Golden Sunsets - 50 Years Of Memories - Part 32 - 1998

Another really important year for me now, as my second daughter Mollie was born in November, after my wife suffered a difficult pregnancy. She's an amazing young woman - very different to her sister, but just as talented in an artistic rather than literary sense. As I write this she is just starting year two of her degree in CGI/animation and I know she will do brilliantly.

This memory however, is about my first daughter...

1998:

The trivia:

• On 1st April 1998, Burger King took out a full-page advert in the USA Today newspaper touting the introduction  of a  new"Whopper" burger especially designed for left -handed people. The new bun would contain the same ingredients as the original sandwich, but rotated 180° to redistribute the weight and making in easier for lefties to hold without everything falling out. Thousands of customers swarmed BK restaurants requesting this new innovative burger - along with many others demanding their own "right-handed" version.

• As part of a marketing campaign for their new "Beats" watches, Swiss company Swatch tried to introduce a new decimal method of measuring time. Each day was split into 1,000 ".beats", equivalent to 86.4 seconds, with times noted as a three digit number. So the notation "@248" was 248 .beats after midnight or 5.57 am. At the same time Swatch announced that this new metric measurement had become the official time system for "Nation1", an online country apparently created and run by children.Strangely, it never caught on.

•  When the Galaxy 4 satellite malfunctioned, over 45 million pagers in the USA fell silent for more than 24 hours. In the days before widespread mobile phones, they were a not only a fashion accessory gizmo, but also a key way for medical and emergency staff to stay in touch, so this was seen as a major disruption. In addition some TV networks could not transmit programmes to affiliates, weather forecasters lost essential radar data and credit card readers in some petrol stations failed to function. This was over 20 years ago, so imagine what the impact would be in the world now if something similar happened....

The memory:

A Bug's Life

This second ever Pixar feature  has a special place in my heart. Not because of it's fun story, excellent Randy Newman soundtrack or ground-breaking CGI animation - although those are all great reasons for being on anyone's list. But more importantly this was the first film that I properly *shared* with my eldest daughter Hannah. I'm cheating with my timelines a little here, but it's a story that's too important to me not to tell...

"A Bug's Life" was very loosely inspired by Aesop's fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper", with elements of the classic Japanese epic "The Seven Samurai", plus that - back then brand new - special Pixar spin. The movie tells the story of an outcast inventor ant named Flik. When one of his faulty inventions results in the loss of the annual harvest that is always given to a bunch of bullying grasshoppers - and he then causes the tithe to be doubled after standing up to their leader - Flik suggests that he try to recruit some "warrior bugs" to fight the grasshoppers. The ant royal council agree, but really only to keep him out of the way...

Travelling to the insect "city" (in reality a huge pile of rubbish), Flik encounters a group of incompetent circus bugs, whose actions in trying to avoid paying a bill cause him to mistake them for the warriors he needs. He persuades them to return with him to the ant colony - mainly because they think he is a talent agent - but once there and greeted as saviour heroes, both Flik and the troupe realise their mistake. However, after they band together to save Princess Atta's baby sister Dot from a ravenous bird, they come up with an audacious plan...

Hannah was heading towards three years old when "A Bug's Life" came out at the tail end of 1998. I'm not sure my wife and I took her to the cinema to see it, as around about then was when Mollie was born (five weeks early). What I do know is that I bought the VHS tape when it was released a few months later, because by then Hannah had definitely been exposed to the large amounts of merchandise for sale through visits to the Disney Store and presents from relatives. She had a Princess Atta soft toy and her sister had a baby Dot, both of which went everywhere with them.

The thing is, early 1999 was also around the time when my wife and I finally split up after a difficult few years. It was a deeply upsetting time, but by then I wasn't living with the rest of the family full time anyway (due to other circumstances too complicated to go into here), so my weekend trips from London back to the family home 180 miles way just became more...formalised.  Hannah and I had always been close, so in those early months of the separation my two days visits became even more special.

Hannah was not a physically active child, due to the effects of the cerebral palsy she was born with, so she and I tended to gravitate towards more...stationary pursuits. We watched the video of  "A Bug's Life" together over and over and over again. Every scene became ingrained in my memory - it became our go-to film.

She particularly responded to the character of Dot. Perhaps she saw a little of herself in the tiny ant girl who wished she could do more. At the start, when Dot feels that she is never going to make a difference in the colony, Flik shows her a seed, using the analogy that even mighty oak trees come from small beginnings and Dot has to give it time - she is still just a seed. As the film progresses and the battle against the grasshoppers takes a darker turn, Flik is ashamed of all the troubles he has caused and does not want to go back to the colony. Dot then picks up a stone and shows it to Flik, reciting the exact words he told her at the start..."pretend this is a seed", gradually turning his depression into determination. Out of all the love my daughter had for the film, these two scenes seemed to stay with her.

As the year wore on, Hannah, her mum and new baby sister moved from the rented house we had all shared to a new-build house closer to my soon to be ex-mother-in-law. It made sense and it was a nice sized place close to other family members, amenities, etc. My wife and I still spent some time together for the kids sake, plus since I'd had to travel three hours each way to visit them, it was easier to be based at her house then have to be out all the time. But that proximity meant that we still fought over a lot of the same old things....

During one weekend visit, I think I was feeling particularly low - probably due to another protracted disagreement. I was just getting the kids out of the car as it was parked on the driveway of their new house. As was typical of new developments at the time, the driveway that led down the side to the garage was concrete with a centre section covered with small pale stones - probably a form of  limestone gravel known as Cotswold Chippings. As I lifted Hannah out of the car seat onto the driveway, she suddenly bent down and picked up one of the stones. She turned to me with a big smile on her young face - "Pretend it's a seed, Daddy" she said, handing it to me.

Immediately my mood lifted and blinking away some tears, I grinned and hugged her tightly. "I will" I promised, putting it carefully in my jeans. "I will". We carried on into the house and after a couple of hours I drove away for my long journey home. Later that night as I emptied my pockets, I found the stone again. Smiling to myself I put it on a bookshelf and went to bed...

Twenty years later, I still have that "seed".

I'm never going to part with it. It's moved house with me, been knocked off the shelf by cats and even once fell into a glass of Coke, but it's endured all these ups and downs -  just like me and just like my relationship with Hannah, which despite a few rocky patches (pardon the pun), is now better than it's ever been. That simple little stone is a lovely reminder of how wonderful my daughter can be and how we shared something special  - all from a film about tiny insects.


Honourable mentions:

• Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower - This brilliant artist / writer came to prominence through his series of "Oz" graphic novels, published by First Comics in the mid 1980's. His clean, almost glowing, artwork was just beautiful and his stories had a timeless quality, which took me back to a time when I read those original stories by L. Frank Baum as a kid. Shanower did a wide range of work for other publishers over the following years, but in 1998 he began what has become his most ambitious project. "Age of Bronze" intends to tell the entire story of the Trojan War in comic form in as much authentic historical detail as possible (omitting appearances from gods, centaurs, nymphs, etc.). It's a dense read, but Shanowers painstaking eye for period detail brings the characters and settings to life. I love it intensely, but it's not going to be for everyone. If you want an action packed condensed movie-style adaptation you are going to struggle. Frustratingly the story is still unfinished even after 20+ years. However a 2019 switch to full colour and digital single issues (with physical collections to follow) promises an increased release schedule at last. I can't wait to read the rest.

• Gods and Monsters - English film director James Whale is most famously known for his work on several all-time classic horror movies -  1931s "Frankenstein" (with Boris Karloff as the creature), 1933s "The Invisible Man (Claude Rains) and 1935s "Bride of Frankenstein". What is possibly less well known is that he was openly gay - something which was very unusual for the time period. I discovered this early film from Bill Condon by chance on TV, but its sensitive and warm (semi-fictionalised) account of Whale's last few days - and the possible bittersweet relationship he may have had with his gardener (Brendan Fraser) - has stayed with me during the years since. The always watchable Sir Ian McKellan excels as the filmmaker - his best years behind him, living alone, but still haunted by the voices of his past. Fraser equally holds his own as former Marine Clayton Boone - his gentle demeanor and flat-top haircut recalling the unmistakable images of Mary Shelley's most famous creation.There are several flashbacks -  to the making of Whales classic movies, the extravagant pool parties and his experiences during the First World War - all of which enhance a wonderful character piece. The gentle pace may not be for everyone, but I learnt a lot about a man that previously I knew in name only.

• City of Golden Shadow (Otherland Book 1) by Tad Williams -  Okay I'm cheating again slightly here, because 1998 was the year that this first book in the "Otherland" series came out in paperback in the UK, rather than it's original publication date. I was handed the book by a friend who really struggled with it, but he knew I loved Williams's "Memory, Sorrow & Thorn" series so thought I would appreciate it more - and he was dead right. Rather than high fantasy, the four huge novels are set in the near future where total immersion virtual reality has become the norm and anyone can access a vast array of imagined worlds. A diverse set of ordinary people from across the globe find themselves drawn into the "Otherland" network, assisted by a mysterious benefactor  - and not only have to contend with battling bizarre creatures controlled by the all-powerful Grail Brotherhood, but also realise they are unable to log off. They are trapped in the network and  - you guessed it -  if they die virtually, they also die in the real world. Williams manages to have his cake *and* eat it, as the virtual reality setting allows him to create myriad plot threads across every genre - from ancient Egypt to the Wizard of Oz - from the Battle of Troy to a gigantic house with no "outside". Twenty years on, and especially in the wake of successes like "Ready Player One", this may sound old hat, but at the time this was territory that that had not been explored before - and certainly not in such depth. I found myself eagerly awaiting each new instalment, desperate to discover the reason for the world-wide conspiracy and the core mystery of "The Other" at the it's heart. Still well worth a read.

• The Young Persons Guide to Becoming a Rockstar - Another of those odd little Channel 4  programmes which  promptly vanished into obscurity after it's six episode run. I'm sure I'm one of only a few people to even remember it. The series is a humorous take on the UK music industry, focusing on the improbably named Glaswegian band "Jocks Wa Hey". Led by the personable Jez MAcAllister (played by Ciarán McMenamin) along with a motley group of misfits and nutcases, the band stumble through life, somehow managing to get signed, make a ridiculously expensive album and get into the charts. Along the way there are a swathe of celebrity cameos (even a very young Gerard Butler) and gentle piss-takes of certain bands of the decade - such as "Bonk, Bonk, Bonk", who bear a more than passing resemblance to a certain Clydebank soul/pop group, complete with a spiky haired frontman who just won't stop singing. It's hardly savage biting satire, but the cast all appear to be having a great time and the mostly original music was melodic enough to make me buy the soundtrack album. 

• Pleasantville -  If there was any justice, this wonderful film would be lauded alongside "The Truman Show" as one of the best high-concept-with-emotional-depth movies of the decade. Instead it's seems to be under-appreciated. The basic idea of two modern day kids transported into the black and white world of a 1950s TV sitcom is a good one - allowing for all the fish out of water / culture clash motif's you would expect -  but it's the execution where it really shines. David (Tobey Maguire) and Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) find that their very presence is changing the town, stripping away the bland innocence. Not only that, but as both people and places start to burst into colour and characters step outside their defined roles, it allows for an examination of how some embrace change and the lengths others will go to preserve what's considered "normal". The colour effects are uniformly excellent and are used to great effect, such as a tree on fire, "Bud" covering his mother's colour face with B&W makeup and shop owner Bill Johnson paintings (with a lovely performance from Jeff Daniels). Yes some of the outrage about "coloureds" is a bit too on the nose, but it's forgivable when a film is as warm, inventive and enjoyable as this. 

• Wold's Wildest Police Videos - This reality clip show of car chases, smashes and arrests -  presented by the gravelly voiced John Bunnell  - might seem like an odd choice, and it's not here because I particularly *loved* the programme. It earns a place just due to it's sheer ubiquitousness, as it seemed to be on television all the damn time ! If I flicked through the growing number of satellite channels available to me, no matter the hour of day or night - there was ex-Sheriff Burnell with his over-dramatic commentary on yet another law enforcement pursuit. "World's Wildest" became such a guilty pleasure in my family that we played a game each night to try and find it. Was it an episode that we had seen before? Was John going to wax lyrically over the sound of car horns and screeching tyres on the perils of being a criminal and then make some awful pun at their eventual capture? You bet he was!

• Dark City - If it wan't for the emotional connection to "A Bug's Life",  I think this dark SF mystery from Alex Proyas would have made the top spot. Despite its obvious influences, it still offers a unique vision, asks some deep questions - and has a love for science fiction past and present running all the way through. As the film opens, our protagonist, played by Rufus Sewell, wakes up in a hotel bath tub, seemingly with no memory of who he is or his past life. When the phone rings, a mysterious voice urges our man to get out quickly - "The Strangers" are coming. This just as he discovers the body of a murdered woman and a bloody knife. Fleeing the scene through a city of perpetual night, he avoids encountering the sinister Strangers - pale, bald people in black coats and wide-brimmed hats. Tracking down his estranged wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly) he discovers that his name is John Murdoch and he is wanted for a series of grisly murders - crimes which he cannot remember committing.... What follows is a desperate chase through a strange cityscape - one which keeps changing at midnight while the inhabitants sleep, as The Strangers use their powers to alter people's identities, twist the shapes of buildings and "tune" their unknowable experiment into new configurations. There is no way I am going to reveal all the twists and turns of this noir-tinged story, as unravelling the layers is one of the best parts of the experience - along with the fantastic production design. Suffice it to say that I found "Dark City" incredibly original and deeply satisfying, even on multiple viewings. There's a really good cast too, including Keifer Sutherland, Ian Richardson, David Wenham and William Hurt. It's especially good fun as "Mr. Hand" (one of The Strangers tasked with capturing John Murdoch) is played by the one-and-only Richard O'Brien of "Rocky Horror" and "Crystal Maze" fame. Never was a creepy bald man cast so well !

Golden Sunsets - 50 Years Of Memories - Part 31 - 1997

Memory-wise then, we're still in the difficult 1990s, but at least we've reached:

1997:

The trivia:

• Reverend Robert Shields from Dayton in the USA developed a kind of compulsion to document everything about his life. Between 1972 and 1997 he kept a diary of every five minutes, including recording his body temperature, blood pressure,  when he changed the light bulbs and even his bowel movements. By the time he stopped due to ill health, the diary amounted to 37.5 million words and filled 94 boxes.
• As part of his High School science class, 14-year old Nathan Zoner convinced 43 out of 50 classmates to vote to ban the chemical "Dihydrogen Monoxide", citing its many negative effects on the environment. He won first prize at the Greater Idaho Science Fair for his project which proved that the use of true facts can lead the public to a false conclusion, since "Dihydrogen monoxide" is actually...water.
• In April of 1997 the Hale-Bopp comet was at its brightest as it passed close to the Sun, and it continued to be visible in the night sky until December of that year. This lengthy visibility and the extensive coverage in the media and on the internet made it the most observed comet in human history. It also became infamous when 39 members of the religious cult "Heaven's Gate" committed mass suicide in order to reach what they believed was an extraterrestrial spacecraft hiding in it's trail

The memory:

The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton

 If the "Lensmen" sequence of novels by E.E. 'Doc' Smith had instilled in me a love of grandiose space opera as a youngster, then this massive series  (in both page count and scope) proved that the SF sub-genre was still alive and kicking and in *very* good hands.

It's worth admitting here that I'm breaking my own internal rules slightly, because the first volume in the trilogy - "The Reality Dysfunction" - came out in 1996, but I didn't discover Mr. Hamilton's work until book two - "The Neutronium Alchemist" was released in 1997. I really wanted the saga to have the top spot somewhere, but since 1996 and 1999 (when final volume "The Naked God" came out) were already allocated, it seemed to fit best here. Anyway, let's dive in...

In the 27th Century, mankind can travel to the stars and has colonised over 900 worlds plus numerous asteroids and space stations. However although humanity is united under the auspices of the 'Confederation' (which also includes two alien species - the Tyrathca and the Kiint) it has split into two distinct factions - the religious "Adamists", who use machine based nanotechnology and see themselves as "true humans", and the progressive, genetically modified "Edenists" who have embraced biotechnology (bitek) and can telepathically communicate with their living wormhole-creating vessels (known as Voidhawks) - not to mention avoid death by transferring their consciousness into their sentient giant habitats. Edenists also dominate the economy because they harvest 'Helium 3' from gas giant planets, which is the primary fuel source for all Adamist starships.

Against this backdrop we are introduced to a vast array of characters  including: the imprisoned terrorist scientist Dr. Alkad Mzu, designer of the outlawed antimatter super weapon "The Alchemist" - space trader Joshua Calvert, who made his fortune from the sudden discovery of artefacts from an extinct alien species - the fiery Edenist Syrinx who forms a telepathic bond with the bitek starship Oeone and now competes against Joshua in the lucrative shipping industry between worlds - and the charismatic but sadistic Satanist, Quinn Dexter, leader of a group of revolting convicts on the tropical settlement planet Lalonde.

It's on Lalonde where the main plot really kicks in. While Quinn Dexter is engaged in torturing a local law enforcer, an ancient alien known as the Ly-cilph which is observing the conflict, notices the dying mans energy signature leave his body and follows it to another dimension (later named "the beyond"), which contains billions of "souls" of human-kind's long dead. Unfortunately this contact ruptures the barrier between the beyond and our dimension, allowing the souls  - many driven insane after centuries of imprisonment, where they can sense the "real" world but not touch it -  to begin to escape and posses the bodies of the living. Dexter is just the first of millions to come.

These reincarnated dead find that they can allow more trapped souls through to posses others and harness energy based powers both as an offensive weapon and often as a way to reshape local reality  - although this prevents them from using use any form of advanced electronics. Although possession has to be with the consent of the host, this can be overcome by various torture methods. Consequently Lalonde is quickly over-run and many of the possessed (including Quinn, who has regained control of his body but kept the powers) leave in spaceships to spread to the wider Confederation.

If  this all sound a bit like the beginnings of a zombie outbreak in space, well that's true in a very limited sense, but the trilogy is so much more than that. As possession spreads throughout the Confederation like a virus, the viewpoint continues to switch so that we see the unfolding chaos across the known galaxy. Individuals battle for survival, governments and even planets fall, there are massive space battles and exploding stars - and across it all Dexter Quinn prepares to unleash his final apocalypse on Earth. It's exhilarating stuff. Even something that might sound hoary - like bringing in Al Capone and Fletcher Christian as two of the possessing souls - works because Hamilton's characters have weight and history and depth. They act like real people, not movie cliche cut-outs and we care about their fates. Key plot reveals also feel earned because characters discover them by detective work and sheer bloody survival.

The horror elements (and the books don't shy away from graphic violence) blend seamlessly with the more serious military science fiction and space opera themes and events have real consequence. Plus Hamilton takes the time to examine the philosophical and metaphysical sides of the conflict. For example, how does the existence of "the beyond" change humanity's views on religion and the afterlife? Yes, there are a vast array of multi-layered subplots, which can be challenging to keep up with - this is certainly not a story that you can skim - but Hamilton is a master juggler and knows exactly how to keep all the planets in the air, when to ratchet up the suspense and when to pull back the curtain.

This huge trilogy is also where a lot of Hamilton's core ideas, which he returns to in slightly different forms in subsequent novels, are first brought into the light. Humans enhanced by integrated technology. Vast man-made habitats. Innovative ways of crossing huge galactic distances. Aliens that are truly nothing like us (no bumpy foreheaded bipedals here). The fact that no matter how far out into the universe we go, we just take our prejudices and limited ways of thinking with us.

If I have one criticism, it's that the ending of the whole saga slightly falls short of the immense build-up. It's innovative, there's a logic to it - and it all fits together in a massively complicated tapestry, but I was perhaps hoping for something just a little...more. But that's nit-picking when a story with this sheer scale, innovation and complexity is so rewarding.

To my mind, after reading this series, there's space opera, there's epic space opera, and then there's Peter F. Hamilton...

Honourable mentions:

• Contact - Starring the always excellent Jodie Foster, this is one of those rare things - an intelligent, thoughtful science fiction film that dares to ask the big questions about science, the universe and faith (in all senses of the word). When radio astronomer Ellie Arroway discovers radio transmissions comic from Vega, it leads to the building of a gigantic machine that may just take mankind to it's first extraterrestrial encounter. What will the occupant find at the other end of their journey? Is it real? Is it the biggest hoax ever perpetrated? The film doesn't give all the answers and it's all the better for it.  It should come as no surprise that I love the film so much when you learn that is was written by one of my personal heroes - the scientist Carl Sagan - and directed by Robert Zemeckis, who was responsible for the almost perfect "Back To The Future Trilogy". A seemingly forgotten classic, 

• Buffy The Vampire Slayer - It's difficult looking back now to really appreciate how much a ground-breaking impact "Buffy" had on genre television. The show's powerful female heroine, witty and intelligent scripts that combined fantastical elements will the real world trials of the average teenager (or twenty-something) and a cast of interesting and relatable characters (even the evil ones), played by a bunch of great actors really brought fantasy television to the attention of the masses. Although it wasn't the first show to use season long plot arcs, it certainly re-popularised the idea, and phrases such as "Big Bad" to refer to the ultimate season villain have become part of modern TV language. I first discovered it in the familiar BBC2 evening slot (where some episodes were cut) before diving in and buying the home video releases - which was where my fascination with the show really took off. It was also one of the first programmes you could buy in "box set" collections (albeit each season was split into two releases of three cassettes each). I bought them all, before upgrading to the DVD complete collection in 2005. It's a few years since I've watched an episode, but any show that can consistently produce excellent episodes week in week out for seven years and also deliver stories as emotionally rich and diverse as "The Body", "Hush" and "Once More With Feeling" will always get my vote. 

• Star Trek: New Frontier -  Now I do like "Star Trek" in all its various TV and film incarnations, but I've never really been one for diving into the novelised adventures of Kirk, Picard , Sisko et al. I can distantly remember seeing the numbered Bantam episode adaptations by James Blish in bookshops in the 1970s, along with the curious 'Fotonovels' which contained stills from the episode along with dialogue balloons in a curious mash-up of live action and comics - but they didn't appeal enough to me to actually buy them. Although Pocket Books started releasing new stories in the early 80s, they didn't make their way to UK shores until around 1987, when I started seeing them in places like Forbidden Planet (I guess to co-incide with the transmission of "The Next Generation") - but again they were nothing more than a curiosity. Then in 1997 along came comics writer Peter David, who began to develop his little corner of the "Trek" universe with its own continuity, using a combination of new characters, ones he had created for other novels and minor background players from the various TV series. "New Frontier" concerned the adventures of the reckless Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the oddball crew of the Federation Starship Excalibur, as it explored Sector 221-G, home of the recently fallen Thallonian Empire.

• In a neat marketing strategy, Pocket Books released the first story in four slim volumes at a lower price. Intrigued by the concept, plus being aware of the quality of Peter David's comics work from his 12-year run on "The Incredible Hulk", plus "Dreadstar" and "The Atlantis Chronicles", I decided to take a chance and picked up the first couple of books - and that was it, I was hooked. Apart from the interactions of the unique crew and their adventures, my primary reason for enjoying the books so much was that you genuinely never knew what direction things could go in. Unlike Kirk and Picard, who (of course) would always survive, David might decide to kill off a prominent character, or jump forward in time or just throw in a real plot curve ball - it was that unpredictable. Between 1997 and 2006 David wrote sixteen full novels plus the New Frontier crew made appearances in a number of  other book mini-series, anthologies and even their own comics. Things then tailed off and there were only two new books in the next six years before a final trilogy of e-book novellas in 2015. I bought them all, and to my mind they (plus David's other "Trek" work) are some of the very best tie-in books to come out of the mega franchise. Well worth a read even if you are only a casual fan.

• The Fifth Element - It's wild, it's wacky. I'm sure certain parts don't make a whole lot of sense. but I just can't help love Luc Besson's 23rd century science fiction action extravaganza, if for nothing else than it's sheet imagination and ambition - even if it is clearly influenced by the French SF graphic novel series "Valerian & Laureline". Amongst all the special effects and a story of a once every 5,000 years cosmic alignment, Besson weaves an all-star cast - Bruce Willis is world weary and cynical cab driver, Korben Dallas, Ian Holm is a nervous priest who knows the truth behind the elements and Gary Oldman chews the scenery with gusto as Jean -Baptiste Emanuel Zorg - the villain of the piece, with his half shaved head, bizarre Southern accent and dog-faced henchmen. Plus of course Milla Jovovich as the strange, ethereal Leeloo. Less successful is Chris Tucker as the garish DJ Ruby Rhod - his high pitched fast-talking schtick wears thin very quickly, but it's the one small fly in the ointment of of an otherwise riot of a film. 

• Teletubbies - The brightly coloured forms of Tinky Winky, Laa-Laa, Dipsy and Po were *everywhere* in 1997, as what was conceived as a fun, kind-of-educational series for pre-school children caught the imagination of the general population of Great Britain and resulted in four characters who only communicated in gibberish having a number one single! For me as the father of a one-year old daughter who loved the show, I became very familiar with the repetitive surreal world and bizarre things like the Noo-noo and the Voice Trumpets. My wife even turned my daughters room into Teletubbyland, complete with rolling green hills, a grass carpet, paper sunflowers on the walls  and the rays of a Sun Baby shining out from the corner. Goodness knows what the people who lived there after us thought of it !

• Hanson - Mmmbop - Okay so this one is a real bit of a guilty / secret  pleasure. The three young Hanson brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma had been making music since the early 90s, but exploded on the popular music scene with the release of the single "Mmmbop", which reached number one in 27 countries and went on to sell over 700,000 copies in the UK alone, where it was constantly on the radio. Even those who said that they hated it couldn't help secretly singing along to the infectious albeit nonsensical chorus. Sure it's bubblegum pop aimed at a teenage market  - and I was certainly outside that demographic, but what can I say - I like good pop music no matter my age and even when it's not "cool" to do so. Subsequent single releases hit the top 10 too (even though people seem to remember Hanson as a one-hit wonder) and piqued my interest enough to shell out for the whole album, "Middle of Nowhere", when I saw it at a bargain price. Despite a few cheesy ballads, it's a selection of cheerful, supremely catchy melodies mixed with modern slick production values . People seem to remember 1997 as the year of Oasis, Radiohead and The Verve, but at a time when my personal life was going through a series of enormous highs and lows, I remember the music that just made me smile...

• The Game - This is probably the film directed by David Fincher that very few people have heard of, let alone seen, yet strangely for me it's one of the most rewarding. Michael Douglas is wealthy investment baker Nicholas Van Orton who is given an usual present for his birthday from his brother - a ticket for a "game" that he promises will change his life. I can't say too much more for fear of spoiling the enjoyment, as your work your way through the labyrinthine plot and its unexpected twists and turns, but hell is the payoff worth it. I love twisty-turny films like this and the first time I saw "The Game" I sat with my mouth open as Fincher slowly opened up his puzzle box. To be honest it's a trick that really only works on that initial viewing, but boy, is it worth it.

• Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - Who? Never heard of him...

Handful's of Sand...

Oh dear. That wasn't meant to happen at all...

Almost two years? Two years?!!! It can't be.

But sadly it's true. The last proper post on this blog was 30th October 2017 (a piece about my memories of 1996). Since then - nada. It's...well, disappointing to say the least. It feels like time has been getting away from me  - as if suddenly there is a lot less of it to go round. Did I wake up one day and someone has lopped 5 hours off the day without any notice?

So what went wrong? I'm sitting here on holiday for the first time in 12 months and I thought I'd try and work it out. After all, from looking back at published posts across the last four years, sitting by the pool with my trusty laptop is where I have seem to have done a lot of writing. Maybe the sound of crickets in the bushes and the breeze wafting through the trees will inspire me. So apologies if this turns into a bit of a self-therapy session...

You see, it's not just this blog that has suffered from a lack of progress - I'm also way behind on almost all of my interests. TV shows, films, comics, novels, audio dramas - everything is in a queue that seems to get longer and longer. The only thing I seem to be up to date on is podcasts - and that's only because of the 20 minute walk to and from work each day and listening to them while I mow the lawns or paint the fences. Then there's those ideas I have for a novel (inspired on by my good friend Iain Martin). I have lots of concepts written down and the start of a plot, but that's all sadly.

I could blame work. Or personal circumstances (and goodness knows my life has been full of a few seismic events lately - try having your house flooded for one). Or perhaps I've been more interested in other things (not that I know what those "things" might be). But I know those are old excuses and can't be used forever - and I think the problem goes deeper than that.

If I'm brutally honest, I do have previous form of not finishing things. There is a litter of uncompleted video games for a variety of  different consoles and platforms sitting in drawers or cupboards. Some even date back to the 1990s. I have shelves full of novels or comic collections which I bought with every intention of reading them, but...well, you know. There are DVDs and Blu-rays still in their cellophane that I haven't got round to watching yet. I will, I promise myself. One day, when I have more time....  It sounds crazy but I may have even sold or given away stuff that I never watched or read!

But before you think I am the world's greatest procrastinator, I have finished *some* things. A few novels (though not as many as I'd like). A handful of TV series (albeit probably way behind everyone else). I actually worked my way through the whole of the first three "Uncharted" games on PS3 (told you I was lagging behind the zeitgeist !). I've even read some actual comics in there somewhere. Oh and remember I managed to watch 800 episodes of Doctor Who in a row. Then again, that did end back in 2016. Bugger.

I also know I have a big "collecting" bug - some might even call it a compulsion. Having to complete a set is a big thing for me - even if I then don't ever do anything with it except watch it slowly gather dust on the shelf . This bug also comes in waves. I can break the compulsion if I need to (or am forced to by lack of space or moving house or financial constraints), but it then just manifests in some other form. Right now it's hardcover collections of top rated independent comics (which I have digitally and take up no space, but, boy, those huge books look great...). A couple of years ago it was Doctor Who figurines (I stopped after 110 and too many Daleks). Before that it was something else. Back in the '80s it was buying every new DC comic title published (which was a huge amount). The thing is, I'm making the situation worse, not better, by adding even more things to the bottom of the pile.

Then there are the lists. Cataloguing things is also a particular pleasure for some reason. I love a good list - dating back to my youth when I started to write down the titles of comic book stories in a loose leaf A5 binder. Such were my innocent days before the internet, and it continues now in more electronic form. Some are useful, especially when some items are in storage in boxes, but others, well some might consider them a step too far, perhaps even (dare I say it) obsessive.

Another point is that perhaps that I have too *many* interests. So I like pretty much all forms of SF and Fantasy, including but not limited to: novels, comics (though almost no superheroes), video games, movies and television shows - plus associated websites, podcasts, magazines and a smattering of toys / figurines / collectables. But I also like a lot of more "ordinary" TV output too - things that my wife and I watch together like "Mindhunter" or "The Grand Tour" or "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver". If I am spreading myself too thin across too many options, no wonder there is a far greater chance that I will not be able to keep up with things, let alone write about any of them.

Let's not even start on the time spent playing games or doom-scrolling through social media on my mobile phone. How many hours do I spend doing that now? Probably a lot more than I'd like to admit. I've doubtless squandered several hours a week. Bit by bit I'm using up free time.

It's also worth considering that in at least the TV and movie arenas, the rise of streaming services and the dominance of mega-budget superhero shared worlds has meant that SF&F genre fiction is now more mainstream than ever before. Every week there seems to be another new Netflix or Amazon show that piques my interest. Surely there isn't anyone that can keep up with it all - unless they are fully retired from work, live alone and never need need to go shopping, clean the house or cook for themselves !

Wow. It's a lot when you write it down like that. 

No wonder I feel like I'm never getting anywhere - and clearly I need to pare thanks back a bit - given the limited number of hours in the day. Plus I actually want to enjoy the things I'm "consuming", rather it becoming akin to a swamp I just need to wade through.

I know that I manage things best within a more structured format. Watching all of Doctor Who worked because it was usually no more 45 minutes at the start of every day and not only did I have that time, I could commit to it. But I don't want to become *too* structured, otherwise that will just become a noose around my neck. It could all become an illusory form of control, and potentially setting myself up for further frustration and disappointment. My mindset has to be flexible.

So let's try something like this - 

• watch an episode of something every day
• read a whole novel every week (or every two weeks if it's a very large book)
• listen to a podcast or part of an audio drama on the days I travel to work
• read part of a magazine  / graphic novel before bed
• watch one film a week
• write *something* once a week - even if it's not published. No timetable. No deadlines.
• play video games if there is down-time at weekends

It all sounds great in theory. So let's assume that after my holiday ends I still have the capacity to write something for this little blog that no one is even reading anymore. What would that even look like? Well like pretty much everything else I'm mentioned today, there is a list of uncompleted items - 

• Golden Sunsets - I've done 30 out of 50. I'd love to finish this personal history and maybe even update the early ones slightly
• The Book Tower - at the very least I want to review the last three "Winterhill" books.
• Collector's Dream - There are two comics pieces that are more than 50% complete.

That's a good start. I'll be ecstatic if I can accomplish even half of those things compared to what has *not* happened over the last two years.

Right, enough waffling and self-reflection. Time for a swim, some relaxation and good food with good people...

Here's to the future !