Coffee & Menthol

Coffee. Fuel. Writing-fuel! Oh yes!!! With Coffee Mate and two sweetners, it tastes great. I never used to drink the stuff, as it always gave me migraines, but I had the urge for a cup, and now I love it.

Also, on the am I smoking or aren't I issue: yes I am (again), but not forever. I've switched to roll-ups (have I already said this?). They taste much better than regular cigarettes. Much more satisfying without having to smoke four kingsize cigarettes in a row ... which was bad, bad, bad!

Now the cigarettes I used to smoke were Menthol ones, as I loved the taste. But with roll-ups, they're obviously don't come in that variety ... however, I've discovered Menthol Filter Tips, and I'm in just a little bit of smoker's heaven.

And when they say Menthol, they mean it! These things have got a kick like I've never tasted. The menthol practically knocks you out if you take too heavy a drag on it. Absolutely lovely.

Watched a couple more ONE STEP BEYOND episodes. They are awesome! I love how they're dramatised and directed. There's a "real" quality about them that make the episodes ahead of their time, in comparison to some of THE TWILIGHT ZONE episodes.

John Newland’s ONE STEP BEYOND

"What you are about to see is a matter of human record. Explain it: we cannot. Disprove it: we cannot. We simply invite you to explore with us the amazing world of the Unknown ... to take that One Step ... Beyond."

WOW! I am in love with a TV show I'd vaguely heard of years ago, but had never seen ... until today. ONE STEP BEYOND. I'll tell you this, it's much better than the classic Rod Serling's THE TWILIGHT ZONE. It's more horror-orientated, with focus on true-life paranormal encounters, instead of fiction stories of various genres. This lends each episode a certain quality, a quiet uneasing menace of "it really happened", however loosely based on fact, it gives the show an edge all of its own.

I watched a couple of episodes today and I can say I'm totally hooked. There were 96 episodes made between 1959 and 1961. The mere fact that it predates THE TWILIGHT ZONE by about nine months is interesting, but what's more impressive is ONE STEP BEYOND's format. It's exactly the same as THE TWILIGHT ZONE! The show's host, John Newland, introduces the start and end of each episode. Serling obviously found "inspiration" from this for his own ZONE.

But what's really impressed me is the quality of the stories, and the fact that John Newland directed every single one of the 96 episodes! This is a phenomenal achivement in itself, and I can't believe I've only just started watching this gem of a horror series.

The show is available on less than stellar quality transfers. Something to do with the copyright not being renewed! So the show is in the public domain, but with a show like ONE STEP BEYOND, it's the quality of the stories that matter, and the lack of a digitally remastered DVDs is better than no DVDs at all. One company has released 50 episodes in a cheap boxset, and they're supposed to be releasing the other 46 episiodes later this year. I'll definitely be picking them up, and reviewing the odd episode on my blog.

What I find strange is how the show has a cult following, but has hardly been acknowledged by the critics. I've read the synopsis' of every episode on TV.com and I can honestly say that each one sounds brilliantly unique. Newland's direction is subtle and concise. There's no filler, no dull bits, and his camerawork glides around a lot with an economy of style that most contemporary productions simply lack.

Some of the later episodes were also filmed in England! So there are great production values and a few British actors that make appearances.

If you haven't seen any episodes of ONE STEP BEYOND, see it!

Keyboard Daze

My keyboard fucked up the other day. This happens to me a lot! At least every few months I end up buying a new keyboard. I should stockpile them like nuclear weapons, but I never do.

The reasons usually are:
1: I spill drinks over them.
2: I drop them (it happens).
3: The plug-in thingy, the bit you plug in to the computer fucks up.

It was number 3 this time. One minute it was working, the next I found the cable unplugged from the computer and when I plugged the keyboard in, nothing worked.

It's so annoying when it happens - ALWAYS when I'm just in the mood to write something.

The cheapest place to buy keyboards, and the only place open after hours is the behemoth of shopping consumerism hell that is Tesco Extra, or Tesco Express, or Tesco Auschwitz, or whatever it's called. Whatever it is, the experience of shopping there - for me - is the total idea of a living hell, an actual nightmare in conscious experience ... you get the idea. I don't like shopping there. That's why I shop elsewhere, but when you need a new keyboard on the quick, you have no choice but to endure Tesco Extra.

Here are some of the reasons I don't like shopping there:
1: It's a giant warehouse, filled with aisles like a maze. The analogy of battery hens / human shoppers springs to mind.
2: It's hot. The temperature is always high, so when you go in, you feel very uncomfortable and can't wait to get out in to the cool air. They do this so the customer/buyer turnaround is as quick as possible. I don't think it's healthy for food to be in a hot environment, but there you go.
3: The staff are like Gestapo agents. I'm being serious. Seriously, they have an attitude. I won't recount the time I went shopping with my sister and she was accosted for daring to weigh her vegetables on the digital scales. It was a miracle my sister didn't floor the cunty shop assistant.
4: The tills are designed so the conveyer belts are nice and long for lots of people's groceries, but when the groceries have gone through and you're trying to pack - under the watchful glare of impatient cashiers and the next person in the queue - you realise that there's hardly any room at this end of the till to actually pack your shopping! It's a tiny space.

So normally I shop elsewhere at a friendlier, less rage-inducing supermarket, with nice staff, wide aisles, huge tills with lots of space to pack your shopping away, and a room temperature atmosphere.

But no keyboard is like no paint brushes for an artist. I had to buy a new one straight away.

So I walked the two miles to Tesco Hextra, buy the cheapest keyboard there - ironically, it's a really good keyboard - then walk two miles back, which at this stage I've got a banging migraine and I'm on autopilot and just want to get home and see whether the new keyboard works and it's not my computer that's just fucked up.

New keyboard, works great. And in another few months, I'll have to go through it all again.

Update-type-thingy

I guess I should do an update. Well, Roy Scheider died. That's a sad loss for cinema. The guy rocked. Always at his best playing neurotic characters on the edge, always ready to loose it - the kind of characters, and character actors, that Hollywood no longer utilises to their own potential. And the 2008 Oscars forgot to mention Scheider during the "In Memorium" montage bit.

Saw a Scheider film I'd never seen before, COHEN AND TATE, from 1989. Extremely rare b-movie crime/thriller, crying out for a DVD release. From director Eric Red - THE HITCHER, BODY PARTS. Haven't enjoyed a film like COHEN AND TATE for a long time and loved every gritty little minute of it. Roy Scheider stole the show in the film. I'd never seen him play a villain - apart from ROMEO IS BLEEDING - and he really lit up the screen with the intensity.

There was an earthquake in England the other week. It was about 1 AM, and I was on the computer, thinking, I really must go to sleep soon, when my glass of melted ice and lemon and lime soft drink (or pop, as it's called in the UK), started to shake just like the scene in JURASSIC PARK. Then the walls started to shake, then the bed, and then I did what you're not supposed to do in an earthquake, I jumped up and panicked, ran downstairs in my boxer-briefs in the dark, shouting: "What the fuck is that?" It was over in a few seconds.

I've slept through earthquakes before. Slept through storms where the windows rattled and the house shook. When I'm asleep, I am dead to the world, so this was the first time I'd experienced a tremor awake. It was a bit creepy. Very intense. Complete lack of control, where all you can do is just endure what is happening, and wonder if it'll ever stop. Thank fuck it did.

Still haven't 100% shaken my killer cold. It's really starting to fuck me off now. It's becoming second-nature to blow my nose. I'm surprised the thing isn't as red as Rudolph. Too add insult, I woke up this morning with a crick in my neck, so now I'm feeling like a broken puppet. What next? No, God, don't answer that one.

Saw a rare British horror film from the sixties called THE SHUTTERED ROOM - loosely based on a H.P. Lovecraft story, with Gig Young and Oliver Reed. Very atmospheric.

Haven't done ANY writing lately. I've just not felt up to it, but really want to start writing something soon. I can feel the urge to write building up, and I'm actually sat at my desk typing this blog, so that's a start.

Oh and I'm still smoking, but I've switched to roll-ups ... which is interesting. They taste completely different to regular cigarettes, but I am getting bored of the whole smoking thing. I think, sometime soon, I'll give up for good and go without.