Oh dear.

After hearing about the release of Graham Coxon’s new album A + E on The Music (a website I worked on at work, also a terrific music source for Australians), I couldn’t help but be irritated by the album cover. Graham Coxon is the guitarist of the band Blur, and he released a number of solo albums with gorgeous album art that he illustrated himself. Of course I was shocked when I found out that his new album art was pretty atrocious. It was some bloody knees of some skinny girl (well, I’d think it’s a girl) and I couldn’t help but think, “eh… I could do that in Paint”.

It looks like this.

Graham Coxon's album A+E

And it doesn’t look pretty.

I posted on Twitter that I didn’t like the album art, and I was disappointed that he didn’t illustrate it himself. Funnily enough he replied and said, “haha… you get it and you don’t even realise”. Of course, before I complained about it, I made myself think about it. Of course scrutinising the album art of guitarists gone solo is not my day job, but I had to know what “A+E” meant, and I took it to mean the most popular definition according to Google: accident and emergency. After bringing up the topic with James, I said that perhaps the whole album was an accident and emergency, and so too was the album art.

Of course, I replied to Graham again on Twitter and I told him my thoughts, but he didn’t say anything more on the matter.

It rained extremely heavily today, and at work there was a leak above my desk. I could tell because I felt drops on my head, on the screen, and occasionally on my hand. It was worst on the part of the desk closest to the window, and my boss had to wipe down the desk and put a saucepan there to collect the water. It could be worse. Most of the time (we’re in a loft by the way, which is beautiful) we get a bit of dirt from the ceiling fall to our desks overnight, but you can’t really blame anyone for that. The loft is a lovely place to work in. :)

I wore high heels. Most people would say that’s a stupid thing to do when it rains. I didn’t think about it, okay? I woke up late and I just threw some clothes on, brushed my teeth, grabbed my stuff, and went. My mum was nice enough to give me a lift to the station. I’ve been trying to catch the South line train because it’s not as smelly and disgusting. I also get a seat all the time, it’s not as packed, and the trains are the newer kind with air conditioning or heating and cleaner seats. I usually catch the Western line because trains come more often, but the actual service is crap. I ended up taking one of these crap trains because my mum insisted. Thankfully I got a seat, but the inside of the train smelled like urine. Gross.

Anyway, I wore those high heeled boots because last time it rained, they didn’t get soaked through like all my other damn boots. I also found that the height given by the heel made me stay out of puddles. I guess it just helped me to stay dry, hah. That proved well for most of the day until I walked out of the office that night, on my way home.

My boss said “good luck getting home in this rain”. I did tell him that James was giving me a lift though, so I should be okay.

I took two steps outside after I walked down the stairs, felt myself wobble, and landed hands and uh… more like knees first, on the pavement. There was a stinging pain in my knee as I gathered my belongings and hastily looked around. No one was nearby. No one asked if I was okay. Not that I care – but most of the time if you fall down in public someone helps you or asks if you’re okay or stares at you. None of those things happened, so I stumbled to the crossing with my umbrella and that was when I noticed the blood on my knee and the hole in my tights that was exposing the blood on my knee. FAR OUT.

I was actually more annoyed that I tore the tights as they are one of my favourite. Fuck the pavement, I thought. It TORE. MY. STOCKINGS. Pantyhose. Tights. It tore the… gufufuufhutghfdh.

Of course, I was in pain, but I went on my way. My hands were dirty and I was half wet from falling into a small puddle after that trip. I thought I’d make my way through the shopping centre, because it would be quiet. There are no doors so it doesn’t close, so you can walk through it to go to the train station. I did just that.

And then I slipped and fell on the tiled floor as two gentlemen in suits walked ahead of me. They hadn’t seen and they didn’t turn around. I managed to limp to the station alright. I met up with James and thankfully I got a seat on the train. He gave me a lift home and when I got home I removed my tights to see how my knees were.

Then I realised they looked really familiar.

You know what Graham said?

“oh dear!”

Comments on this post

Holy crap, what a funny bunch of interconnected events and accidents! D: Kinda cool, actually … Although highly uncool, what with the tights ripping. Your knee, too, but I know what you mean — Your knee will heal, the tights are ruined forever.

And a favourite pair, too! Ugh, I probably would’ve cried. Not out of pain, because piffle, but because of my clothes getting recked. :X

And oh, man, and then you fell a second time?! Sheesh, you think that fate would’ve decided one fall was enough for the day … /snort Hope your wee injuries heal quickly and don’t cause you too much annoyance! ♥

Oh that sucks that you ruined your favorite tights! :( But, very strange that your knees looks so similar to the album cover! Crazy! When you said you thought “I could do that in Paint”, I totally thought that too!! haha

I hope your bruise will heal soon. Better be careful next time.

That looks so painful. I’m sorry you hurt yourself like that but hey that’s pretty cool you got a response on Twitter about it, haha.

The album cover is shitty. I’m sorry but I judge books by covers, and I would never by a CD with that on the cover. You should take the picture of your knees and shop it into a better cover than what Dude has.

I tend to agree with almost everyone else in that I probably wouldn’t buy this CD either. :P Don’t artist and record companies understand that people judge the music by what they see?

Outch, your knees look much sorer than the ones on the album cover! I would be more annoyed about the tights too – those things can be expensive for what they are!

Personally I like the album cover. I mean aesthetically it’s nothing pretty to look at but I thought that kind of went with how raw the album is. Your theory behind it sounds good but I guess only Graham knows :)

Uhm.. sounds like Graham has a crystal sphere to look into the future.. You should go and steal it from him, so he won’t play the trick again. :P

Ahah, just kidding. *hugs* I’m sorry that nobody stopped to help you or even ask you if you were ok. :( It happened to me too, several times, but I never understood why… If we humans don’t care for each other, what’s our species destined to be? That’s no society… .___.

How are you now, by the way? Feeling a little better?

*extra hugs* <3

– Luana S.

Strange but cool how everything kind of connected in the end, haha.

Though yes, it looks exactly like something that was made in paint! For a second there, I actually thought that was like some example you made, like an exaggeration of how paint-ish it looked…

I’ve never actually gone on any type of public transportation (though I really should some time soon, if I’m planning to survive in the real world), so I can’t really relate, though I could just imagine.

That’s too bad your tights broke. :(

I hope your knees weren’t hurt too badly!

That’s happened to me a few times, and yes, I always feel worse about ruining my tights or jeans than my knees. My knees will heal!

Hi Georgie! I don’t know if you remember me, but I used to go by Jihyeon. :)

But lol, what a coincidence. He jinxed you! Or vice versa. Or maybe he has telepathic powers. XD And your legs look similar to hers too: long, pretty and skinny. lol! ;)
They say not to judge things by the cover, but I do it anyways and mostly unconsciously. And the cover doesn’t even look professional. /hmph

So rude of people not to help you. /angry I hope your legs are getting better. Who cares about the tights! hahaha silly girl! XD

Ouch! That really does look painful!

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Meh. The album art (to me) is a bit “eh”/horrid. Maybe he’s trying to send some sort of a message, but still. Couldn’t it have been made to look a little better? It looks as though hardly any time was put into at all… But you know, that’s just my own opinion.

I always see lofts on TV in movies and TV shows. I’d love to live in one, or at least to get to work in one. …Seems like it would be exciting!

Haha, I like how your blogs stay relevant to how you start them out. :P Mine are just … globs (same letters as “blogs”) of text that resemble my thoughts that appear to be completely random to others (which irritates the hell out of me, by the way).

Anyway, I am glad you’re doing okay. :] I sorta dropped off my RSS feeder for a while. D;

Well, that sure was a coincidence! :P He should totally use your legs on his album art instead, haha. No, but, slipping and injuring yourself really sucks…and embarrassing. >_> Maybe that’s why I’m not a fan of boots with heels or high heels in general. I’m not used to them and I’m always afraid of slipping, rain or shine!

Hope your knees heel quickly!

While the cover is fugly, perhaps it’s some weird kind of DYI ethics? An anti-art statement? A bad go at dadaism?

I just know that most indie and wannabe indie artists nowadays have album covers one could get seizures from. XD

I saw that image before I read your post and my first reaction was to cringe and laugh. You’re totally right! It’s something you could’ve done with Paint. And, by someone who has no design experience whatsoever. I know he was trying to convey the accident and emergency aspect of the album, but I’m sure he could’ve done it better? LOL. :P

I feel like a snob, but I do judge things by their cover. Hahaha. I’m more likely to buy a book/CD/magazine/etc if it looks nice.

Yuck, I’m sorry about the rain! And, that your knee got scraped up. I’m just glad you didn’t break anything during that fall.