An abstract sense of the sacred [431]

Greetings from the shed...

Sep 29, 2023

A photograph taken through the boughs of an oak tree show ten crows around a steeple being watched from the tree by a wood pigeon — A short walk from here a wood pigeon watches crows in flight

Greetings to the new folk. I’m Christian Payne, ‘best selling’ Substack writer and creative technologist. I’ve been sharing content online since the 90’s but there is probably only a thumb drive of it i’d save in a fire.

#TheAction

I’m still slowly writing a book and if it wasn’t for the supporting subscribers of this weekly dispatch I’d be pretty skint. So thank you.

That said, audio toys, tools and experiences can be costly so I took an audio assignment this week as it had me recording some quite inspirational people over the phone. For this I needed a decent mobile connection and I was able to work upstairs in bed.

It reminded me of how a duvet featured heavily in some of my first contracted audio work in the early 2000s. Soft furnishings always help with decent acoustics but thankfully on this occasion my voice wasn’t needed on these recordings. The Zoom Podtrak P4 [obligatory AMZN link] is an amazing podcasting mixer. Plug in a mic or mics and you have a studio in your hand. Just so I could be heard on the call I used a Lav mic into a Rode VXLR+. It’s not a cheap adapter but it can also convert phantom power.

Also in the week I volunteered at my daughter’s scout group. I can’t commit to being a scout leader but I’ll go along and help (& play).

An air rifle sits on a table in a scout hut. four targets can be seen in the distance.

As we were packing up the air rifles I rattled off five shots and much to my surprise (humblebrag) got a 1cm grouping. I didn’t get a badge but I’ve now been coerced into getting a trainers licence. I guess it might help for when the zombies come.

#ThePictures

This is my first page on Instagram. I started using the app a few weeks after the iOS app appeared and used it a lot. Before Facebook bought it in 2012. And then sporadically ever since.

A montage of eight photos and some text that reads This is my first page on Instagram There are 21 likes across 8 photos My first photo of a plane i'm about to board is dated 30/11/10 I've 2000 posts over 13 years Some of them are good, all tell a story @Documentally

Click the image above to see my 2000th post. An image taken in the year 2000 (I think).

If you have not heard of Moondog before, this is a decent little intro. [14:40]

#TheWords

And this week in the Guardian. Remembering Moondog.

#TheSound

And the music of Moondog…

Another chat on the phone I recorded was with Roger Overall.

I enjoyed this podcast from Josie Long from her Short Cuts series called Signal to Noise.

Thanks to a new purchase listed in The Things below I’ve rediscovered an EP I made on a PlayStation 1 around 1999. I was playing around with the game ‘Music for Playstation’. At the time it was possibly the cheapest 16 track sequencer out there. I’ll share some of the tracks to the subscribers feed and if others think it’s music I should share further, i’ll drop the EP on Bandcamp or some such place.

#TheConsumed

Eat, like an Ancient Greek philosopher.

This was an interesting pasta.

It’s called Orecchiette Arcobaleno (rainbow orecchiette) and looks pretty much the same when cooked. It originates from southern Italy. ‘Orecchiette’ means ‘little ears’ in Italian. The splash of colour comes from the pasta being died with various natural vegetable dies.

The packet said boil for 10 to 12 mins but I went for 15 and yet the drained pasta was so ‘al dente’ my lad threw his fork down with a dramatic “I CAN’T EAT THIS!” (He’d had a long day). I piled the sauce high and he ate it. But I’ll probably stick with the myriad other pasta varieties out there.

I keep a personal list entitled ‘Things I have done’. It’s good to look at when I’m feeling a little down and dispirited. There is always something on the list that brings a smile to my face. Like ‘Stirred a vat of gin with a canoe paddle’.

While at the London distillery, I was asked to help out by stirring a vat of gin with a canoe paddle.

I must remember to add that list to another list of mine called ‘Things to be read out when I’m dead’.

#TheThings

Thanks to Stuart of TallManWithGlasses.com who bought my T2 Sticker on eBay. He got the price into double figures and reaped the benefits.

And speaking of eBay I put a shout out last week for a Minidisc player but spotted one that no one was bidding on so tried to grab it. I need something with optical out so I can get the best quality backups from a number of precious 90’s home recordings. I also have some old mixes I’d forgotten I made.

#TheThanks

Thank you to those that pay £4/month to support my work like Sarah of

Gather & Grow

does 👍🏽 If you are able, please upgrade to become a paid supporter and get all the content I share into this feed.

You can also send a tip via PayPal or Monzo. But either way… Thank you for reading.

#TheWeb

I’m hoping to get to Barcamp London. See you there?
I hope that through this community map we might all get to know one another.
The single use plastic ban is pretty half-hearted but it’s a step in the right direction.
Showed my lad The Matrix the other night. Despite being old it still blew his mind. He needn’t worry about an unhinged AI farming humans in an alternate reality. Meta got their first in 2D and is closer than ever to 3D.
Some of my other places include GoodReads, FarceBook, Flickr, Strava, Untappd, Diaspora, Vivino, LinkedIn, YouTube, Mastodon, a ham radio newsletter or search ‘Documentally’ on Wire, Birdsite, T2 or Bluesky.
Reconnect with human nature, foster genuine connections, and spend time in nature. Only then can we heal ourselves and contribute to healing the planet. It’s all connected.

#TheEnd

Thanks for reading. Tomorrow, if the weather gods allow it, we make the 13th attempt at a hot air balloon flight. And next week i’ll be preparing for a trip across the water.

“Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.” ~ Epicurus

Create.

See you out there.

Over…

Documentally