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Some pics from my first proper explorations around Glasgow & Edinburgh since moving in over here!

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Gosford Castle: A country house built in the 1850s and completed in 1859, in the Norman Revival style, Gosford Castle is not, strictly speaking, a castle! But rather, a large & stylised country house that served as a comfortable living-space for the affluent Acheson family, the Earls of Gosford.

The building we see now is the brainchild of English Architect Thomas Hopper (who also later designed the very similar Penhryn Castle in Wales) who was commissioned by the 2nd Earl of Gosford to design this house.

It is located on the grounds of Gosford Forest Park in County Armagh, and has been, and is still undergoing, redevelopment and restoration to turn the house (which has 197 separate rooms) into 23 individual apartments.

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Another set of photos of castles (and one small, possibly modern, dolmen) I’ve visited over the last few weeks.

The castles photographed are:

Photos 1 & 2 - Haynestown Castle

Photos 4 & 5 - Robertstown Castle

Photos 6 & 7 - Dunmoe Castle

Photos 8 & 9 - Fennor Castle

Photo 10 - Clongill Castle

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Here’s some of the locations I visited this month!

I’ve been very ill this month so I’ve been stuck needing to take it easy, but I couldn’t avoid getting out and about and investigating some places of interest.

Places pictured are:

St. Mochta’s House

Louth Village Abbey

St. Brigid’s Shrine

Stickillin Church Ruins

Ardee

Bective Abbey (3 photos)

Stephenstown Tower House

Stephenstown House

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Here’s my photography from the month of February!

A little late admittedly, but better late than never. It’s was a month of quite bizarre weather and exploring, but overall, it was enjoyable!

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Some of my favourite Irish castle photographs that I’ve visited!

Castles here are:

1. The Glyde Court - http://www.abandonedireland.com/GlydeCourt.html

2. Moyry Castle - http://www.megalithicireland.com/Moyry%20Castle.html

3. Athcarne Castle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athcarne_Castle

4. Narrow-water Castle (Keep) - http://www.castles.nl/narrow-water-castle

5. The Louth Hall - https://theirishaesthete.com/tag/louth-hall/

6. Dunmahon Castle - http://irishantiquities.bravehost.com/louth/dunmahon/dunmahon.html

7. Ballug Castle - http://irishantiquities.bravehost.com/louth/ballug/ballug.html

8. Castle Roche - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Roche

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Grand Admiral Thrawn is, easily, one of my favourite characters of the Star Wars universe.

I recently had the pleasure of reading the recent Thrawn novel by Timothy Zahn, which elaborated on Thrawn’s canon backstory, including The Chiss Ascendancy, the unmentioned “evil” deep in the unkown regions of the galaxy, his encounter with the Jedi general Anakin Skywalker, and (of course) his climb through the ranks of the Imperial Starfleet to become a Grand Admiral after the battle of Batonn.

While I can’t recommend the book highly enough, it does a great job of elaborating on & solidifying Thrawn’s character and presence in the new canon, there is one thing that every great Star Wars villain needs... And that’s a musical theme!

Almost every villian in Star Wars has their own very distinctive piece of music we can associate with them! Whether it’s...

Duel of Fates for Darth Maul

The Imperial March for Darth Vader

The Emperor’s Throneroom for Palpatine

There are notable exceptions, such as Count Dooku, who never seemed to get a theme on-par with other villains of Star Wars, but besides Dooku, every major villain in Star Wars has gotten a distinct and well-thought-out theme. Happily, Thrawn, (thanks to Star Wars Rebels) is not an exception! I’d even go so far as to say, Thrawn’s them is one of the best of all the Star Wars��� villains.

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Here’s a small selection of my photography for the first month of 2018!

It’s been an interesting month, it may not have been a perfect start to the new year (there’s plenty of work to do) but these photos I hope, will show some of the adventures I’ve had and the positives of January 2018

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Here’s some photos I got while exploring familiar places and trying to spot things that I hadn’t before.

All the photos are from Cooley Peninsula in North Louth, Ireland and are of:

Carlingford Garda Station

An abandoned house close to Maeves Gap

A Hawthorne decorated for Christmas on the mountain road to Omeath

Carlingford Library (with the now empty Presbyterian Church in the background)

The road leading from Long Woman’s Grave

Goalposts in a field near to Slieve Foy

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This is an interesting (although biased) video comparing The Clone Wars with Star Wars: Rebels. I’ll also post a link to a video arguing against the points in this video after I’ve done my rant so that you can watch them both and make up your own mind. 

Firstly, I want to say, I’m a fan of both of these series! I think both of them bring a lot to the official Star Wars canon, from characters like Asajj Ventress, Ahsoka Tano, & Cad Bane, to ones like Kanan Jarrus, Grand Admiral Thrawn, & The Bendu! Both of these shows have a rich variety of characters and explore some very interesting & sometimes quite abstract concepts through the Star Wars universe! 

That being said however, the two shows differ quite markedly in their tone, style, premise, & writing (Despite being made by the same people!) and many people, myself included, favour one over the other. For me Clone Wars is the better, more engaging, series for a number of reasons.  Highest among them, has to be the depth & bravery of the Clone Wars in it’s later series, unflinchingly exploring the darker side of the Star Wars universe, from slavery & political intrigue, to disillusionment & loss! As well as revealing the follies of the Jedi Council, which contributed to Anakin’s slow loss of faith in the council and his corruption by Palpatine. 

For me, Rebels lacks the same consistent depth as (particularly the later series’) of Clone Wars, and tends to downplay the threat of it’s villains and endow it’s major characters with an unnecessary amount of plot-armour that reduces much of their actions to feeling repetitive and sheltered.

In addition to this there is the often silly & goofy writing that takes away from moments of genuine danger and sincere emotion (Sabine’s surviving being struck twice by her own shots deflected back at her by Darth Vader, or Kanan’s “You’re clever figure it out!” to the Grand Inquisitor (And later Ezra’s “You’re smart figure it out” to Darth Vader)  I don’t dislike Rebels by any means, I just get the impression it could be being braver & more adventurous with it’s stories, it’s explorations of different ideas & philosophies within the Star Wars universe, as well as making bolder decisions regarding their protagonists.

Here’s the vid countering many of the points in this vid btw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2H1xuWH270&t=6s

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Here’s a collection of some photos I got, of the urban environment of Manchester and the eclectic architecture of the city, while I was over in the UK!

The contrast between the old & new buildings is really quite incredible, and not something that I’m used to seeing on such a large scale, but it was an experience to able to wander around the city and see it up close.

I hope the pictures (although I’m not 100% happy with how some of them came out) conveys my enthusiasm exploring the aesthetic differences of this urban landscape.

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As Remembrance Day draws closer and Britain’s jingoistic & reactionary poppy cultists flex their social strength, it’s worth noting exactly why people rightly shun the culturally enforced donning of this symbol of British imperialism & barbarism.

This video, British Massacres of the 20th Century by Crimes of Britain, though only showing a fraction of the horrors unleashed by the British upon the world, demonstrates in no uncertain terms why the British armed forces are not an institution to be lionized, worshiped, or sympathized with.

For any revolutionary, solidarity must always be with the victims of Western Imperialism & neocolonialism!

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Here’s a collection of photos that I took over a couple of weeks that I’m quite proud of! I often take pictures of quite large structures that, for one reason or another, stand out and are quite visible to everyone nearby.

These photos are the smaller details, the little things that make a trip that bit more special, small things that are either out-of-place or almost too perfectly in-place. It’s a certain kind of eeriness and surrealism that you find in certain places at certain times.

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Here’s a wee photoset of some of the most, strangely out-of-place looking buildings in Dundalk. I quite like them though, they’re enormous structures and stand out so starkly from everything around them!

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The new trailer for The Last Jedi is out, and looking spectacular! Giving us an glimpse into what we can hope to see inwhat has been promised to be the darkest Star Wars movie ever made!

The trailer features all the major characters that we’ve been waiting to see, and promises us revelations, tragedy and action beyond what we could’ve hoped for.

We can see Kylo, his face now scarred after his encounter with Rey in The Force Awakens, again struggling immensely with himself, his tumultuous emotions & his power, slamming his helmet into a wall in a rage. We are also promised to get to see Kylo’s skills as a pilot, we can see him in his TIE Silencer attacking, what is implied to be, General Leia Organa’s ship in a large space battle. Alluding that he may be responsible for his mother’s death.

Rey, and her training under Luke, promises to be one of the most revelatory parts of the film. Rey progressing in the ways of the force, and showing such immense power, that Luke expresses wholesale terror as he remarks that he’s “Seen this raw strength only once before, it didn’t scare me enough then... It does now” as he turns away and seems to walk away as Rey looks on. The only other scenes in the trailer we see Rey in, she is emerging from a pool of water before the dark, imposing figure of Luke, which then cuts to a scene of her being tortured by Supreme Leader Snoke, who tells her to “Fulfill your destiny” in his first in-the-flesh appearance we’ve seen so far.

The final scene of the trailer is of Rey saying she needs somone to “Show me my place in all of this” which then cuts to Kylo, extending a hand. Heavily implying that there will be interaction between Kylo & Rey at some point during the film. Coupled with Kylo’s offer to teach Rey during their duel in The Force Awakens, it’s not unlikely that we may see Rey & Kylo working with each other to some extent in the future.

We are also promised a more in-depth look at what happened that drove Luke into exile and hermitage in this movie, as we see a scene in which Luke despairs, next to R2-D2, as they overlook an enormous building engulfed in flame. Luke’s Jedi temple, brought to ruin, and which Kylo is said to have been the destroyer of.

One of the highlights of the trailer, and hopefully the movie as well, is Finn facing off against Captain Phasma. Finn wielding a Z6 riot control baton, while Phasma wields a weapon reminiscent of a force pike or staff. In this instance, she seems confident in her abilities to best Finn, and it promises to be an exciting scene in the movie!

Other characters who appear in the trailer are General Organa, Poe Dameron, Chewbacca (with his new Porg), and BB-8. Note the absence of such characters as General Armitage Hux, C-3PO, Snoke’s Praetorian Guard, and Rose Tico from the trailer, despite their presence on the new The Last Jedi poster.

There’s even more to this movie than the trailer gives away, I can’t wait!

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Here’s a wee photoset of DkIT (Dundalk Institute of Technology) where I was wandering the other day.

Not being much of an academic I’ve not gone on to degree-level education, only spending a year at Inverness College to achieve an NC in forestry, but I still find these facilities to be fascinating & compelling in their aspirations & function, which I think shines through in their architecture.

DkIT is most notable for it’s 86m tall wind turbine which is the one of the tallest structures in the County, dominating the skyline of Dundalk by a wide margin, and can be seen from miles away across the bay.