On Darkness
Posted by Ben Sullivan in Personal on November 2, 2009
Raindrops like needles tear away my skin
Every step I take, a small piece of me is left behind.
Thunderous juggernauts moan into my bow
The blackness of the Atlantic highway before me.
Lapping, rippling, laughing, crippling
Up to the southern depths
Weighed down by fear.
Leaving the moonlight glancing comfort from the transitionary ceiling
Dark enshrouds.
Dragged towards the howling souls of dreams
Sleep forever
Awake, never.
In an absence of light only knowing would show the way
This is what keeps the silence.
Illustration by Christopher Jones, MA Illustration UCF
November is nearly upon us now…
Posted by Ben Sullivan in Personal on October 24, 2009
With fresh, crisp leaves gliding gently down. Being laid to rest on damp, mossy grass.
I start to feel the cold as I sit in the tall, eccentric shadow of an oak, standing in between me and the Autumnal sunset.
The cold sunlight is reflecting a crystal clear image of the ground foliage to me, just before a gust of wind invites the branches to dance, sending even more laminar life-givers to their death.
Interview for Navigator today.
Posted by Ben Sullivan in Falmouth Navigator on October 24, 2009
Today I went to meet the Labour candidate for Truro and Falmouth, Charlotte MacKenzie, to talk and question her about Labour’s relations and thoughts about students in Falmouth, and her campaign video including students mid-week.
It was my first real interview type situation, and I did find it pretty hard going. I was very much unprepared. I did have some set questions to ask Charlotte, but it all went front-side up when she actually started talking.
A few things I learnt:
1. Prepare a lot more and don’t expect the interviewee to do all the talking for you,
2. Go to the interview with a set idea of what you want to leave with.
However, I did get most of the stuff I wanted out of her, and will be writing the feature in due course, probably over my next pint in Wetherspoons, seeing as I have no access to the internet at home.
Downfall of humanity…
Posted by Ben Sullivan in Personal on October 24, 2009
BT has cut off our internet. We have the ‘Unlimited’ package, but some we have managed to download, stream, and waste over 110gb in the past month, leading to the deactivation of our broadband until the next billing month. Which is over a week away. Currently writing this in Wetherspoons, surrounded by gawping drunkards puzzled by the sight of a laptop in a pub.
Falmouth Navigator Story
Posted by Ben Sullivan in Falmouth Navigator on October 23, 2009
Tomorrow afternoon I will be interviewing Truro and Falmouth Labour candidate Charlotte Mackenzie on Labour’s relations with students in Falmouth. Earlier this week a campaign video was shot in Falmouth including students, and I want to find out about this as well. I think a little bit of politics will be good for Navigator.
Not too sure though what to write this story as, a feature or a news story. I will probably go for the feature as I can then cover a few topics instead of being limited.
Alexisonfire: -noun, 1. The Only Band Ever.
Posted by Ben Sullivan in Falmouth Navigator on October 17, 2009
So last Sunday I got to see my favourite band in the whole entire world! Alexisonfire. The Canadian post-hardcore rockers provided me with the best gig of my life, and an experience I will never forget.
No Transitory
After the main support band Anti-Flag had finished their set, there was a long, anxious wait as the impressive venue filled to its capacity. The lights went dark, and to a background chorus of feedback and harmonics, George, Dallas, Wade, Chris and Jordan slowly appeared on stage to open up with a well-chosen song from their new album Old Crows Young Cardinals. George dashed into the crowd along everyone’s head. I was awestruck, not the best thing to be in the middle of a growing pit. This was the best thing I had ever seen or heard. This had been a long time coming.
Alexisonfire continued to smash out their hits from this year’s album and 2006’s Crisis. Dallas Green’s jaw-dropping vocals perfectly supported George’s unmistakable growls as the crowd went berserk for every song.
Then George announced that they were going to play a song that they wrote when they were teenagers, back on their debut self-titled album in 2002. It meant a lot to them, it got them to where they are now. And it also meant a lot to the crowd. Alexisonfire have come a long way since their tinny recordings back then, but it’s still the early, emotional, heartfelt, raw sounds of the songs on their debut album and their sophomore follow up Watch Out! that evoke such a strong feeling from the crowd. They were going to play Pulmonary Archery, I couldn’t believe it.
Pulmonary Archery
Powering through the rest of their set with popular anthems and slow ballads, Alexisonfire returned for their encore and brought the crowd to a climax with a hit from their new album, Accept Crime.
They left us wanting more.
We all wanted more.
Alexisonfire have worked so hard to be where they are, and despite being a fairly alternative emo/hardcore band, they are one of the most successful Canadian bands ever. To me, the only band ever.
“Becuase this shit is not about pants
And this shit’s not about shirts
And this shit is definitly not about hair
This shit is having a good fucking time”
Young Cardinals
Story Ideas…
Posted by Ben Sullivan in Falmouth Navigator on October 17, 2009
Local Labour MP Charlotte MacKenzie will be filming in Falmouth next week for a new campaign video, including students from Falmouth. She contacted me wanting me to be in the video too, but I don’t think I’m really up for that. Instead I will be interviewing Charlotte and writing a story on the day’s events. I want to ask what Labour and politics in general can offer students and what students can offer to politics and Labour itself. I plan on getting out some audio recording equipment so I can record Charlotte as well.
Charlotte is also a big climate campaigner, and I hope to ask her about this too. I am looking forward to it.
Kingsnorth Story
Posted by Ben Sullivan in Personal on October 12, 2009
I first saw the story through the Greenpeace website, then further researched it through various news websites such as BBC and Guardian. I rang Wiz Baines who is head of the Cornwall Greenpeace group and a Greenpeace activist to get some quotes and her views on the story. She was on a train returning from London where she was at a meeting about Kingsnorth when E.ON released the news. As you can imagine she was pretty excited. I managed to get some decent quotes from her and I now know that she is a reliable contact for similar stories in the future.