The Twilight Zone - Season One
I downloaded this for the daughter, and as she's been away have been dipping into it a little myself. 36 episodes, approximately 25 minutes each - amazing - when was the last time a season of anything ran 36 episodes? And - no corners cut, all filmed with practical effects, each episode self contained, recognizing the hauntingly familiar faces of actors from my childhood, most long since dead. The "Twilight Zone" launched an awful lot of actors.
Only a few episodes in, in no particular order, you can usually guess the outcome - the intersection of "The Twilight Zone" - but this, largely, is because so much of what has followed has been reworked and redone in more contemporary films.
The "The Hitch Hiker" foreshadowing "Carnival of Souls", and I'm pretty sure it had some influence on "The Sixth Sense", there are others. 60 years later and it's still worth-while.
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Untangling my thoughts
And, having committed to returning to the Kootenays in the Spring it's all I can do to try and get some thoughts down on paper.
I mean, simple projects that have been too long in the pipeline, there's a sort of mental constipation that's plagued me these past couple of years and I'm trying to get past it.
Now, the project - there's a few, but only one at a time in front of me, I keep telling myself it's done. Veritably it is, except for where it isn't. And this is where it begins to annoy me.
The project, a kids book of sort, think "Hop on Pop", yeah, a kid's book because I'm setting my sights low, a kid's book because I've seen a lot of what's out there and it makes me gag.
So, trying to get into the rhythm of writing - seriously, a few hours a day. Set up stopwatch. Look at notes, pages, jangles, rhymes, try and organize, shape, prune and edit it down.
It compresses and then expands again. Take a breath. Do it again.
Take frequent breaks. Go for a walk. Pick up garbage around the neighborhood. Write an email or a letter. Start a painting, listen to a podcast. Maybe work on another writing project, "A change is as good as a rest" they say, and it's true - this one in front of me, it's been too long in the works and it's lost all it's joy. Still it needs to be finished.
I remind myself that - while I'm thoroughly convinced that somehow I'm dragging my heels, that this should go an awful lot quicker, that "Uncut Gems" took the Safdie brothers 160 rewrites on their script, and then I throw myself into it again.
This is the rub. It gets better - bit by bit, inch by inch, but it's killing me. Why? I don't know. I can write a clear sentence. I can write an outline, paragraph, chapter, fine - I can develop a clear precis, document every key event, character, sort them into order, I know - exactly - what has to be written, it's as clear as a straight line in my head, clear as crystal, I know what I'm trying to say - yet when I try to rhyme it that line springs back like a piece of Yarn, tangles upon itself.
That said, I'm making progress. There is some truth in that - even if you're not thrilled with your output - sitting down day after day and making the effort to write will yield results, and it is.
The Kootenays in the Spring, I'm fine with that, the job, not so much, but get a couple of projects done so I can badger publishers, collect rejection slips, have a new plan for the fall...that's all I gotta do...
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Bernie Sanders
I'm following this with more interest than any of our own local elections.
Why?
It's time. The only real - sincere - candidate for decades. In Canada or the US, and I daresay a lot of Europe. I could have believed Obama, but not after his track record. He was posing. Bloomberg was a demon. Biden - means well, but too centrist. Warren - yes, but she hasn't sparked the popular imagination.
It amazes me how the Democrats have trenched in behind Biden - and - if it carries on, it will be to their loss, the Donald will win again, and no one, not in the USA, not in the world, can afford another 4 years of that Ass Hole.
Bernie, whose policies would benefit 99% of Americans, has a track record going back 50 years of activism, involvement and integrity - and he has to SELL this to the American Public? It's fucking crazy. It's their last hope at restoring democracy - literally, and it's slender at that - and the Democrats would rather put up with another 4 years of Trump than back someone who they fear is opposed to their graft and interest.
This will be interesting, and I have a terrible feeling, tragic.
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Used Cars - 1980, Kurt Russell
Dumb, but I watched it for the scene where they do the advert that interrupts the Carter Presidential Address, and that was funny. Kurt Russell is a stylish clotheshorse for the era, and it's a bit of a blast-from-the-past to see all the big junker cars (which withstood a hell of a lot more abuse than our new modern ones), 70's technology - answering machines, telephones, big TV Cameras - and - there's a scene with a CB where they say "10-4" and any movie that has that can't be ALL bad (actually, it can). Meh. Sometimes it's good to watch something a bit dumb. On that note, surprising how sexy those go-go girls were - and how attitudes have shifted with the plethora of cheap pornography.
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