow – danger of avalanches – Jane’s guide brother to 1 of the 3 guides who perished 6 years ago – the guides (9 of them) were unwilling to go – knew the danger but Dr. Hamel (a Russian gentleman with him) would go – an avalanche swept them all away, but the 3 guides that were 1st were hurled into a crevasse, and never heard of more – the rest of the party then returned, not having much more than 1/2 way to the top – 1 of the guides that perished was particularly averse to go – he had been up 11 times before – but Dr. H– Hamel persisted – they discovered a new path about a year ago, by which the danger from avalanches is mainly avoided – the danger now is from ‘fausses ponts’, crevasses covered over with snow – these on the glacier beyond the grand mulet – they go all tied together by cords, that if anyone falls in they can pull him out – July the best month this, and perhaps the beginning of August the only time – but one should not go after the fall of fresh snow – 6 guides for 1 person – 9 Ditto for 2 persons – 90/. per guide, and feed them, but 100/. per guide will pay all – ladders, keep, tout compris - 3 days work – I must sleep 1 night under the rock of the grand mulet – The father of Mrs B–‘s [Barlow’s] guide was 1 of the 17 guides with Saussure – (slept 3 nights on the summit and 14 on the grand mulet), and by sleeping in the cold got a rheumatism he never cast, and was never able to walk much afterwards – for some time before he died (only a year ago) could not move a limb in bed – no stranger lady has ever been at the top – but a woman from this valley has – the 1st man who went up (from this valley) went up by himself and was 2 nights at the top by himself – not long before Saussure went up –

to make the Tour of the Alps hereabouts would take one 14 or 15 days – long to steal away next summer and do it –

Last night very cold – hard frost – had spoilt all the potatoes that were just beginning to do well after the rain – great loss to the people – grow corn enough except for finer white bread, and this comes from Salanches and Bonneville – Have no mares (so do not breed mules) buy them young at Salanches – mine cost £15, Jane’s £17. Mrs B–‘s [Barlow’s] £20 – no cretins here – very fast goitres – the valley very healthy – shed the junction of the Arve and Arveron – both streams milky from the white sand (decomposed granite fine as dust, – quite white) brought down from the mountains – huge masses of granite (moraines) near the cascade – granite boulder and debris spread widely over the valley –

Dinner (table d’hôte) from 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 – between 20 and 30 people? – all very respectable looking – did not speak to any of them – came upstairs to write – very fine day –

40 guides. each one pays (on being enrolled) 400 to the Chief guide pour son traitement (for his maintenance – he never leaves his bureau), and afterwards 5 sols for every course or job which goes or is to go towards a general fund for the relief of infirm guides – may be serving guide till 60 – 1st and 2nd class of guides – but all paid the same – only that of the most intelligent a certain no. [number] are called the 1st class – 24 porters these too divided into 1st and 2nd class – rank below the guides, but whenever a guide’s place is vacant, Tis filled up from among the porters – a lady and gentleman carried over the tête noir this morning to Martigny – 6 porters per person –

reference number: SH:7/ML/TR/2/0017 - 18

[yanderecandystore]

Halloween Costumes [Yandere!OCS - Headcanon]:

Here is a little scenario I thought it would be cute to share. I'll answer your asks soon, is just that it has been kinda hard to create in this couple of days. This is just a little Headcanon about what types of costumes would my characters wear on Halloween night.

🍒 Bullies 🍭:

→Alexandra Coldwell:

A mummy, oddly enough. Although the twins are always expected to wear something similar every now and then, when it comes to halloween they rarely ever match costumes. Alexandra had a bunch of options inside her head, but a mummy was what she had decided to go with. Why? No one really knows, neither does she. It just felt fitting.

She is absolutely one of the cutest evilest mummies you would ever meet tho. Instead of being just toilet paper, you'll see a bandage cutie covered in gold and jewels.

→Adrien Coldwell:

He normally doesn't care about what costume he will choose, as long as he can exaggerate his costume in a fancy way. This year, why not go with a classic homoerotic vampire? Just because he is lazy and doesn't really care for what costume he chooses, doesn't mean he won't put in a lot of effort to interpret the most dramatic vampire you would ever meet. He could just wear a cape and a pair of fangs, but what is the fun in that?

Expect a really extravagant vampire boy with a sassy attitude to really seal the whole character. Just make sure he doesn't get his role over his head and starts to bite people.

🍎 Teacher 📕:

→Madeline Allen:

Little riding hood, for obvious reasons. I mean, as a teacher that already offers cookies to every single student she meets along the way, why not dress as a character that holds treats in a little basket? It could be really fun to give students and other teachers candies while dressing as a character from her favorite fable. Also because, well, red is her favorite color.

You would see her passing through school halls while maintaining her character just for fun. Although she would serve candy to everyone, she would make sure to give you more than everyone else.

→Matthew Robinson:

Werewolf. He is… Not exactly the most creative person (neither am I-). He likes the stories he heard when he was a kid about the wolves that lived in the woods around his town. Maybe he was really naive, but just the thought of finding one of them walking around would be enough to stop him from sneaking out of his house at night, until he was old enough to know that no, werewolves aren't real.

You should have seen his face while searching for an online costume. He found some of the most questionable things under the search of "Werewolves". Not that the costumes were necessarily bad, but not exactly the best for the public eye. He decided to wear something really, really simple but that would still be recognizable.

He still bought one of the questionable ones, just… For the curiosity of it. Maybe he'll need it one day, who knows.

🍋 Delinquent 🐍:

→Janette Sartorius:

Frankenstein. She thinks she can pull it off just because she has a bunch of scars. She just needs some paint and some "extra effects". She is planning on scaring people, either because she is going to be part of a "haunted house" attraction, or because she couldn't contain the need to make someone terrified. I imagine her volunteering to be part of a scare attraction to both earn her some money, but also if it's for some sort of fundraiser.

She is absolutely terrible at doing it on her own, so the effects are to help her acting so it doesn't feel so lacking. Would you help her set everything up?

→Jackson Macnee:

Michael Myers. Or Jason, he isn't sure yet. Any Slasher is fine for him. Especially since because of his height no one takes him seriously, so he is, uhn… Planning on changing that. Yes, yes he is salty that people offer him candy as if he is a little kid. He still takes them, but, ya know?? It's not cool… He prefers cigarettes and the blood of his enemies (coughs don't worry, he is being edgy again coughs).

Okay that's not really true, but come on! He has his own gang, he has robbed and he has hurt people almost to the point of killing them, he deserves some respect don't you think?

I'm joking around but like, you should probably keep an eye on him. His costume is covering his face and his digitals, so if the idea of murdering someone on Halloween night ever crosses his mind, I think you should stay close to him so he doesn't kill some rich kids or something.

👾 A.I 🍏(non-binary):

→Yuma Soma:

Doesn't really know the importance of this day. In their game, there was a halloween like event, where all characters wear spooky outfits, their original one was the skeleton, so they might as well choose a skeleton costume.

Yuma is starting to really like this holiday, as through the whole month everyone seems so excited and happy just because it's a spooky month. They're kinda jealous of the little kids that get free candy, doesn't they deserve some as well?? They're just if not more adorable than all of these pipsqueaks.

Because they're new to this whole shenanigan, you better tell them that A: they can't eat all the candy, it doesn't matter if they throw a tantrum. And B: Just because they see someone who looks like a video game character, doesn't mean that person really is that character, they're more likely just a cosplayer that likes the game and characters.

But despite your warnings, they'll still eat all the candy they can find, and they will still ask the Luigi cosplayer for some autograph.

🦊 Kitsune 🍬:

→Tatsumi:

Just a masquerade mask. Because firstly: He isn't planning on wearing any clothes the whole night, and secondly: Because he doesn't have the money to go all for it. If he could, he would probably dress as, I don't know, Tuxedo Mask? I mean, look at this man, he fits the role perfectly~

All jokes aside, Tatsumi feels a little too self-conscious to dress up as the things he wants to dress up as. Not because of his appearance, but more because of himself as a whole. He… Does have a little bit of self hatred hiding in there.

Even if he was invited time and time again to go to a party filled with monsters living a double life just like him, he would prefer to stay inside and watch some horror movies. If you don't mind, can you stay with him?

🩸Vampire 🍷:

→Abigail Barlow:

Halloween? Costumes? Do you think she is a clown? Just asking her out of curiosity would be enough to make her belittle you. Saying how such a thing was way beneath her, only commoners like you do such a childish thing. Unbelievable how little you think of her!

But, let's say, that for some coincidence the people of your village have decided to make a "ball" around the town's main fountain. Of course you would go, wouldn't you? A masked ball with only the common and humble folk of your village. Sounds really fun right?

But she can't have you finding some lowlife as a partner, that would be a disgrace to her and to you. Yet, she is pretty sure you wouldn't want to see her face around your folk, and you would probably question her hypocrisy.

Maybe you find a really interesting companion while you dance, maybe not...

🍰 CEO 📏:

→Ingrid Bright:

Even if people tell her to dress as Ariel or Merida (ha ha, redheads only dress as redheads), she would prefer something that could be practical, but she ended up choosing a demon anyway. I mean, she can totally rock any outfit, so why not?

Why not be a little devil? It should be fun. But it isn't really reassuring knowing how most of her co-workers see her as one already. Well, whatever, she'll wear whatever the hell she wants, and no one can stop her-

Oh look! What a coincidence, aren't you wearing a little angel costume? Oh, you two are opposites, how adorable.

What a strange coincidence, totally not the result of one month prior of planning and stressing over the possibility of her plan not working!

Really though, whatever her darling wears, she I'll wear the opposite of. It's supposed to be a cute coincidence but sometimes it can be so on the nose.

She hopes you don't mind her being near you all the time, flirting or towering over you. Come on darling, you can be the angel of this demon, can't you?

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

[ivalice-tifalucis]

Suddenly in some random mood with this song again. This song is a prove I was meant to be a Take That fan and most importantly a Gary Barlow fan. I don’t think I have ever told you how important this song is so bear with me. I’m gonna swim deep into this, also telling how I found out about this song which later lead me to become a Take That fan.

This song is a piece from the “dark” days when Gary solely became a songwriter and producer. If you go back to this era, you might think of Blue or Westlife as these lucky people who got Gary (and Eliot Kennedy obvs) as their songwriters. But for me, Delta Goodrem is what always gonna be in my head. I don’t even like Delta Goodrem and “Not Me, Not I” is the only so that I know from her yet this song is one of my favorite song of all time.

“Not Me, Not I” was written in 2003 by our dear Captain and Eliot Kennedy with Kara DioGuardi, Jarrad Rogers, and ofc Delta Goodrem herself. Based from what I read on wikipedia, Delta Goodrem, who at that time was known for her piano ballad singles in Australia, was making her debut album. The whole concept of the album, “Innocent Eyes” was a piano-based pop and ballad. Therefore, she worked to make a good pop ballad songs with bunch of produsers and songwriters and yes two of them were Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy. Actually, after I know more about Gary’s discography, I can feel Gary’s presence in the piano ballad. No, he wouldn’t write that kind of lyric, but the piano sound, especially the intro part, it sounds like the reverse version of Forever Love. It’s reversed because instead of being lovey and poetic, this intro feels like sad, anger, and strife. Since then, everytime I listen to this song, I would imagine what Gary was like when he wrote this song and record the piano section for Delta. Tousled short hair, awful goatee, slightly chubby, looking gloomy, sitting with his keyboard in recording room.

Anyway, Gary and Eliot also wrote and produced couple of other songs on this album but only this one became a single, the third single to be exact. It was number one in Australia, all is good.

Cut to around 4 years later, in 2007 (I guess, because I forgot when exactly, could be 2008), Take That was back as TT4, Gary was no longer writing songs and producing them for other people because after more than 5 years, he can finally grace the public eye without being shamed, humiliated, and compared to Robbie Williams. He can write songs that he and his three other mates will sing and perform. All is good. However, at that time, I didn’t know Take That, yet. “Patience” probably played randomly on local radio but I wouldn’t care because I was in my manga/anime and Disney phase, with Queen and Guns N’ Roses and other hard rock bop as a weird mix in between. I rarely listen to radio even then, opting for mp3 mix that me or my dad made. But this is the time when I know this song. It was from my dad, he bought bootleg mp3 mix on mp3 stores (there were plenty back in the day before music streaming became a thing) and one of many songs inside that mp3 mix is this one. My first impression was that this song is a good pop ballad. I replayed this song during the car rides and then my dad ended up loving this too. I love this song so much that I made the cover out of it (and couple of years later I uploaded it to my soundcloud). One of the best song I’ve ever heard yet I had no idea who Delta Goodrem even was.

Cut to three years later, 2010. At this moment, I knew “Rule the World”. One afternoon during fasting month, I came home from school early and accidentally watch Stardust on HBO then came the credits and I love the credits song. Took me a while to find it but I finally found out it was “Rule the World” from IMDB. A song by a band named Take That. It also became one of my favorite song of all time. My brother and my dad also enjoyed it when I tune the song during car ride. My dad even once played “Rule the World” over and over again until I’m sick of it. If only I knew at that time Take That finally as TT5 with Robbie who completed the puzzle. They went to make the best album they ever made, Progress. Sadly, I was also on the brink of depression. New school, new environment, no friend to share, some bullying, betrayed by best friend. To cope with that, I was in youtube phase where I watched so many youtube videos and eventually also music covers. I couldn’t careless about some boyband consists of 5 middle age men. I also watched the “Rule the World” music video but you know that video. The quality is awful you can’t see anyone’s faces. I was also convinced at that time that Take That is a pop-rock band 😂 but Rule the World mv confused me tho. Why were all they singing? But why only the frontman is heard? 😂

Two years later, 2012, I watched them perform “Rule the World” in Olympic closing ceremony and that was when I realize Take That is actually a group band.

2013, I listened to “Impossible” by James Arthur thanks to the fact that it was played on supermarket many times. Later on, I found out this song is a cover and that he sang this as his winner song for The X Factor. I watched the video when he sang this and won and realized that one of The X Factor judge is that guy from Take That. So I googled that to confirm, yep it’s true. I didn’t remember his name tho. I just remember he’s handsome 😂

And then five years later, I got the news that Robbie Williams was filling in as World Cup 2018 opening ceremony performer. To this day I still think it’s weird why they invite Robbie instead of the World Cup song’s singer (should be Jason Derulo or Will Smith). I have known Robbie at this point because my dad sometimes would sing “Feel” or “Better Man” during karaoke. So I watched the ceremony on tv. It was good. So I decided to found out more about Robbie Williams beyond “Feel” or “Better Man” while ofc following the World Cup. By the end of World Cup, I knew so much more about Robbie Williams than I was for the last 23 years of my life. The big shock was when I found out he was in Take That!! What?? But he’s not in “Rule the World”??!! Oh but he left in the 90s, so Take That is originally a boyband in the 90s?? But wait, his most recent stint with Take That was in 2010??!!! They made a successful album??! Then I watched “The Flood” music video where Robbie Williams sang the main part and Take That frontman who also that handsome judge in The X Factor sang the second. It was epic!!!! Then I start to remember his name, Gary Barlow. That name would never be erased from my head as I read his wikipedia page to found out that he wrote “Not Me, Not I”. One of my most favorite song of all time. The song that I’ve been singing so many times. Turns out, he made that song. He made “Rule the World”. I was mindblown. No wonder I love these songs.

And that’s the beginning of the journey.

Anyway, this is the album version where you can hear (possibly) Gary’s piano playing. I put Delta’s 10th anniversary version from youtube at the top because I love her performance there. Such an underrated singer.

[annelisterstravelnotes]

Switzerland with Maria and Jane Barlow – Sunday 30 1827

7 1/4

9 20/60

from 8 1/2 to 8 3/4 at church – quite full and people crowding round the door – very orderly clean–looking congregation – the women with their stiff clean white caps all along the middle of the head and flowers or gold work between the 2 stickups – large, good church –

Breakfast from 8 50/60 to 9 40/60 – off from Kusnacht (goodish little town) at 9 3/4 - mounted on 2 heavy black horses and 1 little bay for Jane, and 3 men besides Louis our new guide – 20 minutes along the good (made 34 yeard ago, by Goldan and Lowerz to Schwytz) new road to Ast then stop a moment (do not dismount -  at Tell’s chapel (his history painted in fresco over the door with in the porch) peep into the inside, small, an altar, - nothing to see – and turn right up the Rigi – about 1/2 way between Kusnacht and Toll’s chapel see a little to the right among the wood the small remains of Gesler’s castle – about such another ruin as neu Habsbourg en passant from Lucerne –

very good mule road all the way, partly this a pretty cover of beech and fir, but 3 or 4 steep baddish places – lively views all the way up – almost at the Staffel, pass a little cross – a batelier widower his children grown ups – gathering flowers just above about 27 years ago, slipped, fell down the rock and was killed on the spot – his legs and arms broken in several places - his head crushed to atoms –

got to Rigistaffel at 12 40/60 – leave our portmanteau, etc and send back my horse – Mrs and Miss Barlow ride to the Rigi and have to pay 6 batz per horse péage (toll) – for the road made to the top – delayed a little at the Staffel – behind the rest- but walked from there to the Kulm in 25 minutes from 12 55/60 to 1 20/60 (en passant look down into the hole and down the perpendicular)- hottish walk and cold at the top – good wooden Inn auberge – larger salle à  manger – tolerably good bed rooms above – but small – just room for 2 beds – the rooms (40 beds – sometimes 100 people – sleep in the salle à manger as they can) on each side a corridor – like an hospice – evidently of higher rank than the Staffel which is more of an auberge and where one might be à meilleur marché- but every one must be at the Culur, to see the sun set, and rise – the views most extensive (vide Ebel, article Rigi) – see 8 lakes, then 2 more little ones, out of the 14 mentioned by Ebel – fine view of the mountain fall over Goldau (2 September 1806) – a man about 8 days before had observed a hole on the top of the mountain and one throwing a stone down heard it fall into water – great rain had filled the hole undermined a portion of the mountain and down it went –

from 1 55/60 to 2 12/60 on the look-out, mounted by a high ladder tremendous enough – the most extensive view I ever beheld – By the way, on looking down the perpendicular I thought of (vide Ebel) above 3000 feet found it not so perpendicular as to be able to look down it as one does down the roch Mulham  Cove – but it is tremendous – about 2 years ago little below this a Prussian gentleman in spite of his guide would go too near the edge fell and tho’ the body stopped on a little flat green spot very very far from the bottom, was quite dead – burried at Lucerne – his heart and brain sent to berlin – his wife was a few paces from him when it happened – they had had some disagreement during the day – he had ‘beaucoup de chagrin’ – they thought he did it on purpose –

off from Rigi Kulm at 2 35/60 2 25/60 – 20 minutes descending to the Staffel – a little bread and gruyères cheese there and 1/2 bottle common wine – had meant to sleep at Schwytz –  determined to return to the Kulm to sleep for the chance of seeing sunset and sunrise –

at 3 35/60 all set off to back again – arrived at 4 14/60 – our 2 rooms east and west – sat in patient expectation – some times at 1st first we had hope – but the clouds were against us – yet in walking up again struck with the difference made by the evening light – the clouds (tho’ we had a good clear day) shifted and with them our points of view – the scene more sombre – perhaps more  pleasing –  at 5 20/60 can hardly see a dozen yards before us to the westward – soon afterwards the clouds seem to envelop us on all sides and we have a little rain – in the midst 2 or 3 arrivals of ladies and gents. – damp if not wet and shivering – at 6 1/2 clouds cleared off a little- to the westward see a lit lense of fiery red resting on the mountain top, the parting reflection from the sun gone down – this was fine – a fir sunset here must indeed be fine –

now at 7 1/2 p.m. the wind is whistling – but ‘tis fair, and we have had a beautiful day for the ascent – finding it cold and some what comfortless ordered hot soup and fried eggs and boiled ditto and bread and butter, and sat down at 8 and made a tolerable meal tho’ the egg-soup was very bad and we kept the hard boiled eggs for Mrs and Miss Barlow tomorrow –

[drthetasigma14]

Lovecraft Fic/RP Prompts

The Commonplace Book of H.P. Lovecraft

This book consists of ideas, images, & quotations hastily jotted down for possible future use in weird fiction. Very few are actually developed plots—for the most part they are merely suggestions or random impressions designed to set the memory or imagination working. Their sources are various—dreams, things read, casual incidents, idle conceptions, & so on.—H. P. Lovecraft

Presented to R. H. Barlow, Esq., on May 7, 1934—in exchange for an admirably neat typed copy from his skilled hand.

1. Demophon shivered when the sun shone upon him. (Lover of darkness = ignorance.)

2. Inhabitants of Zinge, over whom the star Canopus rises every night, are always gay and without sorrow.

3. The shores of Attica respond in song to the waves of the Aegean.

4. Horror Story. Man dreams of falling—found on floor mangled as tho’ from falling from a vast height.

5. Narrator walks along unfamiliar country road,—comes to strange region of the unreal. 

6. In Ld Dunsany’s “Idle Days on the Yann.” The inhabitants of the antient Astahan, on the Yann, do all things according to antient ceremony. Nothing new is found. “Here we have fetter’d and manacled Time, who wou’d otherwise slay the Gods.”

7. Horror Story. The sculptured hand—or other artificial hand—which strangles its creator.

8. Hor. Sto. Man makes appt. with old enemy. Dies—body keeps appt.

9. Dr. Eben Spencer plot.

10. Dream of flying over city.

11. Odd nocturnal ritual. Beasts dance and march to musick.

12. Happenings in interval between preliminary sound and striking of clock—ending— “it was the tones of the clock striking three”.

13. House and garden—old—associations. Scene takes on strange aspect.

14. Hideous sound in the dark.

15. Bridge and slimy black waters.

16. The walking dead—seemingly alive, but—.

17. Doors found mysteriously open and shut etc.—excite terror.

18. Calamander-wood—a very valuable cabinet wood of Ceylon and S. India, resembling rosewood.

19. Revise 1907 tale—painting of ultimate horror.

20. Man journeys into the past—or imaginative realm—leaving bodily shell behind.

21. A very ancient colossus in a very ancient desert. Face gone—no man hath seen it. 

22. Mermaid Legend—Encyc. Britt. XVI—40.

23. The man who would not sleep—dares not sleep—takes drugs to keep himself awake. Finally falls asleep—and something happens. Motto from Baudelaire p. 214.

24. Dunsany—Go-By Street. Man stumbles on dream world—returns to earth—seeks to go back—succeeds, but finds dream world ancient and decayed as though by thousands of years. 

1919

25. Man visits museum of antiquities—asks that it accept a bas-relief he has just made—old and learned curator laughs and says he cannot accept anything so modern. Man says that ‘dreams are older than brooding Egypt or the contemplative Sphinx or garden-girdled Babylonia’ and that he had fashioned the sculpture in his dreams. Curator bids him shew his product, and when he does so curator shews horror. Asks who the man may be. He tells modern name. “No—before that” says curator. Man does not remember except in dreams. Then curator offers high price, but man fears he means to destroy sculpture. Asks fabulous price—curator will consult directors. Add good development and describe nature of bas-relief.

26. Dream of ancient castle stairs—sleeping guards—narrow window—battle on plain between men of England and men of yellow tabards with red dragons. Leader of English challenges leader of foe to single combat. They fight. Foe unhelmeted, but there is no head revealed. Whole army of foe fades into mist, and watcher finds himself to be the English knight on the plain, mounted. Looks at castle, and sees a peculiar concentration of fantastic clouds over the highest battlements.

27. Life and Death. Death—its desolation and horror—bleak spaces—sea-bottom—dead cities. But Life—the greater horror! Vast unheard-of reptiles and leviathans—hideous beasts of prehistoric jungle—rank slimy vegetation—evil instincts of primal man—Life is more horrible than death.

28. The Cats of Ulthar. The cat is the soul of antique Ægyptus and bearer of tales from forgotten cities of Meroë and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle’s lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.

29. Dream of Seekonk—ebbing tide—bolt from sky—exodus from Providence—fall of Congregational dome. 

30. Strange visit to a place at night—moonlight—castle of great magnificence etc. Daylight shews either abandonment or unrecognisable ruins—perhaps of vast antiquity.

31. Prehistoric man preserved in Siberian ice. (See Winchell—Walks and Talks in the Geological field—p. 156 et seq.)

32. As dinosaurs were once surpassed by mammals, so will man-mammal be surpassed by insect or bird—fall of man before the new race.

33. Determinism and prophecy.

34. Moving away from earth more swiftly than light—past gradually unfolded—horrible revelation.

35. Special beings with special senses from remote universes. Advent of an external universe to view.

36. Disintegration of all matter to electrons and finally empty space assured, just as devolution of energy to radiant heat is known. Case of acceleration—man passes into space. 

37. Peculiar odour of a book of childhood induces repetition of childhood fancy.

38. Drowning sensations—undersea—cities—ships—souls of the dead. Drowning is a horrible death.

39. Sounds—possibly musical—heard in the night from other worlds or realms of being.

40. Warning that certain ground is sacred or accursed; that a house or city must not be built upon it—or must be abandoned or destroyed if built, under penalty of catastrophe. 

41. The Italians call Fear La figlia della Morte—the daughter of Death.

42. Fear of mirrors—memory of dream in which scene is altered and climax is hideous surprise at seeing oneself in the water or a mirror. (Identity?)

43. Monsters born living—burrow underground and multiply, forming race of unsuspected daemons.

44. Castle by pool or river—reflection fixed thro’ centuries—castle destroyed, reflection lives to avenge destroyers weirdly.

45. Race of immortal Pharaohs dwelling beneath pyramids in vast subterranean halls down black staircases. 

46 . Hawthorne—unwritten plot. Visitor from tomb—stranger at some publick concourse followed at midnight to graveyard where he descends into the earth.

47. From Arabia Encyc. Britan. II—255. Prehistoric fabulous tribes of Ad in the south, Thamood in the north, and Tasm and Jadis in the centre of the peninsula. “Very gorgeous are the descriptions given of Irem, the City of Pillars (as the Koran styles it) supposed to have been erected by Shedad, the latest despot of Ad, in the regions of Hadramaut, and which yet, after the annihilation of its tenants, remains entire, so Arabs say, invisible to ordinary eyes, but occasionally and at rare intervals, revealed to some heaven-favoured traveller.” // Rock excavations in N.W. Hejaz ascribed to Thamood tribe.

48. Cities wiped out by supernatural wrath.

49. AZATHOTH—hideous name.

50. Phleg′-e-thon: a river of liquid fire in Hades.

51. Enchanted garden where moon casts shadow of object or ghost invisible to the human eye.

52. Calling on the dead—voice or familiar sound in adjacent room.

53. Hand of dead man writes.

54. Transposition of identity.

55. Man followed by invisible thing.

56. Book or MS. too horrible to read—warned against reading it—someone reads and is found dead. Haverhill incident.

57. Sailing or rowing on lake in moonlight—sailing into invisibility.

58. A queer village—in a valley, reached by a long road and visible from the crest of the hill from which that road descends—or close to a dense and antique forest.

59. Man in strange subterranean chamber—seeks to force door of bronze—overwhelmed by influx of waters.

60. Fisherman casts his net into the sea by moonlight—what he finds.

61. A terrible pilgrimage to seek the nighted throne of the far daemon-sultan Azathoth.

62. Live man buried in bridge masonry according to superstition—or black cat.

63. Sinister names—Nasht—Kaman-Thah.

64. Identity—reconstruction of personality—man makes duplicate of himself.

65. Riley’s fear of undertakers—door locked on inside after death.

66. Catacombs discovered beneath a city (in America?).

67. An impression—city in peril—dead city—equestrian statue—men in closed room—clattering of hooves heard from outside—marvel disclosed on looking out—doubtful ending. 

68. Murder discovered—body located—by psychological detective who pretends he has made walls of room transparent. Works on fear of murderer.

69. Man with unnatural face—oddity of speaking—found to be a mask—Revelation.

70. Tone of extreme phantasy. Man transformed to island or mountain.

71. Man has sold his soul to devil—returns to family from trip—life afterward—fear—culminating horror—novel length. 

72. Hallowe’en incident—mirror in cellar—face seen therein—death (claw-mark?).

73. Rats multiply and exterminate first a single city and then all mankind. Increased size and intelligence.

74. Italian revenge—killing self in cell with enemy—under castle.

75. Black Mass under antique church.

76. Ancient cathedral—hideous gargoyle—man seeks to rob—found dead—gargoyle’s jaw bloody.

77. Unspeakable dance of the gargoyles—in morning several gargoyles on old cathedral found transposed.

78. Wandering thro’ labyrinth of narrow slum streets—come on distant light—unheard-of rites of swarming beggars—like Court of Miracles in Notre Dame de Paris.

79. Horrible secret in crypt of ancient castle—discovered by dweller.

80. Shapeless living thing forming nucleus of ancient building.

81. Marblehead—dream—burying hill—evening—unreality.

82. Power of wizard to influence dreams of others.

1920

83. Quotation “. . . a defunct nightmare, which had perished in the midst of its wickedness, and left its flabby corpse on the breast of the tormented one, to be gotten rid of as it might.”—Hawthorne

84. Hideous cracked discords of bass musick from (ruin’d) organ in (abandon’d) abbey or cathedral.

85. “For has not Nature, too, her grotesques—the rent rock, the distorting lights of evening on lonely roads, the unveiled structure of man in the embryo, or the skeleton?” Pater—Renaissance (da Vinci).

86. To find something horrible in a (perhaps familiar) book, and not to be able to find it again.

87. Borellus says, “that the Essential Salts of animals may be so prepared and preserved, that an ingenious man may have the whole ark of Noah in his own Study, and raise the fine shape of an animal out of its ashes at his pleasure; and that by the like method from the Essential Salts of humane dust, a Philosopher may, without any criminal necromancy, call up the shape of any dead ancestor from the dust whereinto his body has been incinerated.”

88. Lonely philosopher fond of cat. Hypnotises it—as it were—by repeatedly talking to it and looking at it. After his death the cat evinces signs of possessing his personality. N.B. He has trained cat, and leaves it to a friend, with instructions as to fitting a pen to its right fore paw by means of a harness. Later writes with deceased’s own handwriting.

89. Lone lagoons and swamps of Louisiana—death daemon—ancient house and gardens—moss-grown trees—festoons of Spanish moss.

1922

90. Anencephalous or brainless monster who survives and attains prodigious size.

91. Lost winter day—slept over—20 yrs. later. Sleep in chair on summer night—false dawn—old scenery and sensations—cold—old persons now dead—horror—frozen?

92. Man’s body dies—but corpse retains life. Stalks about—tries to conceal odour of decay—detained somewhere—hideous climax.

93. A place one has been—a beautiful view of a village or farm-dotted valley in the sunset—which one cannot find again or locate in memory.

94. Change comes over the sun—shews objects in strange form, perhaps restoring landscape of the past.

95. Horrible Colonial farmhouse and overgrown garden on city hillside—overtaken by growth. Verse “The House” as basis of story.

96. Unknown fires seen across the hills at night.

97. Blind fear of a certain woodland hollow where streams writhe among crooked roots, and where on a buried altar terrible sacrifices have occur’d—Phosphorescence of dead trees. Ground bubbles.

98. Hideous old house on steep city hillside—Bowen St.—beckons in the night—black windows—horror unnam’d—cold touch and voice—the welcome of the dead.

1923

99. Salem story—the cottage of an aged witch—wherein after her death are found sundry terrible things.

100. Subterranean region beneath placid New England village, inhabited by (living or extinct) creatures of prehistoric antiquity and strangeness.

101. Hideous secret society—widespread—horrible rites in caverns under familiar scenes—one’s own neighbour may belong. 

102. Corpse in room performs some act—prompted by discussion in its presence. Tears up or hides will, etc.

103. Sealed room—or at least no lamp allowed there. Shadow on wall.

104. Old sea tavern now far inland from made land. Strange occurrences—sound of lapping of waves. 

105. Vampire visits man in ancestral abode—is his own father.

106. A thing that sat on a sleeper’s chest. Gone in morning, but something left behind.

1923

107. Wall paper cracks off in sinister shape—man dies of fright.

108. Educated mulatto seeks to displace personality of white man and occupy his body.

109. Ancient negro voodoo wizard in cabin in swamp—possesses white man.

110. Antediluvian—Cyclopean ruins on lonely Pacific island. Centre of earthwide subterranean witch cult.

111. Ancient ruin in Alabama swamp—voodoo.

112. Man lives near graveyard—how does he live? Eats no food.

113. Biological-hereditary memories of other worlds and universes. Butler—God Known and Unk. p. 59.

114. Death lights dancing over a salt marsh.

115. Ancient castle within sound of weird waterfall—sound ceases for a time under strange conditions.

116. Prowling at night around an unlighted castle amidst strange scenery.

117. A secret living thing kept and fed in an old house.

1924

118. Something seen at oriel window of forbidden room in ancient manor house.

119. Art note—fantastick daemons of Salvator Rosa or Fuseli (trunk-proboscis).

120. Talking bird of great longevity—tells secret long afterward.

121. Photius tells of a (lost) writer named Damascius, who wrote “Incredible Fictions,” “Tales of Daemons,” “Marvellous Stories of Appearances from the Dead”.

122. Horrible things whispered in the lines of Gauthier de Metz (13th cen.) “Image du Monde”.

123. Dried-up man living for centuries in cataleptic state in ancient tomb.

124. Hideous secret assemblage at night in antique alley—disperse furtively one by one—one seen to drop something—a human hand—

125. Man abandon’d by ship—swimming in sea—pickt up hours later with strange story of undersea region he has visited—mad??

126. Castaways on island eat unknown vegetation and become strangely transformed.

127. Ancient and unknown ruins—strange and immortal bird who speaks in a language horrifying and revelatory to the explorers.

128. Individual, by some strange process, retraces the path of evolution and becomes amphibious.

1925

129. Marble Faun p. 346—strange and prehistorick Italian city of stone.

130. N.E. region call’d “Witches’ Hollow”—along course of a river. Rumours of witches’ sabbaths and Indian powwows on a broad mound rising out of the level where some old hemlocks and beeches formed a dark grove or daemon-temple. Legends hard to account for. Holmes—Guardian Angel.

131. Phosphorescence of decaying wood—called in New England “fox-fire”.

132. Mad artist in ancient sinister house draws things. What were his models? Glimpse.

133. Man has miniature shapeless Siamese twin—exhib. in circus—twin surgically detached—disappears—does hideous things with malign life of his own.

134. Witches’ Hollow novel? Man hired as teacher in private school misses road on first trip—encounters dark hollow with unnaturally swollen trees and small cottage (light in window?). Reaches school and hears that boys are forbidden to visit hollow. One boy is strange—teacher sees him visit hollow—odd doings—mysterious disappearance or hideous fate.

135. Hideous world superimposed on visible world—gate through—power guides narrator to ancient and forbidden book with directions for access.

136. A secret language spoken by a very few old men in a wild country leads to hidden marvels and terrors still surviving.

137. Strange man seen in lonely mountain place talking with great winged thing which flies away as others approach.

138. Someone or something cries in fright at sight of the rising moon, as if it were something strange.

139. DELRIO asks “An sint unquam daemones incubi et succubae, et an ex tali congressu proles nasci queat?” [Red Hook]

140. Explorer enters strange land where some atmospheric quality darkens the sky to virtual blackness—marvels therein.

1926

141. Footnote by Haggard or Lang in “The World’s Desire”: “Probably the mysterious and indecipherable ancient books, which were occasionally excavated in old Egypt, were written in this dead language of a more ancient and now forgotten people. Such was the book discovered at Coptos, in the ancient sanctuary there, by a priest of the Goddess. ‘The whole earth was dark, but the moon shone all about the Book.’ A scribe of the period of the Ramessids mentions another in indecipherable ancient writing. ‘Thou tellest me thou understandest no word of it, good or bad. There is, as it were, a wall about it that none may climb. Thou art instructed, yet thou knowest it not; this makes me afraid.’ Birch Zeitschrift 1871 pp. 61–64 Papyrus Anastasi I pl. X, l.8, pl. X l.4. Maspero, Hist. Anc. pp. 66–67.

142. Members of witch-cult were buried face downward. Man investigates ancestor in family tomb and finds disquieting condition.

143. Strange well in Arkham country—water gives out (or was never struck —hole kept tightly covered by a stone ever since dug)—no bottom—shunned and feared—what lay beneath (either unholy temple or other very ancient thing, or great cave-world).

144. Hideous book glimpsed in ancient shop—never seen again.

145. Horrible boarding house—closed door never opened.

146. Ancient lamp found in tomb—when filled and used, its light reveals strange world.

147. Any very ancient, unknown, or prehistoric object—its power of suggestion—forbidden memories.

148. Vampire dog. 

149. Evil alley or enclosed court in ancient city—Union or Milligan St. 

150. Visit to someone in wild and remote house—ride from station through the night—into the haunted hills—house by forest or water—terrible things live there.

151. Man forced to take shelter in strange house. Host has thick beard and dark glasses. Retires. In night guest rises and sees host’s clothes about—also mask which was the apparent face of whatever the host was. Flight.

152. Autonomic nervous system and subconscious mind do not reside in the head. Have mad physician decapitate a man but keep him alive and subconsciously controlled. Avoid copying tale by W. C. Morrow.

1928

153. Black cat on hill near dark gulf of ancient inn yard. Mew hoarsely—invites artist to nighted mysteries beyond. Finally dies at advanced age. Haunts dreams of artist—lures him to follow—strange outcome (never wakes up? or makes bizarre discovery of an elder world outside 3-dimensioned space?)

154. Trophonius—cave of. Vide Class. Dict. and Atlantic article.

155. Steepled town seen from afar at sunset—does not light up at night. Sail has been seen putting out to sea.

156. Adventures of a disembodied spirit—thro’ dim, half-familiar cities and over strange moors—thro’ space and time—other planets and universes in the end.

157. Vague lights, geometrical figures, etc., seen on retina when eyes are closed. Caus’d by rays from other dimensions acting on optick nerve? From other planets? Connected with a life or phase of being in which person could live if he only knew how to get there? Man afraid to shut eyes—he has been somewhere on a terrible pilgrimage and this fearsome seeing faculty remains.

158. Man has terrible wizard friend who gains influence over him. Kills him in defence of his soul—walls body up in ancient cellar—BUT—the dead wizard (who has said strange things about soul lingering in body) changes bodies with him . . . leaving him a conscious corpse in cellar.

159. Certain kind of deep-toned stately music of the style of the 1870’s or 1880’s recalls certain visions of that period—gas-litten parlours of the dead, moonlight on old floors, decaying business streets with gas lamps, etc.—under terrible circumstances.

160. Book which induces sleep on reading—cannot be read—determined man reads it—goes mad—precautions taken by aged initiate who knows—protection (as of author and translator) by incantation.

161. Time and space—past event—150 yrs ago—unexplained. Modern period—person intensely homesick for past says or does something which is psychically transmitted back and actually causes the past event.

162. Ultimate horror—grandfather returns from strange trip—mystery in house—wind and darkness—grandf. and mother engulfed—questions forbidden—somnolence—investigation—cataclysm—screams overheard—

163. Man whose money was obscurely made loses it. Tells his family he must go again to THE PLACE (horrible and sinister and extra-dimensional) where he got his gold. Hints of possible pursuers—or of his possible non-return. He goes—record of what happens to him—or what happens at his home when he returns. Perhaps connect with preceding topic. Give fantastic, quasi-Dunsanian treatment.

164. Man observed in a publick place with features (or ring or jewel) identified with those of man long (perhaps generations) buried. 

165. Terrible trip to an ancient and forgotten tomb.

166. Hideous family living in shadow in ancient castle by edge of wood near black cliffs and monstrous waterfall.

167. Boy rear’d in atmosphere of considerable mystery. Believes father dead. Suddenly is told that father is about to return. Strange preparations—consequences. 

168. Lonely bleak islands off N.E. coast. Horrors they harbour—outpost of cosmic influences.

169. What hatches from primordial egg.

170. Strange man in shadowy quarter of ancient city possesses something of immemorial archaic horror.

171. Hideous old book discovered—directions for shocking evocation.

1930

172. Pre-human idol found in desert.

173. Idol in museum moves in a certain way.

174. Migration of Lemmings—Atlantis. 

175. Little green Celtic figures dug up in an ancient Irish bog.

176. Man blindfolded and taken in closed cab or car to some very ancient and secret place.

177. The dreams of one man actually create a strange half-mad world of quasi-material substance in another dimension. Another man, also a dreamer, blunders into this world in a dream. What he finds. Intelligence of denizens. Their dependence on the first dreamer. What happens at his death.

178. A very ancient tomb in the deep woods near where a 17th century Virginia manor-house used to be. The undecayed, bloated thing found within.

179. Appearance of an ancient god in a lonely and archaic place—prob. temple ruin. Atmosphere of beauty rather than horror. Subtle handling—presence revealed by faint sound or shadow. Landscape changes? Seen by child? Impossible to reach or identify locale again?

180. A general house of horror—nameless crime—sounds—later tenants—(Flammarion) (novel length?).

181. Inhabitant of another world—face masked, perhaps with human skin or surgically alter’d human shape, but body alien beneath robes. Having reached earth, tries to mix with mankind. Hideous revelation. 

182. In ancient buried city a man finds a mouldering prehistoric document in English and in his own handwriting, telling an incredible tale. Voyage from present into past implied. Possible actualisation of this.

183. Reference in Egyptian papyrus to a secret of secrets under tomb of high-priest Ka-Nefer. Tomb finally found and identified—trap door in stone floor—staircase, and the illimitable black abyss.

184. Expedition lost in Antarctic or other weird place. Skeletons and effects found years later. Camera films used but undeveloped. Finders develop—and find strange horror.

185. Scene of an urban horror—Sous le Cap or Champlain Sts.—Quebec—rugged cliff-face—moss, mildew, dampness—houses half-burrowing into cliff.

186. Thing from sea—in dark house, man finds doorknobs etc. wet as from touch of something. He has been a sea-captain, and once found a strange temple on a volcanically risen island.

1931

187. Dream of awaking in vast hall of strange architecture, with sheet-covered forms on slabs—in positions similar to one’s own. Suggestions of disturbingly non-human outlines under sheets. One of the objects moves and throws off sheet—non-terrestrial being revealed. Sugg. that oneself is also such a being—mind has become transferred to body on other planet. 

188. Desert of rock—prehistoric door in cliff, in the valley around which lie the bones of uncounted billions of animals both modern and prehistoric—some of them puzzlingly gnawed.

189. Ancient necropolis—bronze door in hillside which opens as the moonlight strikes it—focussed by ancient lens in pylon opposite?

1932

190. Primal mummy in museum—awakes and changes place with visitor.

191. An odd wound appears on a man’s hand suddenly and without apparent cause. Spreads. Consequences.

1933

192. Thibetan ROLANG—Sorcerer (or NGAGSPA) reanimates a corpse by holding it in a dark room—lying on it mouth to mouth and repeating a magic formula with all else banished from his mind. Corpse slowly comes to life and stands up. Tries to escape—leaps, bounds, and struggles—but sorcerer holds it. Continues with magic formula. Corpse sticks out tongue and sorcerer bites it off. Corpse then collapses. Tongue become a valuable magic talisman. If corpse escapes—hideous results and death to sorcerer.

193. Strange book of horror discovered in ancient library. Paragraphs of terrible significance copies. Later unable to find and verify text. Perhaps discover body or image or charm under floor, in secret cupboard, or elsewhere. Idea that book was merely hypnotic delusion induced by dead brain or ancient magic.

194. Man enters (supposedly) own house in pitch dark. Feels way to room and shuts door behind him. Strange horrors—or turns on lights and finds alien place or presence. Or finds past restored or future indicated.

195. Pane of peculiar-looking glass from a ruined monastery reputed to have harboured devil-worship set up in modern house at edge of wild country. Landscape looks vaguely and unplaceably wrong through it. It has some unknown time-distorting quality, and comes from a primal, lost civilisation. Finally, hideous things in other world seen through it.

196. Daemons, when desiring an human form for evil purposes, take to themselves the bodies of hanged men.

197. Loss of memory and entry into a cloudy world of strange sights and experiences after shock, accident, reading of strange book, participation in strange rite, draught of strange brew, etc. Things seen have vague and disquieting familiarity. Emergence. Inability to retrace course.

1934

198. Distant tower visible from hillside window. Bats cluster thickly around it at night. Observer fascinated. One night wakes to find self on unknown black circular staircase. In tower? Hideous goal.

199. Black winged thing flies into one’s house at night. Cannot be found or identified—but subtle developments ensue.

200. Invisible Thing felt—or seen to make prints—on mountain top or other height, inaccessible place.

201. Planets form’d of invisible matter.

202. A monstrous derelict—found and boarded by a castaway or shipwreck survivor.

203. A return to a place under dreamlike, horrible, and only dimly comprehended circumstances. Death and decay reigning—town fails to light up at night—Revelation.

204. Disturbing conviction that all life is only a deceptive dream with some dismal or sinister horror lurking behind.

205. Person gazes out window and finds city and world dark and dead (or oddly changed) outside.

206. Trying to identify and visit the distant scenes dimly seen from one’s window—bizarre consequences.

207. Something snatched away from one in the dark—in a lonely, ancient, and generally shunned place.

208. (Dream of) some vehicle—railway train, coach, etc.—which is boarded in a stupor or fever, and which is a fragment of some past or ultra-dimensional world—taking the passenger out of reality—into vague, age-crumbled regions or unbelievable gulfs of marvel.

1935

209. Special Correspondence of NY Times—March 3, 1935 “Halifax, N.S.—Etched deeply into the face of an island which rises from the Atlantic surges off the S. coast of Nova Scotia 20 m. from Halifax is the strangest rock phenomenon which Canada boasts. Storm, sea, and frost have graven into the solid cliff of what has come to be known as Virgin’s Island an almost perfect outline of the Madonna with the Christ Child in her arms. The island has sheer and wave-bound sides, is a danger to ships, and is absolutely uninhabited. So far as is known, no human being has ever set foot on its shores.”

210. An ancient house with blackened pictures on the walls—so obscured that their subjects cannot be deciphered. Cleaning—and revelation. Cf. Hawthorne—Edw. Rand. Port.

211. Begin story with presence of narrator—inexplicable to himself—in utterly alien and terrifying scenes (dream?).

212. Strange human being (or beings) living in some ancient house or ruins far from populous district (either old N.E. or far exotic land). Suspicion (based on shape and habits) that it is not all human.

213. Ancient winter woods—moss—great boles—twisted branches—dark—ribbed roots—always dripping. . . .

214. Talking rock of Africa—immemorially ancient oracle in desolate jungle ruins that speaks with a voice out of the aeons. 

215. Man with lost memory in strange, imperfectly comprehended environment. Fears to regain memory—a glimpse. . . .

216. Man idly shapes a queer image—some power impels him to make it queerer than he understands. Throws it away in disgust—but something is abroad in the night.

217. Ancient (Roman? prehistoric?) stone bridge washed away by a (sudden and curious?) storm. Something liberated which had been sealed up in the masonry of years ago. Things happen.

218. Mirage in time—image of long-vanish’d pre-human city.

219. Fog or smoke—assumes shaped under incantations.

220. Bell of some ancient church or castle rung by some unknown hand—a thing . . . or an invisible Presence.

221. Insects or other entities from space attack and penetrate a man’s head and cause him to remember alien and exotic things—possible displacement of personality.

[nosunlite]

ap top 25 list: 2k17, a month late

The AP “Audio Popularity” Poll was Ben’s way to get us all to make a list and talk about our favorite songs of the month, back when we were all living in the same house. He describes it here. I have since cut back to doing it every year, with the ever shifting goal of defining “audio popularity” and “favorite” and “best”. 

This year’s list, 5 years after Ben’s death, my main goal is to identify 25 awesome tracks that I’d love to talk to Ben about. They are my favorite 25 songs of the year, a focus on new discoveries (tho a few songs from last year’s list show up), songs that I surely would’ve dubbed for Ben back in the day.

25. the rats: the rats’ revenge

60’s punk rager - an era we did not ever go deep into, but now it’s time to eat up those Back from the Grave comps.

24. fluf: stuffed animal

Not their typical noise-grunge, which Ben yeah loved (he lived Sub Pop inexplicably into the 2010s), but a Sebadoh-esque minimal gem.

23. LNZ: blondehairdown

The most quoted song of 2k17 for me. Ben was always into weird local rappers no matter where he was. Sharing this internet-destroying monstrosity with him would be a conversation for thee ages!

22. new kingdom: terror mad visionary

tom waits as MC sounds like a thing ben would love or hate (he rejected lots of undie rappers for their not slamming hard enough) but this stuff is so pirate-vocalled that i’d love to have asked him what was going on here.

21. octa#grape: dirigibles

The most soul-junk of galaxalag’s new group, spinning all sortsa weird beats into their calm noise.

20. wovenhand: golden blossom

16 hp was a shared favorite, and i’d love to go thru these new DEE albums with ben.

19. slim cessna’s auto club: commandment 3

Seeing these guys live was a total revival that was up Ben’s alley. Dwight Pentecost  and his doubleneck guitar with hologram switching from Sacred Heart to Marian Immaculate Heart. Munly looking like a straight up ghoul man, gathering us into a circle, and chiding me for screaming the lyrics too loud. Slim just hamming it up preacher style. Rebecca wielding all sortsa kitchen sinks and keeping it together. They encored to “Commandment 3” in a karaoke choreograph line dance. One of the few shows I’ve seen that really produced a spectacle within a minimalist framework.

18. kleenex girl wonder: dont wait up

An alternative bee-thousand.

17. puff pieces: competition

The local DC stuff always seems to be ahead of the rest.

16. arroyo deathmatch: swimming the witch

They acoustic thrash their folk without guitars and just uke! This one sprays rap tropes and references all over the Crassy gender politics. Joyous bleakness!

15. the out_circuit: come out shooting

A wonderful sequel to our favorite Frodus “Year of the Hex.”

14. ramshackle glory: punk is the worst form of music, except for all the others

Anarcho politics and emotions, what drew me into punk.

13. a fistful of dynamite: smoke it, like a cigarette

More acoustic thrash folk with an even worse vocalist. “Write my own favorite songs/ write my own singalongs...you think this is bad? Well it just gets more rough!”. The world’s worst snare sound. Charmed!

12. shellac: riding bikes

He was an albini fan, and we would definitely have spent time jamming his new ones. And what an epic this one is.

11. bradley hathaway: the world is screaming

I could see ben finding it utterly pretentious, but bradley straddles that line of being so serious but also so reckless, so honest and so charming to me. His new album is the best, riotous blasphemy as prayer, but this one does the post rock building ben taught me to dig.

10. lou barlow: try 2 b

Our indie legend put out a great one (years olde already?), oh well, it slams lo-fi.

9. the beakers: 4 steps towards a cultural revolution

Ben downplays a lot of thee weird punk, but weird punk from his beloved Seattle scene? He’d dig! This out Ubus David Thomas. Ultra.

8. ps eliot: the cyborg

Reminds me of so much of the stuff on the ktru tapes, but this struck me very hard this year.

7. lifter puller: mission viejo

Most of their weird stuff has more to discuss, i guess, with the spoken stories and nonsense arrangements, but this is just an indie rock emotion block of thee highest order.

6. defiance, ohio: calling old friends

A classic campfire singalong.

5. henry thomas: when the train comes along

Not Thomas’ most canonical or comp’d performance, but such a stomper. Ben got me into old timey music and the last cd’s he ripped from me were the pseudo-old-timey boxset from Fonotone.

4. ballydowse: sails

An albini-produced christian-anarcho celtic folk/punk group relying prominently on tuvan throat singing. And yet it took me til 2k17 to find it. Ben used to be after a Crashdog CD at Family Bookstore, but this stuff would’ve taken it to a whole nother level. The best band you don’t know!

3. snail mail: static buzz

Woulda been a ktru darling. Local bmore rock girl makes it big - new album gonna be on Matadork.

2. mike knott: double

We always ignored the mike knott stuff, but this year has been all about rediscovering the blonde vinyl roster, and that dip goes deep. This song is an undeniable one, whether live at Cornerstone or with the *gasp* secular Aunty Bettys playing it.

1. showbread: matthias replaces judas

This raw rock was the first new rekkerd i listened to after we found out ben had died, but a song that has only emerged more recently as a post-Pedro emotional cleansing monster. Ben loved “Every New Day” with the Reese Roper vocals, he’d love this too. & it’s the best song ever, so he’d better...

honorable mentions:

Blackbird Raum - Last Legs // Acoustic thrash folk! He’d be thrilled to see Wacko-Hed’s genre is alive ‘n’ well...

Double Dagger - The Lie / The Truth // Righteous at the drive-ining.

City of Caterpillar - A Little Change Could Go a Long Ways // One of the bands that indoctrinated me into punk rock seeing them live - i put off listening to their cd until recently. Ben would talk about how NoU did it better, I’m sure!

William Elliot Whitmore - cold and dead // Ugly blues voice on this Americana death tinged guy.

Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace of God / Fairytale of New York // We never talked about the Pogues. They hit most of the sweetspots for me emotionally and aesthetically. Ben loved Cordelia’s Dad, and this is their Dad.

Model Engine - Reeperbahn // Ah a CCM classic - I knew we had to listen to Black Eyed Sceva, but unsure how much play this one ever got in the CCM era.

Lift to Experience - to guard and to guide // They post rocked the map to Texas. I remember expecting to find this in the used CD store when I visited Ben at Rice. Now it’s been reissued and is weirder packaged and sounding than ever - really woulda liked to listen to this with him.

Flesh Eaters - Pray till You Sweat // Richard Hell in Violent Femmes skin godsend

EZT - Central Control // Some sorta Neil Young smog. Who knows.

close:

mike knott - rocket and a bomb; one way streets - we all love peanut butter; 3 mile pilot - house is loss; i hate myself - urban barbie, keep reaching for those stars; fistful of dynamite - tribute to castellana; arroyo deathmatch - as an instrument, all the best matadors are fascists, casting into the void; azealia banks - 212; lifter puller - star wars hips, plymouth rock, math is money, 4dix; ramshackle glory - face the void, eulogy for an adolescence shattered against elliot st. pavement; kleenex girl wonder - tendency right foot forward, the sound of paul, why i write such good songs; new kingdom - kicking like bruce lee; slim cessna - commandment 7, hold my head, he roger williams; aunt bettys - speeder mode; shellac - dude incredible; snail mail - thinning; 2 whole Fountainsun and Aesop Rock lps...

[awkwardlyprocrastinating]

What are some good Christian bands???

Well Anonymous Darling, you're about to find out! Some listed i don't listen to anymore...Just because I guess I grew out of them or my music taste changed. So I'm saying some bands I don't listen to now and I do not stand by anything bad they say now. • Casting Crowns. Their music has a country kind of feel. They have many good songs. •RED. Hard rock/Screamo band, I listen to some of their stuff but it doesn't really speak to me persay. My friends really love them tho.• King's Kaleidoscope. They have almost a rock, but like a really soft almost country feel. I can't describe it. I've heard only one or two songs, but I liked those ones. Otherwise I can't really say much about them. •Flyleaf. Now settle down my dear and let me tell you about Flyleaf. Original Flyleaf with Lacey Mosely (now Sturm) was hard rock/Screamo and it was on the verge of not Christian but Christian kinda deal. Their best album, in my opinion, was Memento Mori. I haven't heard every album, but I did hear quite a few. Now new Flyleaf is led by Kristen May, I've only heard their album Between the Stars, which I think is the only album they have. It has more of a rock feel...With maybe some pop idk how to describe it. I have in fact heard Kristen's own album, which is ten times better then this. In this album she almost pushes her voice to sound like Lacey. •Lacey Sturm. Her album is Life Screams and dear God it is good! Rock. With the exception of an acoustic song at the end, Run To You (wanna hear God's unconditional love? BAM That's the song)•Thousand Foot Krutch, or TFK. They are a rock band, I used to listen to them but don't anymore. I haven't heard their new stuff, if they even have any. My favourite album was Phenomenon. •Nine Lashes. Rock band however their most recent album I have heard sounds pop. They are good.•We As Human. Hard rock band I guess would be the correct term. •Barlow Girl. I guess a rock band, I used to listen to a lot. I don't now but who knows, maybe they have some really good stuff.• Lecrae. Rap, but he's good. His most recent stuff I haven't heard, but what I have I have enjoyed. •KB. Also rap, my favourite album is Weight and Glory. Probably the main album I listen to, haven't heard much of his other stuff. •Andy Mineo. I have heard some stuff and it was interesting. My friends love him, and swear he's one of the best Christian rappers however I tend to disagree. I don't listen to him usually unless it's in a mix or a playlist.•Relient K. This band is...more of an acoustic, well back in the day it was. I haven't listened to their most recent album, but they are good.•Family Force 5. Pop rock band I guess is the term, maybe a hint of electronic. Don't bash me cause I can't think of the right terms. I don't listen to them now persay but when I have heard them they are good. •Crowder. More of a country feel. Good band, my favourite song by far is Lift Your Head Weary Sinner. They have had many good songs however. •Mandisa. I used to listen to Mandisa a lot back in the day, now I don't. But hey, she's on this list. •Skillet. The most recent album has a different feel from their normal rock, but it is really good. I've heard most if not all of their albums, and I've enjoyed most of them. (Literally this and one of TFK's songs take me back to my 'i am emo but still a Christian' phase) Still love Skillet. That's about all I can think of right now, I know there are many more and if anyone wants to add on they definitely can. I don't listen to some of them now, or I don't listen to them at all except in playlists. I'm letting you make your own decisions but my favourites would be Skillet, Flyleaf's album Memento Mori, and number one is Lacey Sturm.

[annelisterstravelnotes]

Switzerland with Maria and Jane Barlow – Thursday 27 September 1827

6 1/4 12 Breakfast at 8 – off at 9 (the wind very high all last night but did not prevent me from sleeping) – good Inn – walked to the celebrated fabrique a self taught genius, in 10 minutes – 2 beautifully cut singular dishes which Mrs Barlow bought – nothing scarcely to shew something so bought up – going to make a large maison about 2 1/2 feet? long, and about 1 1/2 high, price 60/. for Hofwijk – all had things dearer? Then at Unterseen, but better made - musical clock chiefly of wood – take his address – may probably give him an order in the winter – a very pretty little maison at 6/. ditto chalet and tollerable sized house 6 inches? square 9/. – pretty baskets that Mrs Barlow admired at 4/. – off from Fisher’s at 10 20/60 all mounted our horses and off to cross the Brunig – at 11 1/4 Scattered village wooden village of (according to our guide’s pronunciation) Brientswheeler – then at 11 25/60 begin to mount – capitol mule road as far as here- then a few rough steepish precipity places – at the top of the pass at 12 10/60 – all along the hill side en montant, fine view down into the valley of Meyringen and again upon the picturesque wooden village of Brunnigen placed on a sort of step or little plain high above the Meyringen valley – fine view of the 2 torrent cascades into the Meyringen valley and peeps of the lake – at 12 1/4 at the Berne boundary stone, dismount and enter the canton of unterwalden – (the government going to make a good carriage road from Brientz to Interlacken alongside the lake and ditto across the Bruring) – see very little fir-wood today – some fine oaks – a very few ash – chiefly beach – all the richest tints of early autumn – strong wind on the hillside – very fine day – at 1 (Mrs Barlow and I having a little while ago left Jane and the mules and struck into the foot path to the right) at a little chapel on the top of the hill over looking the picturesque scattered wooden village of Lungern sits very pretty little green lake – from the chapel 2 or 3 minutes steep very slippery descent down steps rudely cut into the rock – 2 or 3 little bits of bad afterwards otherwise pretty good mule road skirting down thro’ and aloingside a beech and fine forest - (beautiful descent), upon the neat good, wooden valley of Lungern – nice looking good auberge – stop there to send back our horses and ter a char and have Brientzline  cheese and bread and butter and wine and water – very picturesque of railing – between them the very rough stick-out sort which has so often incommoded us in riding along the narrow mule roads down to Airolo, etc. etc. – like every thing in and about the valle de Sarnen but the back view upon the snowy (according to our guide’s pronunciation Aliastock – alighted at the Inn at Sarnen at 5 50/60 – a little talkation about having 9/. to pay for the return char from Lungern here – only meant to have 1 horse and the return would be 6/. 2 horses 12/. and had to pay 9/. tho’ the 2 horses were not to please us – Ebel says 3 times our guide 4 ditto from Lungern to Sarnen – Mrs Barlow and I went out about 6 1/4 to see the church – largeish – white washed – on a hill a little way from the town – handsome neat and clean with in – 2 or 3 churches besides this, of 1 sort or other in the town – Roman catholic – the neatest Roman catholic town we have had seen – from the church walked down to the arsenal – white washed a very small affair, like an English cottage attached to a church – nice little town – got back to the Inn at 7 – Had warm wine (blanc ordinaire) and water and a mouthful of bread – then wrote – very fine day –

[awhilesince]

Friday, 31 August 1827 (travel journals)

6 10/60

9 1/2

Breakfast at 8 in the public room – hardly any 1 but ourselves Mrs and Miss B– [Barlow] had only just gone when a gentlemanly enough and intelligent man came and ordered his breakfast near me – he has been all over Switzerland – went to the top of Mont Blanc 2 years ago – Except for the interest of going to the hospice, thinks the Time lost in going to the Great St. Bernard – the new route to the top of Mont Blanc only discovered this summer – a party going up, on coming to an immense crevasse were thus obliged to turn to the left out of the usual route – well for them – they had only just got out of the way when there came down one of the largest avalanches ever known which must have inevitably swept them all into the crevasse – have sounded it, but could find no bottom – it was into this the 3 guides were hurled 6 years ago – certainly the danger of avalanches is now greatly avoided, but there is still danger and Excessive fatigue – (the danger is beyond the grand mulet) – would advise to go no farther then the grand mulet) – fatigue and adventure and view enough in getting so far – did not think himself repaid at the top of Mont B– [Blanc] – he had written a little pamphlet on the subject for the benefit of the guides who went with him – his name Shirwell (Captain) – called here (said Mrs B–‘s [Barlow’]s guide) Captain Mont Blanc – bought the pamphlet at the little book seller’s? and naturalists shop close to the Inn –

all 3 mounted on our mules and off at 8 55/60 from the Union, Chamonix, with our guides Michel Carrier No. [Number] 15, Matthew Balmat No. [Number] 16 (son to the Pierre Balmat who went up with Saussure, and had himself been up 5 times) and Michel Balmat (but the same as the last tho’ no relation) No. [Number] 18 – No. [Number] 17 Engaged constantly by Captain Shirwell who not married, lives with his father and mother at Fontainebleau –

of the 2 hotels at Chamonix, the Union, and the hotel de Londres, the former is the larger and considered the first but the other is said to be equally comfortable – both full of English – somehow, we have no great fancy for the Union – bread made of yeast, dark columns, and not good – dinner cold – no good bread since Geneva –

En passant (opposite the bureau of the guide chef) inquired the name and address of the naturalist, cousin to my guide (Michel Carrier) of whom I bought the amethyst on arriving – direct to him ‘Michel Carrier, marchand naturaliste, à Chamonix’ my guide says he is very clever – would be just the person I should wish to have on an instructive tour among the neighbouring alps –

Rode 17 minutes till 9 12/60 and then dismounted, finding the motion of the mule fatiguing – cross the Arve (plank bridge) pass thro’ the villages of les Tines and Argentière, recross the Arve over another plank, bridge, leave the route (right) across the col de Balme, and make for the Tete noire –

at 11 12/60 pass the boundary stone (a huge mass of rock (right) having a smaller mass seated on the top of it) into the valley of Valorsine – wild savage scenery – clouds along the mountains – Mont Buet envelopped – could not see him – after Mont Blanc, the best view from Mont Buet – should stay at Chamonix 3 days (independent of 3 for Mont Blanc) 1 for Montanvert and the jardin – another for the Breven – another for the Buet – a 4th day would do for seeing the 2 passes of the col de Balme and the tête noir – the former celebrated (said Captain Shirwell for its fine views down into the valleys below –, being all along on the heights – along the latter you are more in the bottoms – a little misty rain on descending into the little village of Trelechent but fortunately the rain held off, the mists cleared and we had a very fine day –

at 12 10/60 2 or 3 cottages – leave Mrs and Miss B– [Barlow] send my mule forward with them, take my guide, and make straight up the hill to see the cascade particularly recommended by Captain Shirwell – the lower and smaller one seen quite well from the road – this higher and finer one very imperfectly seen from the road –

after a warm scrambling along a path only frequented by the peasants, got to the cascade at 12 40/60 – ‘tis a fall of the river Noire down the Montagne de Barbeline du val Valorsine – according to my guide the fall about 150 feet – sun shining – beautiful iris formed by the spray – the water falls from almost the top of the mountain (or of this ledge of the mountain) into a deep cleft – La plus belle cascade qui j’ai encore vu? – left it at 12 3/4 – got into the road again a little beyond where I left it, in 14 minutes –

at 1 20/60 cross new wooden foot or mule bridge (peeled trees laid across the water fasted together with a railing) over river Noire at the other end of which bridge (Pont de Lilla or de-voire) is the boundary stone between the Valorsine en Savoire and the Valais en Suisse – From this bridge begins the most picturesque part of the route – for a considerable distance along the bottom of the valley thro’ a pine wood along the Noire –

at 1 13/60 pass thro’ the fort du Chatelas (according to my guide du Temps des Romains) but apparently a little bit of walling, and a little round tower of common stones without mortar apparently anything but antique –

at 1 20/60 after having again crossed as before wooden bridge over the Noire, began to ascend thro’ a pine forest what is called the tête noire – not long after pass the pierre on vocher des Anglais, a large mass of impending rock bought by Lord Porthington? Lady Guildford and 1 or 2 more on their return from Italy apparently for the purpose of inscribing their names, and a little moralization and dressed as a sort of sister viator to Travellers – a longish inscription I had not time to read leisurely, much less to copy –

at 2 34/60 at the end of what they call the tête noire, a steep, steppy, frightful road for mules, yet Mrs and Miss B– [Barlow] up or down had never once dismounted – I had not given them credit for courage enough to climb up such a path on any legs but their own – but the mules were good – the little bit of road just on turning along the valley of Trient (to the right) called the Mauvais Pas because formerly a narrow difficult track without any guard from the steep, deep, frightful precipice down to the river Trient below is now one of the best bits of the road having been carried a little below the old and being made perhaps as much as 5 feet (English) wide –

got to the Auberge at the little village of Trient at 2 34/60, 5 or 6 minutes after the arrival of Mrs and Miss B– [Barlow] Excessively heated – a bed in one little room – (put on my great coat) Threw myself upon it immediately took 2 or 3 cups of boiled milk, then as many glasses of hot red wine and water while Mrs and Miss B– [Barlow] dined – up at 3 53/60 –

off from Trient at at 4 10/60 – my guide leading my mule, determined to try if I could not walk to Martigny – or how could I get to the Top of Mont Blanc? still a continued steep ascent up traverses for 25 minutes very fatiguing to keep pace with mules that always walk faster up hill than down or on flat ground – the guides had said it was an ascent of 1/2 hour, and we had done it in 5 minutes under the time –

at 4 50/60 see the Rhone and the Valais – went faster than the mules down hill and at 6 20/60 got to the Grande Maison hotel, Martigny (Mrs B– [Barlow] not wishing to go again to the Tour where I had been so worried by bugs) – 5 or 6 minutes before Mrs and Miss B– [Barlow] went immediately to the guide Chef ordered 2 mules and saw the guide we are to have to the Great St. Bernard tomorrow – (no ladies’ saddles to be had at Liddes) –

Dinner at 7 1/2 – very fine day –

reference number: SH:7/ML/TR/2/0018 - 19

[awhilesince]

Tuesday, 28 August 1827 (travel journals)

5

11 1/2

Breakfast at 6 – off from Geneva at 7 20/60 –

at 7 50/60 Chesne, very good village Geneva to Bonneville 6 lieues)

at 8 20/60 little village of Annemasse, 1st village in Savoy, Bonneville to Sallenche 6) and shew our passports –

at 8 50/60 (having passed the village of Vetra at unawares – it must be very inconsiderable) handsome 2 arched stone bridge (1 arch very large the other very small, over the nearly dry torrent Ménoge –

at 9 1/4 picturesque, scattered village of Nangy – the rocks (southwest) over Geneva, remind me of the Elwsig (Lusig) rocks over Langollen – fine open valley all along – roomy for the air to circulate – Mrs and Miss B– [Barlow] complained of the cold – I merely felt the air delightfully bracing – the hills about Geneva to as far as Nangy, remind me of H–x [Halifax] – Everywhere the valley and hills sufficiently wooded –

at 10 picturesque little village of Contamine – the Arve (not much water now – the very broad bed almost all dry) winding beautifully all the well wooded fertile valley – good deal of corn in the valley, and on the hills – good deal of flax drying – young buck wheat – clover – mowing it 2nd time – orchards – good land – hedges generally on each side the road – oaks and willows – a little Indian corn – very few vines since Geneva, near Bonneville –

stopt at the ‘les Balances’ Bonneville (a tolerable little town) at 11 5/60 – came upstairs to write – 1/2 hour before I could begin – had near spoilt all my things – the Table had been just oiled, and not 1/2 wiped – They say the Swiss are on all sides (the protestants who are much cleaner and richer than the Roman catholics) are much cleaner than their neighbours – but, according to the woman who shewed us the cathedral at Geneva on Sunday, the catholic population increases much faster than the protestant – the former has 6 or 7 or even more children per family; –the latter (particularly those in more easy circles) has seldom more than 2 per family – I fancied this kind of management had been principally confined to the higher orders in France –

off from Bonneville (should not like to sleep at the Inn – not very clean, but the people very civil

at 1 25/60 – town, a ville, surrounded by fine picturesque rocky hill partly green, partly bare and hoary – immediately cross the Arve over good stone bridge (at the end left, a new handsome Tuscan column surmounted by a statue of the King in his robes, in honour of Charles Felix King of Sardinia) who visited the town some time ago) and, according to Galignani, enter the valley of Cluse – snow mountains in the distance (left) in front of us – 2 little hop grounds just out of town – cutting line – fertile valley – clover, young buckwheat, Indian corn, potatoes Kidney beans – orchard trees – like a garden – poplars and willows along the road side, and the chief wood hereabouts –

at 1 55/60 stone bridge over little stream –

at 3 10/60 the Arve winding beautifully – Green, wooded hills (right) bare, and savage (left), – snow mountains to the left in front, and pretty little village of Oogu (Vaugi? Vougy) at 3 1/4 – Jane thinks this valley ‘beautiful, lovely – the next to the Rhinthal and the Splugen’ (road from Splugen to Chiavénna) – so far, Jane rather disappointed – tho’ tis a pine valley –

at 2 3/4 little stone bridge over little torrent – at 2 55/60 another such stone bridge over ditto, and fine gorge right, and orchards, and picturesque scattered village of Siongy Scionzier and midway the village

(at 3) good stone bridge over good stream – neat, picturesque church – very fine walnut trees – and 2 or 3 little green hedged paddocks at the end of the village – valley wider, and finer – very pretty – fine just here, tho’ do not see the Arve –

At 3 10/60 narrow one arched, boulder-stone-paved steepish stone bridge over the Arve (ver[y] fine gorge right) and enter the beautifully situated, but rather narrow streeted little town of Cluse – all the women busy dressing hemp – tremendous mountains just above the Town – wind thro’ the town to the right, and Turn along the fine gorge which we just peeped down (right) from the bridge – (between Cluse and the village next before very large apple and pear trees and (2 or 3 of the largest cherry Trees (like fine large forest trees) I ever saw in my life) the gorge (the valley of Maglan) now, at 3 1/4, very fine – the Arve close, right – its waters light-green-white-muddy-blue – its broad bed and the road take up all the breadth of the valley –

at 3 3/4 an auberge? 3 little cannon, and a man wishing to know if we would have them fired to hear the echo among the mountains – another man apparently an aubergiste wanted us to stop to see the Grotte de Balme (vide Ebel. Cluse. page 96.) 1200 feet up the mountain (seemed about 1/2 way up) and 620 ‘pas’ long – said we had quite time enough – could not get to Chamouni tonight – asked what time it would require – ‘vingt minutes pour monter à cheval – la route très bonne’ – observed a zigzag path cut from the bottom of the mountain to the cavern – the mouth 1/2 closed up so that one could not enter without paying – Everything herabouts is done to catch the eye and Empty the pocket of strangers – to have had the cannon fired would have cost us 2/. – valley wider beyond, and beautifully wooded (right), and the mountains by and by wearing into a gradual slope –

at 4 5/60 the picturesque village of Maglan picturesque little good church – good deal of beech wood – the wood of the mountains hereabouts chiefly beech? –

at 4 1/4, little stone bridge over dry little bed of torrent – at 4 1/2 little stone bridge over ditto ditto, and fine ripple cascade (Nant d’ Orli) (i.e. as it were, one long thin line of cascade) left –

at 4 35/60 a board put up on which in large letters ‘Place de’ Echo de Nant d’ Arpenas’ and a man and one little cannon – he wanted much to fire it for us assuring us it was very curious –

at 4 40/60 small stone bridge over dry torrent –

at 4 3/4 stone bridge over the stream from Nant d’ Arpenas, really curious – stopt a few minutes to see it – the water lost in spray Till collected lower down into 8 or 9 ripples forming a little cascade near and down to the bottom – Descends from a little cleft at the Top of the mountain – the jet (not large) projected so far, the rock quite dry underneath it for the first 50 or 60 feet – falls 800 feet – (vide Ebel. article, Cluse) the sun of which we had had but little during the day just made his appearance to shew us a beautiful little Iris round the cascade at the bottom – just beyond the cascade the strata of the rock curious

then

then apparently a jumble – reminds one strongly of the action of water – I have seen instances of this kind before among these Swiss mountains – along the Simplon road, and along the Valais – Low hemp uncut –

at 5 stone bridge over torrent – fine view of Sallanche (right) on the other side the river – bed of river very broad – looking almost dry, tho’ there is in fact a strong broad stream – rosemary hedges full of yellow berries –

at 5 20/60 neat little hamlet or village and neat little church of St. Martin – and Mont Blanc a nice looking little Inn – immediately cross handsome 1 arched narrowing, stupish bridge over the Arve, and at 5 35/60 alight à la Belle Vue, at Sallenche, a picturesque little Town, (very handsome church) at the foot of high finely wooded and grass clothed mountains – not one peep of Mont Blanc –

began to write at 6 – but soon gave up to see the clouds gradually clear off from the mountain – 1st sight of it at 6 ¼ – stupendous – astonishing – worth while to come all the way to see it – capital house for a view of it – had been Twice before today quite clear – stood gazing 20 minutes at the 3 huge summits –

Dinner from 6 35/60 to 8 20/60 – for the 1st ¼ hour gazing at the mountain till clouds hid him again at about 6 50/60 – the setting sun upon him magnificent – 2 hills catching the reflection of the rays from the mountain, seemed as if on fire – Ive stood gazing in mute wonder –

at 8 50/60 music 2 or 3 clarionets – very fairly played – very fine day – not much sun – but warm enough for me –

reference number: SH:7/ML/TR/2/0015 - 16