Ian Walker
@fenlandgent.bsky.social
But this is the best thing in my ongoing deceit that art and culture will protect me from the horror.
Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, which is in the Huntington, near where I live.
So much C18th English mercantile arrogance, so much twisted proto-Romantic English sly subversion.
I’m feeling homesick.
Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, which is in the Huntington, near where I live.
So much C18th English mercantile arrogance, so much twisted proto-Romantic English sly subversion.
I’m feeling homesick.
November 26, 2025 at 7:39 PM
But this is the best thing in my ongoing deceit that art and culture will protect me from the horror.
Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, which is in the Huntington, near where I live.
So much C18th English mercantile arrogance, so much twisted proto-Romantic English sly subversion.
I’m feeling homesick.
Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, which is in the Huntington, near where I live.
So much C18th English mercantile arrogance, so much twisted proto-Romantic English sly subversion.
I’m feeling homesick.
I think this is good. A few chapters in & it has traced the modern edgelord neo-nazi bro twattery back to that turn of the century NY/Vice mag heroin and porn schitk. Also, a line is drawn in the ‘anything goes attention-economy’ from Paris Hilton & Kardashian to the current political debasement
November 26, 2025 at 7:19 PM
I think this is good. A few chapters in & it has traced the modern edgelord neo-nazi bro twattery back to that turn of the century NY/Vice mag heroin and porn schitk. Also, a line is drawn in the ‘anything goes attention-economy’ from Paris Hilton & Kardashian to the current political debasement
For reasons I cannot quite fathom, but which instinctively feel like the correct path to follow as the Internet drags civilization into the abyss, I downloaded my Twitter history.
This is a photo I took of Ely Cathedral in the spring of 2011
This is a photo I took of Ely Cathedral in the spring of 2011
November 25, 2025 at 6:38 PM
For reasons I cannot quite fathom, but which instinctively feel like the correct path to follow as the Internet drags civilization into the abyss, I downloaded my Twitter history.
This is a photo I took of Ely Cathedral in the spring of 2011
This is a photo I took of Ely Cathedral in the spring of 2011
Reasons why Americans voted for Trump, number 978.
November 21, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Reasons why Americans voted for Trump, number 978.
Y’day, I went to Langer’s, the famous Jewish deli in MacArthur Park. Opened in 1947, it feels other-worldly - MacArthur Park is a challenging neighbourhood. Where LA does hold on to its past, it is often by accident or with indifference - but this felt defiant.
I had pastrami on rye. It was good.
I had pastrami on rye. It was good.
November 19, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Y’day, I went to Langer’s, the famous Jewish deli in MacArthur Park. Opened in 1947, it feels other-worldly - MacArthur Park is a challenging neighbourhood. Where LA does hold on to its past, it is often by accident or with indifference - but this felt defiant.
I had pastrami on rye. It was good.
I had pastrami on rye. It was good.
Ten quid for a Carpenters record. The horror, the horror.
November 19, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Ten quid for a Carpenters record. The horror, the horror.
Hot Turkey at the Elvis Room
November 13, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Hot Turkey at the Elvis Room
Really enjoying this cassette. Smooth cover versions (lots of synths, lots of percussion) of various Bond themes by The London Studio Orchestra.
A half-empty waterfront bistro, English south coast, one Wednesday lunchtime, September 1991 - this would be playing, quietly, polishing the background
A half-empty waterfront bistro, English south coast, one Wednesday lunchtime, September 1991 - this would be playing, quietly, polishing the background
November 12, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Really enjoying this cassette. Smooth cover versions (lots of synths, lots of percussion) of various Bond themes by The London Studio Orchestra.
A half-empty waterfront bistro, English south coast, one Wednesday lunchtime, September 1991 - this would be playing, quietly, polishing the background
A half-empty waterfront bistro, English south coast, one Wednesday lunchtime, September 1991 - this would be playing, quietly, polishing the background
Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness,
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
November 12, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Together, Wendy, we can live with the sadness,
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Another new 2nd hand tape. Enjoying this.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood were a strange & brilliant pop band: queer, scouse, ironic, shallow, apocalyptic, camp, performative, highly produced, messy, ridiculous, compelling.
Both mainstream and conceptual art.
Liverpool, Sex, Pop, War
Sky scraping dove
Frankie Goes To Hollywood were a strange & brilliant pop band: queer, scouse, ironic, shallow, apocalyptic, camp, performative, highly produced, messy, ridiculous, compelling.
Both mainstream and conceptual art.
Liverpool, Sex, Pop, War
Sky scraping dove
November 12, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Another new 2nd hand tape. Enjoying this.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood were a strange & brilliant pop band: queer, scouse, ironic, shallow, apocalyptic, camp, performative, highly produced, messy, ridiculous, compelling.
Both mainstream and conceptual art.
Liverpool, Sex, Pop, War
Sky scraping dove
Frankie Goes To Hollywood were a strange & brilliant pop band: queer, scouse, ironic, shallow, apocalyptic, camp, performative, highly produced, messy, ridiculous, compelling.
Both mainstream and conceptual art.
Liverpool, Sex, Pop, War
Sky scraping dove
Reading Margery Kempe by Robert Glück, which, so far, is very good and is also great fun.
Marge and her lover, Jesus Christ, have just walked from King’s Lynn to Norwich.
I also often find myself horny and metaphysical when visiting Norwich.
Marge and her lover, Jesus Christ, have just walked from King’s Lynn to Norwich.
I also often find myself horny and metaphysical when visiting Norwich.
November 11, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Reading Margery Kempe by Robert Glück, which, so far, is very good and is also great fun.
Marge and her lover, Jesus Christ, have just walked from King’s Lynn to Norwich.
I also often find myself horny and metaphysical when visiting Norwich.
Marge and her lover, Jesus Christ, have just walked from King’s Lynn to Norwich.
I also often find myself horny and metaphysical when visiting Norwich.
Wings over the Capitol Building
November 7, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Wings over the Capitol Building
The day after the Dodger’s Downtown victory parade
November 4, 2025 at 5:58 PM
The day after the Dodger’s Downtown victory parade
The World Series did make me like the USA a bit more, there was quite a lot of the energy that Walt Whitman describes in his line about it being "America's game; it has the snap, go, fling of the American atmosphere."
November 2, 2025 at 9:00 PM
The World Series did make me like the USA a bit more, there was quite a lot of the energy that Walt Whitman describes in his line about it being "America's game; it has the snap, go, fling of the American atmosphere."
Qumram is crumbled in the desert sand
marked only by the jackal's lonely lair
and scurrying scorpions scramble over rocks
where once some pious Essene stood in prayer.
From the poem Ode to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Bernard Bresslaw
marked only by the jackal's lonely lair
and scurrying scorpions scramble over rocks
where once some pious Essene stood in prayer.
From the poem Ode to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Bernard Bresslaw
November 1, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Qumram is crumbled in the desert sand
marked only by the jackal's lonely lair
and scurrying scorpions scramble over rocks
where once some pious Essene stood in prayer.
From the poem Ode to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Bernard Bresslaw
marked only by the jackal's lonely lair
and scurrying scorpions scramble over rocks
where once some pious Essene stood in prayer.
From the poem Ode to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Bernard Bresslaw
Now listening to my new 2nd hand Now 7 cassette.
Lessons in Love followed by Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) collapsed time and space and cast me adrift, lost amongst memory and immediacy.
Only a trip to an American diner can drag your old chum back from the Proustian void.
Lessons in Love followed by Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) collapsed time and space and cast me adrift, lost amongst memory and immediacy.
Only a trip to an American diner can drag your old chum back from the Proustian void.
October 30, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Now listening to my new 2nd hand Now 7 cassette.
Lessons in Love followed by Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) collapsed time and space and cast me adrift, lost amongst memory and immediacy.
Only a trip to an American diner can drag your old chum back from the Proustian void.
Lessons in Love followed by Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money) collapsed time and space and cast me adrift, lost amongst memory and immediacy.
Only a trip to an American diner can drag your old chum back from the Proustian void.
And, I thought, nice use of a barcode.I hoped that it was so large and intrusive because of some hip, ultra-modern, 1981-new-wave, design ethos, but barcodes in the music industry were a couple of years old by then. So it is just lazy & ugly.
(But I’m generally on the side of the lazy & the ugly)
(But I’m generally on the side of the lazy & the ugly)
October 30, 2025 at 4:46 PM
And, I thought, nice use of a barcode.I hoped that it was so large and intrusive because of some hip, ultra-modern, 1981-new-wave, design ethos, but barcodes in the music industry were a couple of years old by then. So it is just lazy & ugly.
(But I’m generally on the side of the lazy & the ugly)
(But I’m generally on the side of the lazy & the ugly)
Another Amoeba cassette. Bought this for $1:99 and entirely on spec. No idea who they are, I just liked the band name Great Buildings and I liked the cover pic.
It’s really great. Early 80s LA power pop.
Band members Danny Wilde & Phil Solem went on to form The Rembrandts (of Friends fame)
It’s really great. Early 80s LA power pop.
Band members Danny Wilde & Phil Solem went on to form The Rembrandts (of Friends fame)
October 30, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Another Amoeba cassette. Bought this for $1:99 and entirely on spec. No idea who they are, I just liked the band name Great Buildings and I liked the cover pic.
It’s really great. Early 80s LA power pop.
Band members Danny Wilde & Phil Solem went on to form The Rembrandts (of Friends fame)
It’s really great. Early 80s LA power pop.
Band members Danny Wilde & Phil Solem went on to form The Rembrandts (of Friends fame)
I also bought this 2nd hand tape in Amoeba y’day.
Bursting Out was one of the first cassettes I bought, along with Ziggy S, in 1982.
I didn’t buy my copy from John Menzies. But I identify with a Tull tape somehow finding its way from John Menzies to Hollywood & Vine. Dull details, slightly absurd
Bursting Out was one of the first cassettes I bought, along with Ziggy S, in 1982.
I didn’t buy my copy from John Menzies. But I identify with a Tull tape somehow finding its way from John Menzies to Hollywood & Vine. Dull details, slightly absurd
October 29, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I also bought this 2nd hand tape in Amoeba y’day.
Bursting Out was one of the first cassettes I bought, along with Ziggy S, in 1982.
I didn’t buy my copy from John Menzies. But I identify with a Tull tape somehow finding its way from John Menzies to Hollywood & Vine. Dull details, slightly absurd
Bursting Out was one of the first cassettes I bought, along with Ziggy S, in 1982.
I didn’t buy my copy from John Menzies. But I identify with a Tull tape somehow finding its way from John Menzies to Hollywood & Vine. Dull details, slightly absurd
Listening to the tapes I bought y’day in Amoeba. As usual, I mostly bought cassettes from the 80s (I’m in full biographical mode* at the moment).
I like cloud nine a lot.
*aka nostalgia, or very late mid-life crisis
I like cloud nine a lot.
*aka nostalgia, or very late mid-life crisis
October 29, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Listening to the tapes I bought y’day in Amoeba. As usual, I mostly bought cassettes from the 80s (I’m in full biographical mode* at the moment).
I like cloud nine a lot.
*aka nostalgia, or very late mid-life crisis
I like cloud nine a lot.
*aka nostalgia, or very late mid-life crisis
What a gorgeous dust jacket.
October 29, 2025 at 3:55 PM
What a gorgeous dust jacket.
Saw this twaddle on Facebook (everyone knows it was said by Albert Orwell). Asked various AI apps/ search engines where & when WG said it. Some replied there was no evidence he said it but it reflected his world view (whatever that means). A couple attributed it to him & then said he didn’t say it
October 29, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Saw this twaddle on Facebook (everyone knows it was said by Albert Orwell). Asked various AI apps/ search engines where & when WG said it. Some replied there was no evidence he said it but it reflected his world view (whatever that means). A couple attributed it to him & then said he didn’t say it
Probable delete this in a bit.
Near the Dodgers Stadium, a couple of hours before game 4 of The World Series
Near the Dodgers Stadium, a couple of hours before game 4 of The World Series
October 28, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Probable delete this in a bit.
Near the Dodgers Stadium, a couple of hours before game 4 of The World Series
Near the Dodgers Stadium, a couple of hours before game 4 of The World Series
I like taking phone photos coz it makes me look at stuff & is not me just looking at my phone, & I like filter apps when they make the pic look like how I think it feels (Maybe).
This was my fave pic from today, it looks most like how Downtown LA feels.
But maybe it makes me feel like a vampire.
This was my fave pic from today, it looks most like how Downtown LA feels.
But maybe it makes me feel like a vampire.
October 28, 2025 at 9:35 PM
I like taking phone photos coz it makes me look at stuff & is not me just looking at my phone, & I like filter apps when they make the pic look like how I think it feels (Maybe).
This was my fave pic from today, it looks most like how Downtown LA feels.
But maybe it makes me feel like a vampire.
This was my fave pic from today, it looks most like how Downtown LA feels.
But maybe it makes me feel like a vampire.