I’ve been using WordPress as a blogging software since April 2008. At least according to my archives. Self-hosted since… I don’t know, a few years after. I’m sure I’ve also been using this WordPress theme for a long, long time. As much as I like the simplicity of it, I always was a bit bummed out that I never figured out how to include photos larger than the column space of the blog. Or that I never found an easy way to just make it possible for them to be enlarged on click if anyone wants to.
Earlier this week, when I wanted to share some of my London photos I was fiddling around again with gallery plugin and such until I finally noticed this switch button in the publishing backend. (No idea if that’s the right terminology).
Mysterious settings…
It’s not turned on for the picture above. But it is switched on for the one below and all the others in this post, which is why, when you hover over it, a small white quadrant symbol appears in the upper right corner of the photo and the cursor icon changes to a zoom icon.
A typical English old residential building. Not so typical blue sky…
Wow, right! Why did it take me so many years to figure that one out?So, for your joy, maybe, here are a few more photos from London. Remember to click on them 🙂
One of the many things I like about roaming London streets are the surprise views you can get at every corner. Literally a corner in this case…
Surprise view of Victoria Tower from far away…
Musical theatre. Black cab. Red bus. Red phone box. 10/10 for typical London.
Typical London…
And I’m quite happy with this last photo especially as I hadn’t refreshed my limited knowledge of night photography before the trip. I remembered some basics, which helped obviously.
The online zine Punk Rock Theory asked Frank to rank his first ten albums and he shared the link with fighting words. I’m kidding, obviously – as is he – but I thought it was an interesting read. Especially as my list looks quite different. Obviously this comes down to Frank looking at those albums from the creator’s point of view and I from the listener’s one. And my list may look a bit different as soon as next week or so. It’ll always be a bit of a moment thing, I guess.
Anyway, here is mine – only of the nine so far released albums, obviously. And man, this was hard. I even decided to sleep on it. Yes, I know I’m paying too much attention to this. So what?
#09: Sleep Is For The Week (2007) Back in my old review I already stated that it’s my least favourite of his albums. It’s got 2 or 3 bangers, e.g. “Once We Were Anarchists” which I always love to hear at a gig, but I’m rather indifferent about a lot of the other songs. My review from 2018.
#08 Poetry of the Deed (2009) It’s quite similar with this album. Some I’ve learned to love, some I like, some I don’t care about all that much. My review from 2017.
#07 No Man’s Land (2019) I would have loved to give extra points for the concept and idea and I absolutely applaud that he tried out a variety of genres / styles for this album. Unfortunately some of them just don’t land with me. It still contains some great songs like “Jinny Bingham’s Ghost”, “I Believed You William Blake”, “Graveyard of the Outcast Dead”. My review from 2019.
#06 England Keep My Bones (2011) Another album with some great songs (all of them have some, it’s Frank after all), but this also feels well rounded in a way without a real miss. And of course it has “I Still Believe”, the song that started it all for me. My review from 2017.
#05 Love, Ire & Song (2008) This would have to be in the top 5 for “Reasons Not To Be An Idiot” alone. Because back in 2013, when I first heard of Frank and started listening to his back catalogue this was one of the first songs that I felt “spoke” to me. I could relate to it so much and I was in awe of this songwriter who found the words to express what I couldn’t, But the rest of the album is great as well. My review from 2018.
#04 FTHC (2021) Frank placed this on 4th as well, so that’s something we have in common. I like/love most of it and I mostly like the musical direction he’s taking here. Just not a major fan of the more hardcore-like stuff like “My Bad”. My review from 2021.
#03 Tapedeck Heart (2013) This was the album which Frank toured with, when I started listening to his music and going to shows so this is sort of personal. Some of the songs are still staples in the setlist and I love that. My review from 2018.
#02 Be More Kind (2018) I’ve got so much love for this one. I actually enjoy the more electronic vibe of it a lot and it’s got some of my favourite songs on it. Some he doesn’t play live all that often much to my dismay. “Brave Face” for instance. My review from 2018.
#01 Positive Songs For Negative People (2015) I was a bit surprised that this ended up as my number 1. For now at least. But it’s got so many great songs and works well as an album all in all. For the record: “Mittens” is a great song and that’s a hill I’m willing to die on. My review from 2015.
Well, I have with my camera’s setting and finally after all this time I’ve managed to get a good jump shot at the final applause. With the full original cast even, Yay! One thing to check of my bucket-list. Kidding. Or not.
Operation Mincemeat – A New Musical” for the 2nd time on this trip was almost as much fun as on Saturday. Not as much went wrong this time 😉 But seriously, it always makes me happy to see it and to be able to chat with the cast a bit after at the stage door. I know, I know, I’ve banged on about that one line from it, but there is so much truth in it. For me anyway.
“The world’s a mess, Charlie. Small flashes of joys, that’s all any of us can hope for”
