Between Vladimir Putin, monkeypox, Depp vs Heard, Will Smith’s Oscar slap and 44 days of Liz Truss, it’s been another tough but interesting year. Here’s a SCENIC WRITER’SSHACK look-back…
NATIONAL TRIVIA DAY (January)
DRAWING THE CURTAIN ON ‘LOST IN SPACE’ SITE (January)
I LIKE TRAFFIC LIGHTS (But Only When They’re Green) (May)
TOP 20 FAVOURITE MOVIES OF THE 1980’S (May)
TRUE CRIME BUFFS ‘R US(June)
SUPERWRITER EUDORA WELTY (June)
PUPPY LOVE (aka ‘Teddy’) (July)
STRANGEST HISTORY PICS EVER (July)
BOOK QUIZ(July)
MANSON FAMILY VACATION (August)
Top Ten Movies of the 1990’s(August)
KISS Concert (September)
FIGHT CLUB (October)
THE DEATH OF NATALIE WOOD (October)
VOICES (Fiction Story) (November)
AMAZING HISTORY PICS (November)
TOP FIFTY CARTOONS (December)
BEST BOOK COVERS of 2022 (December)
WELCOME BACK TO WHERE YOU BELONG
HEAR YE HEAR YE
YOU NEVER KNOW WHO OR WHAT YOU MIGHT BUMP INTO
YOU’VE CROSSED OVER… INTO SHACK TERRITORY
HERMITS UNITE!
SHELVE THAT IDEA
I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SRI LANKA
THE PEPERMINT CANDY OF THE LITERARY WORLD
No blog for you…ok just a little bit then.
Actress Betty White (Aged 99) January
Actor Sidney Poitier (Aged 94) January
Singer Meatloaf (Aged 76) January
Sister Janet Mead (Aged 83) January
Singer Bobby Rydell (Aged 79) April
Music Composer Vangelis (Aged 79) May
Australian Cricketer Andrew Symons (Aged 46) May
Actor Ray Liotta (Aged 67) May
Dawn Donaldson (My Mum, Aged 92) May
Revlon Cosmetics (June)
Brisbane Radio Station 4KQ (on-air for 75 years)June
Actor James Caan (Aged 82) July
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (assassinated aged 67) July
The 74-Year-Old Somerton Man Mystery – July
Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri(death by drone – aged 71) August
Former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev(Aged 91)August
Queen Elizabeth II (Aged 96) September
Brazilian Soccer Legend Pele (Aged 82) December
There are a number of countries around the world – China, the U.K and South Korea among them – who are leading the way into nuclear fusion research.
Nuclear fusion is the energy that powers the sun and stars. It is ‘clean’, infinite and produces no radioactive waste or greenhouse gases.
It involves the production of plasma, which simply explained, is gas with electricity running through it. A single kilogram of fusion fuel produces as much energy as 10 million kilograms of fossil fuel.
Researchers at the US National Ignition Facility in California performed fusion experiments in early December that released more energy than was pumped in by the lab’s enormous, high-powered lasers.
This represents a landmark achievement known as ignition or energy gain and is SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK’S ‘Scientific Breakthrough of the Year’.
Back in September, American model Bella Hadid (aged 26) had a dress ‘sprayed’ on to her while on the runaway at Paris Fashion Week.
Cambridge Dictionary – HOMER
Merriam Webster Dictionary – GASLIGHTING
Macquarie Dictionary – TEAL
Oxford Dictionary – GOBLIN MODE
Dictionary.com – WOMAN
Collins Dictionary – PERMACRISIS
Japan’s Kanji Character of the Year – WAR
And my New Year’s resolution? In 2023 my plan is to read more. And the first step to achiening that goal will be switching on the subtitles on my television.
Last year they were magnificent. The year before that set the standard. And now it’s time to hit the high notes once again.
In what can sometimes resemble a sea of tin-plate dinghies, these book covers are all daringly different luxury cruise ships.
(1) Literally eye-popping energy with a little penguin in the bottom left corner.
(2) I remember those colored circular stickers very well. And there’s a few faces I might want to blot out in my old school photos as well – if I could ever find them.
(1) Never underestimate the power of The Blob. Love how it’s just off-kilter as well, almost eclipsing the “L”
(2) It must have been a challenge to design a cover that could hold its own against the glorious subtitle “A Heartbeaking Work of Staggering Penis,” but I think this does the job beautifully.
(1) The playful pink poltergeist strikes again! Untidy or uncanny? Either way this cover has presence. At least we know it’s a glorious day outside that just ajar door.
(2) See the little human casting the long shadow? See where they’re standing? This one’s for anyone whose ever stood in the margins. With those staring eyes in the dark it would work equally as well as a Stephen King horror cover.
(1)The slightly uncanny, person-ish shape appears to be reaching out from behind prison bars. Wait, no! That’s a street intersection. Wait again…no, they’re definitely French windows. Ok, so maybe that’s actually the mythical dolphin-dog standing on it’s hind legs while trying to unlatch the door to it’s enclosure. I think you get the idea. Whatever way you look at it this cover is intriguing.
(2) For a non-fiction book about ghosts and hauntings, this cover is suitably mystery-shrouded. Not sure if you can see it along the right hand edge, but bonus points also for one of the more innovatively placed ‘Author of...’ mentions.
(1) When the flight attendants go through the emergency procedures on a plane, no one pays attention. When you put those same boring procedures on the cover of a novel, suddenly it’s interesting.
(2) Those slightly menacing red lines through the words may mean either there’s a psycho killer on the loose or a mad scribbler can’t hold it in any more.
(1) Gotta love mushrooms sprouting from a vaginal coral in a disembodied hand!
(2) The quality of that red ‘n green turtle saddle indicates it might just be hand-stitched.
(1) Gripping cover bar none.
(2) Precious Purple Rapunzel!
(1) The vagina images just keep coming.
(2) Love the multicolored 1970’s movie-credits font.
(1) Spot the nun. And bonus points for the funny angle on the dangling crucifix.
(2) Doesn’t look like anything else out there. This is what chaos on a book cover looks like.
(1) Weird and precise and, because of the shadows, a little threatening, somehow.
(2) Love Bird Woman’s thumb hooked around the C.
(1) Go the hand-drawn text!
(2) A splash of color in the most psychedelic way.
(1) MOTHER THING is a great title and the cover is a fiendishly comical delight.
(2) Two portraits juxtaposed in a very interesting, splotchy way.
(1) Which side indeed. A clever and convincing—and fun—take on the signage-style cover.
(2) Um……okaaaaaay. Viva la black hole spacetime!
(1) A blazing worm will get my attention every time. Including THIS time.
(2) A probing book that aims to get to the bottom of it’s subject. Sorry.
(1) When you’re an author and your first name is Rainbow – yes! – you get to feature an oval shaped upward-downward rainbow on your front cover.
(2) Color text on a B & W background works for me. Every time.
As anyone who’s shown even a casual interest in this site over the years would know, SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK and whacked-out cartoons frequently sit side-by-side on the same food-stained couch (this site). There’s one or two thrown in for comic relief, most posts.
Now that we’re in the ‘look back’month of the year, it seemed like the right time to gather a collection of some of the best together in one glorious, cackling heap.
Here are 50 cartoons from 2022 that might just bring on an ice-cream smile. Or, sticking with the cold dessert descriptions, maybe a snow-cone titter. Or failing that, possibly even a good old fashioned sorbet snigger. Not that anyone’s ever heard of one of those before.
Whatever your pleasure, SWS is confident there’s something here for everyone. And that includes… YOU!
‘Teddy’ Donaldson couch-surfing
Would love to know your Top 3 from this lot. Even just one cartoon that caressed your funny bone. Comments are hugely open.
History is so neat. So perfect. So packaged and understandable. So…done.
Like an old shoe, it comes with comfort and layers of certainty. What could be more certain than the past? We can slide into it and make sense of it. Usually with ease. That isn’t always possible with the far more perplexing present.
History, God bless it, has been likened to a narrow flashlight in a darkened room. Using another analogy, its the broad brush as opposed to the fine tip which is used more often than not when recalling things from the past.
Our moments and memories are reincarnated in isolation; separated from their original context, leadup and intricate details. They are nothing more and nothing less than a single moment in time.
Like these moments…
The comparison to today’s finger-sized 64 Gigabyte USB flash drives (‘Memory Sticks’) is striking. Throw in the fact that a Gigabyte is one thousand times bigger than a Megabyte – even though the prefix ‘Mega‘ intuitively sounds bigger than the prefix ‘Giga’ – and the contrast becomes jaw-dropping.
Three Rock Queens for the price of one. This photo was taken by BLONDIE co-founder and lead guitarist Chris Stein (now aged 72).
Just so you know, a ‘SWIM-MOBILE’ was a mobile swimming pool on a long flat bed trailer that could be moved from place to place. Makes sense now, huh?
That kid on the dragster is the person who would grow up to be Microsoft’s Co-founder and the man who would hold FORBES MAGAZINE’S‘Richest Person in the World’ title every year from 1995 to 2017 – except from 2010 to 2013.
‘Ol Blue Eyes doesn’t even spill a drop.
One of her more popular feats was raising her 85kg husband over her head with one arm.
Your challenge is to identify who the young girl (pictured with her older brother Taylor) is in this picture. She would go on to become one of the most bankable stars of 1950’s/60’s Hollywood. First name starts with the letter ‘E’. Think ‘Queen of the Nile’.
It’s been a while since SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK trotted out it’s fiction voice. The story you’re about to read – well, if you get that far – concerns a humble gravedigger who embarks on a ‘soul-seeking’ quest one rainy day while knee-deep at work in the cemetery he calls his office. Most unexpected results follow. I just had to say ‘most unexpected’ didn’t I? Better judge for yourself.
Paul Lipshut had been casually digging a grave in pretty hard ground within the grounds of Necropolis cemetery. At a certain point he began to feel hot and tired. He stopped and sat down in the grave to have a rest. What could be more natural?
Without warning and coming from nowhere in particular, the jovial Englishman thought he heard a voice. At first he took it to be human but with some weird kind of echo effect to it. The seasoned grave-digger initially believed it was his own hearing that was somehow at fault.
He stood up to have a look around. As far as he could see, the cemetery was totally deserted in all directions. Although he was standing up to his neck in the grave, he didn’t have a perfect view. Tall headstones nearby blocked his sight.
He began to suspect that some of his known-to-be-mischievous workmates might be concealing themselves nearby and playing a joke on him; perhaps trying to frighten him by speaking deeply into a funeral vase or something to create the ghostly echo effect. It had happened before. He shouted out sarcastically a few times but no one answered.
After a brief period of silence, the bearded cemetery worker again heard the indistinct echoing voice. Becoming annoyed by what he was now convinced was a morbid practical joke at his expense, he climbed angrily out of the grave to see what was what.
He searched around furiously, expecting someone to pop up and run for it, however the immediate vicinity of the grave offered no such resolution. Deciding that whoever it was that had been fooling around had probably pre-empted him and nipped out of sight over the other side of the incline, Lipshut trudged uphill in pursuit. But still there was not a soul in sight.
Again he heard the voice. Still he couldn’t make out the meaning, as the sound-distorted words seemed to be jumbled up, like echoes on top of echoes in some multi-track recording. By now however, he had sensed the direction from which the sounds seemed to be coming and, still curious and suspicious, he went walking towards what he believed was the source, a certain gravestone.
As he began to realize that there was no reasonable place for a joker to hide in that particular area of where he was, he began to feel wary and genuinely frightened as the sounds continued to emanate. It could not have soothed his jangled nerves then to realise the voice was coming out of a gravestone.
Having determined that a tombstone was talking to him, Paul Lipshut had a good look at it and found the name on the headstone to be that of one ‘Mallory De Courcey’. As light rain began to fall, Lipshut removed his phone from his back pocket and began a GOOGLE search.
It took no more than a minute for him to discover the name Mallory De Courcey, according to the corresponding dates on the tombstone, had belonged to someone who, at one time, many years now past, had made some type of name for himself performing as a ventriloquist.Lipshut reacted with a mixture of amusement and curiosity to further discover the entertainer’s act had featured a puppet bear named ‘Voices’.
Paul Lipshut knocked off early from his shift at the cemetery that afternoon. Thanks to that epiphanous moment amongst the graves, he now knew, with all the certainty of a sage, what he was really meant to devote his life to. It was the end to a long, long period of searching.
Now it all made sense. As a boy he’d found joy in two things: dirt – which, due to the weather in and around the city of Cardiff, naturally also included its wet-weather cousin, mud – and entertaining others. It was the second of these true loves, he now told himself, that was clearly his true path.
His search was finally over. There would be no more digging; for dirt… or answers. He affirmed that however long it took him to forge a brilliant new adventure inspired by this day, he would travel the distance. Strange events had pointed to a new direction for his life. And a sign like this was surely too meaningful – and bizarre – to ignore.
Humble grave digger Paul Lipshut had heard a voice amongst the tombstones on this fateful, moistened day. It illuminated a path that would open up the next stage of his life. It was, quite literally, his calling.
Speaking of ‘voices’, here’s two from the past re-emerging this week and worth checking out –
In the eighties, landing free movie tickets made me think I’d near won the lotto.
I remember back in 1983 scoring a pair to the premiere of a film called BRAINSTORM. The trailer below makes it appear half way interesting. But I recall thinking at the time the minutes ticked by slowly. Very slowly. I also remember it was Natalie Wood‘s last movie.
Not to be confused with the 1965 B & W neo-noir thriller, starring Jeffrey Hunter (1926 – 1969) also called BRAINSTORM.
Natalie Wood died, aged 43, on November 29, 1981 from what the coroner at the time ruled was accidental drowning. She had been on a weekend boat trip to Santa Catalina Island (near L.A.) Important to note is the fact she never learned to swim.
Also on board the motoryacht, named SPLENDOUR (after her 1961 movie SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS) were three other people – her husband at the time Robert Wagner, her BRAINSTORM co-star Christopher Walken and the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern.
Mystery has always surrounded Natalie Wood’s death. In 2013 the Coroner changed the official cause of death from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors.”
Last year, Natalie Wood‘s sister Lana – who stood in for Natalie to finish remaining scenes on BRAINSTORM after her death – published her account of the life and death of her famous sibling. Throughout the book the death of her sister is referred to as a murder.
Her account kicks off with a story of her mother, who she describes as having been big into all things mystical, one day visiting a gypsy fortune-teller in China. She was told that one day she would give birth to a little girl who would become a famous movie star.
The gypsy’s other prediction, which Lana Wood says she and Natalie were told of when they were children, was that the life of that same extraordinary little girl would ultimately end in a tragic drowning in dark water.
Lana Wood writes that Natalie always believed every word that came out of their mother’s mouth and spent the rest of her life terrified of dark water, admitting to it in a number of interviews. Even pools frightened her.
In LITTLE SISTER,Lana Woods points the finger of suspicion for Natalie’s death at her husband at the time Robert Wagner. Audiences from more recent decades would know Mr Wagner from his role as ‘Number 2’ in all three AUSTIN POWERS movies.
According to Lana Wood’s investigations, which include speaking extensively to Dennis Davern, the captain on board the boat on the night of the ‘accident’, a violent argument broke out between Natalie Wood and Richard Wagner in their cabin.
Richard Wagner smashed a wine bottle and flew into a jealous rage over Natalie’s ‘closeness’ with her film co-star, Christopher Walken (also on board that night). If you take a look at even a few moments of the clip below, you can see the two play characters in BRAINSTORM – the movie they were near the end of filming at the time – who are very much in love with each other.
In his own autobiography, PIECES OF MY HEART,Wagner admits to arguing with Natalie on board the SPLENDOUR before she ‘went missing’, only to be found six hours later floating facedown in the Pacific Ocean.
Here is an excerpt from a 2018 interview with the SPLENDOUR’S captain Dennis Davern in which he tells what he thinks happened to Natalie Wood on that November night forty-one years ago –
And in more detail –
Lana Wood says that Robert Wagner’s account of events that night simply ‘do not add up’.Wagner has always maintained that Natalie arose in the middle of the night to retie the dinghy that was banging at the side of the boat and in the process of doing that slipped and fell into the water.
Lana Wood writes in LITTLE SISTER that for anyone who knew Natalie that version of events is laughable. Lana proposes her sister would never in a million years think of venturing out of her cabin in what was a bitterly cold night in her socks and dressing gown (she was found deceased wearing both) to go anywhere near her life-long terror, dark water.
On top of that, Lana Wood says her sister was the archetypical movie-star in that respect and would not have attempted such a menial labour task that she had employed the boats’ captain to look after.
Mention is also made of the official autopsy which showed injuries consistent with an attack, including more than 20 bruises covering Natalie Woods body. These injuries prompted Los Angeles detective Ralph Hernandez, who was interviewed for the 2020 Apple Podcast series THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF NATALIE WOOD to remark that Natalie Wood looked like she had been the victim of an assault prior to her death.
‘We have a lot of evidence that tends to point to a very suspicious death” said Hernandez, “and would certainly indicate the possibility of foul play.’
LITTLE SISTER (2021) is an utterly fascinating yet ultimately tragic read.
Some people might remember I used to run a site called LOST IN SPACE FIRESIDE.
Spending in excess of three years re-watching and ‘writing up’ all 83 episodes of the show, the final post was published in January of this year. It was a project that brought me a lot of joy. It was something I was proud to have done.
Time then to officially ‘grandfather’ the site, meaning, there would be no more active contributions from me but LOST IN SPACE FIRESIDE would continue to live on amidst the vast expanse of the free-floating ethernet.
Nine months later a stranger came knocking at the door. Only this was no polite knock. This was a “Gonna huff – gonna puff – gonna bloooooow your house down“ type of entry. Swat team with battering ram. And those guys don’t pay for damage after they leave.
I somehow ended up going four rounds with this fellow before he finally lost interest and walked away. I don’t like the word ‘troll’ so ‘internet goblin‘ is the term I’ll use to describe the creature who burst through the dooron this day.
I’ll let you judge whether I was right to react the way I did. Afterall, the poor guy was only trying to help. Or was he? I mean, Jack the Ripper was only trying to ‘help‘ public awareness of the dangers of late night walking in 1880’s London, wasn’t he? Well, wasn’t he?
Like a lot of fights, when it’s done and dusted with usually both combatants left nursing injuries, you’re often left wondering, “What was THAT about?“. This disagreement was over the accuracy of a plot synopsis I wrote nearly four years ago for a Season One episode of LOST IN SPACE. The episode, as with the entire original series, is now more than 50 years old.
The internet goblin (real name: Michael Grant) was intent on taking me to task about a detail included in the plot summary I had written for the episode.
Try keeping a straight face when I tell you this person was do-or-die adamant that the character Dr Smith was evicted from the campsite at the beginning of the episode because he failed to rescue Don and John from the quicksand – NOT as I had implied (not wrote but implied, which is an important distinction I believe not fully grasped by Michael)) because of missing cans of deutronium.
Absolutely no one should bother clicking on the actual post (HERE) that caused all the hoopla in the first place. But on the chance there’s any rigorous fact-checkers out there, then this one’s for you.
I told you it was ridiculous. And now you know just how ridiculous. Anyway, to be clear, I am certainly not above being corrected. I have a wife, teenage daughter and a posse of bosses and supervisors at work who all ensure I get regular practice in receiving feedback and corrections. I also have a collection of supremely knowledgeable twelve-year-olds in my life who ensure it happens on a regular basis as well.
No, the objection came from the unfortunate manner in which it was carried out. A manner lacking the least bit of humility. A manner inflated with ego and swagger. A manner that, in the worst tradition, was emboldened by the anonymity of the internet.
But enough commentary. This is FIGHT CLUB. And that ‘Ding Ding’ that just sounded is most definitely the bell…
Before GLEN writes his LIS synopsis… He should WATCH THE EPISODE from beginning to end and know what he’s talking about… It’s very simple Glen.. Just plug in your bluray or DVD and WATCH IT and then WRITE… Your synopsis always have glaring mistakes… In this synopsis you wrote that Dr. Smith was thrown out of the Jupiter 2 camp because of missing dutronium canisters… WRONG!… He was thrown out for almost letting John and Don die in the quicksand when they fell in and he casually walked away without helping them…
Thanks for the stern lecture Michael – delivered all school teacher-ish like. Seems like you’ve got a bee in your bonnet about something… but I wish you well in any case. It’s all about LOST IN SPACE enjoyment for all of us. Probably better to concentrate on that positive aspect, I reckon.
Couple of things to note here – (1) What you’re reading are the exact, word-for-word transcripts of the exchange between The Goblin and myself. Nothing has been changed, embellished or altered in any way. (2) From the opening round you can see Michael is quite fond of his shouty capitals. Again, nothing altered here. This is exactly how his emails were written and sent.
No… I’m not a teacher… I’m just someone that believes that if someone is lucky enough to have a tv or movie blog that the public read… That they should put in the little bit of time it takes to Get Things Right before they go to print… And if that means having to watch the movie, or tv episode again fresh… Then what’s the big deal? Fans who are all very familiar with the ins and outs of all the tv shows and movies that they are reading about DO RECOGNIZE WHEN MISTAKES ARE MADE IN DISCUSSIONS and wonder : “Why does THIS GUY have a blog? He doesn’t even seem to watch this stuff”…. This is all written to you in a HELPFUL MANNER and I hope you as a writer can take constructive criticism… If not, then you are in the wrong line of work.
The ‘ol ‘constructive criticism’ card, eh? Then I guess you won’t mind being on the receiving end of some yourself Michael – only it won’t come from me in this case. Generally, I steer clear of delivering the euphemistically named ‘constructive criticism’ to anyone other than perhaps children, believing that taking on the role of advising other adults how they might improve themselves or their performance is not an area I wish to stray into. I know not everyone feels the same. I think most people would agree however that if you WERE going to go down that route, you definitely wouldn’t want to do it in a snarky, sarcastic and superior-sounding way while you are a guest in that person’s on-line home. Delivering ‘constructive criticism’, if that’s what it was (am tempted to say it had more the feel of, at least in parts, venom-infused outrage and ‘glass half full’, punchy nitpicking) is an artform – and experience guides us to knowing if that is what’s going to be served up, then it absolutely needs to be done with gentleness, tact and genuine good intention. Thanks also for more snark at the end there with the ‘then you are in the wrong line of work’ suggestion. That one was a bit of a right ‘ol crackup for me. But more ‘constructive criticism’, right? Lets end by saying it’s a plus point to see LOST IN SPACE can still inspire discussion and, dare I say ‘passion’, more than 50 years after it first went to air.
The basic tactic here is to counter boxer-style punches directed my way with Aikido sourced redirections and use-your-opponent’s-own-energy-against-them moves. Engaging but not really engaging, if you will. And in defense of The Goblin’s scurrilous barb about not watching the episodes… wrong! ‘The Great Re-Watch’, as I dubbed it, saw me sit down with pen and notebook in hand, transfixed like a kid-all-over-again for every second of every minute of every episode of the 83 show series.. I could have lifted the plot synopses straight off the internet – they’re most definitely in abundance there – but where would the fun in that have been? To attempt to muddy a person’s credibility like that because you see a plot point differently, well… a Goblin would do something like that, now wouldn’t they?
I reckon The Goblin delivers a correction (and as you’ll see he’s only throwing mere jabs at the moment – the haymakers come later) with a similar air of menace to how Grady the Butler‘corrected’ his daughters and wife in THE SHINING (1980). In the words of not-so-fine English gentleman Grady, Michael has given me ‘a good talking to’ and the ‘bit more’ is, trust me, still on it’s way.
Classic LIS is very new to many new generation viewers since it plays weekly on the popular national network ME-TV.. and after the success of the reboot LIS on Netflix, many new generation viewers are just now experiencing LIS classic on ME TV every week for the first time… (btw I’ll TELL YOU when I’m being snarky and not constructive) … Ok : NOW I’M GOING TO BE SNARKY : You sound like an old guy who while on a on a public blog can’t stand being corrected… Notice how with all your responses you never admitted my main complaint.. That the reason your blogs have so many mistakes inside the synopsis is because YOU DON’T watch them fresh before you write the synopsis… You seem to write them from memory.. Which is fine for conversation but Not for publication
Bro, this is gold! The possibilities here are starting to appear downright buttery. If we can just find a way to harness the willful energy of that wanton critical eye of yours, I think you and I can go places together. Truth is, I’ve been on the lookout for a while now for a… how best to describe it… ‘efficiency expert’. Someone – and I picture this ‘leader’ type individual as possibly possessing a strong jawline and dressed in a high-priced suit (or scrubby jeans – doesn’t really matter) – who can effectively shape and mold me and help me reach the true potential I know is inside of me. Are you that person Michael? I couldn’t afford to pay you much – at least at the beginning – but under your tutelage I know I could become more ‘efficient’ and successful in quick time. My earning potential could – and I emphasize ‘could’ quickly rise to match my new found abilities. And then more back to you. Are you starting to see the potential as well?
With a straight face I will say your fault-finding powers are priestly bro (I’ll confess I’ve shared our comment exchanges up till now with a few other sets of eyes and the general consensus is that a person such as you, with your rare abilities, doesn’t come along every day) and I know I’m ready to take the next step to self-empowerment and yes, self-improvement. Who needs Tony Robins when I can have you? Right? Well…right? Please contact me again if you’re prepared to take me on as a client – under your wing, so to speak. My true potential – a mistake-free me, if you will – is waiting to be developed. By you. The deutronium (god, is that even how you spell it?) cans/quicksand debacle will all be a thing of the past. Promise. I know I can be better. And I know you know I can be better too. But a steady hand to guide me is what I need. What I’ve always needed, but up ’till now been maybe afraid to admit to. Whadya say Michael? Will you ‘grant’ (little pun – based on your last name – from me there, but I know I can do better under your guidance) me that wish, take me on and see what magic can happen?
Marks to the Goblin here for being fully present. When he directs me to “Notice how with all your responses you never admitted my main complaint..” he is indeed beginning to see things correctly. Frustrating your opponent – engaging but not engaging – and fighting a battle on your own terms is a tried and true military strategy endorsed by no less than Sun Tzu – author of the seminal THE ART OF WAR. Grinding down one’s adversary seems the way to go in a drawn-out style battle. However, a frustrated opponent is an unpredictable opponent. And the Goblin is about to unleash one last desperate flurry of kicks, punches and elbows – street-fighting style – in his bid for what I’m pretty certain he would view as a ‘victory’.
Ok, end in sight. We’ve made it to the final round. The little snippet above us is one thing, but to mentally prepare oneself for the low blows about to come, a more lengthy revisit back to 1997 and the infamous Holyfield vs Tyson ‘Bite Fight’ may be useful prep.
I suspect you’re between 65 to 70 years old… Probably a MAGA person and overweight with a substandard I.Q. (Don’t let it get you down though because I remember that your leader Trump said often “I LOVE ALL MY UNEDUCATED” and thousands of you stood up in the bleachers and applauded and cheered).
I take it that’s a ‘no’ ?
Looks like the cushioned blows of those dreamy ‘constructive criticism’ days are long behind us now. Admit I had to look up MAGA. The old thing? Well, yeah… old enough to recognize when I’m dealing with someone who appears to have a lot of growing up to do and might also benefit from what could be humorously termed ‘sensitivity training’. Overweight? Egads! If only our headstrong heckler knew how wrong he was on that front. And while I don’t partake in the sport of ‘Trump Bashing’, l’m just as unlikely to label myself a fully fledged fan as well.
The battle between the Goblin and myself stretched across three days. Why did I allow it? After all, I had to manually ‘approve’ each comment prior to it making it’s way onto what was effectively an abandoned internet site.
Amongst other reasons, I was enjoying two weeks holidays and so I had the time. I’ll admit there was a part of me that also relished the verbal sparring.
A sadder admission is, engagement like that, as negative and insult-strewn as it was, had me feeling more alive than the usual wall of silence and indifference that greets pretty much every post – apart from regular offerings from a couple of very loyal and articulate comment-artists. That’s not a complaint, just a statement of fact.
Fellow bloggers can relate, I’m sure.
Anyway, the whole messy dialogue took place on disused grounds. My hope is our gabby Goblin doesn’t try his luck gaining entry to the far more hallowed turf of SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK. Michael Grant, if you’re out there, this door is firmly bolted.
How would Fonzie have handled this? No doubt very differently to how I handled it. Click HERE to unlock the Fonzie way.
Forty-two years ago a traumatic incident ‘rocked’ my world.
Back in 1980 – the year the Rubik’s Cube debuted – I was 14 years old and a walloping huge KISS fan.
The band toured Australia that year. But I didn’t get to go. Instead, some mates and I had to listen to freckled-faced Joe Cranitch – a boy in our class who would later grow up to wear a police uniform – recite HIS experience of having been front and centre in the fourth row at KISS’S Brisbane concert the previous night.
A bitter pill to swallow, by anyone’s reckoning. The disappointment of missing out on that Brisbane concert, light years ago, left lifelong scars. But apparently time heals all wounds (and wounds all heels) and three nights ago SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK took a massive step forward in righting the wrongs of the past.
Three nights ago, SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK attended the 2022 Brisbane KISS concert.
A KISS concert has always been about much more than just the music; in much same way the Mona Lisa could never be described as just another painting.
KISS live is about staging a full-on, no-holds-barred theatrical ‘show’, in the truest sense of that word. One complete with trench-warfare-like intensity. On Tuesday night the band delivered in spectacular fashion.
Eric Singer’s Eight Minute Drum Solo
As a former band drummer myself, this was always going to be a highlight. And it was.All eight platform-raising minutesof it.
Paul Stanley’s Monologues Between Songs
They were all pretty funny. Especially the one about why the concert had been postponed twice prior to Tuesday night (Covid).
Gene Simmons’ Fire Beathing Act
Knew this one one was coming. Ouch!
Avoiding the $120 T-Shirts at the ‘Merch’ Bars
I’m all for getting carried away in the moment. But not THAT carried away.
The Support Act
Support bands are supposed to be good, but not THAT good. Right? These Led-Zeppelin-ish-sounding Brisbane lads were freakin’ world class.
The Girl at the Candy Bar
That was a looooooooong queue to get a packet of Maltesers and some bottled water. But the young girl serving all by herself down that end of the counter was calm, so poised, so old-skool, understated nice.Getting the chocolates from her in that way was a moment to itself.
THE DEMON
Bloody good theatre!And I do mean BLOODY good.
THE KISS ARMY
KISS fans like to dress up. That’s putting it mildly. There were plenty of whole families – Mum, Dad, and three kids – all rockin’ wigs, facepaint and costume outfits. That’s the KISS way.
Random Sighting
Something pretty random happened on the drive-home after the concert. During the show’s finale, which I’ll get to next, hundreds of Kiss-logo emblazoned, oversized beachballs – each the size of an armchair -were released down onto the crowd from high up in the rafters.
About 15 km away, while driving along my route home at 1am, I spotted a lone figure in the darkness by the side of the road. It was a genuine KISS fan sighting. And what was this person hugging close to his chest to put the final strokes on the weird-random factor? One of those giant beachballs!
THE BONKERS AMAZING FINALE
Every show needs a grand finale and this one had one of the trophy-winning grandest. More fireworks and ear-piercing explosions went off in that last five minutes than a lifetimes worth of rugged SAS training courses.
Guitar smashing, platform risers, 20-foot-high flame stacks, confetti cannons by the dozen and hundreds of frenetic lazers. This had it all. Nothing – absolutely nothing – was saved in the tank.
No one could have asked for more.
And to round things off, there’s this… Someone with a lot of time on their hands and a lot of skill has put together this morphing video, charting the evolution of KISS.
Something tells me SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK doesn’t have too many genuine KISS fans as readers, so I don’t expect this’ll get a lot of views but hey… if you’re gonna pay tribute you may as well go all out. Right?
Happy days indeed! For HAPPY DAYS of a different kind, click HERE.
When the swarm of literally tens of thousands of films nesting inside a dedicated movie buff’s head reaches critical mass and the buzz becomes too busy to ignore, there’s but one thing to do – compile a top 100 list.
This ‘hive’ will be organized according to time period – nominating ten loved films from each of the decades from the 1940’s through to the 2010’s. That will total eighty films. Twenty selections will be included each for the 1970’s and 80’s – ‘my‘ decades – rounding out the list to 100 titles.
The 1990’s was the decade that ushered in the all-transforming digital revolution. It comprehensively laid the platform for the life we live today. The birth of the World Wide Web and the roll-out of fiber optic cables brought sweeping changes to societies across the globe. The first web browser went on-line in 1993. Pagers were initially popular but ultimately were superseded by mobile phones by the early-2000s.
The Human Genome project formally launched in 1990. (It was declared complete on April 2003. Level “Complete Genome” was achieved in May 2021). Construction started in 1998 on the International Space Station.
Culturally, the nineties saw a rise in the awareness of multiculturalism compared to the 1980’s, as well as the advance of alternative media. In 1990, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of diseases. In 1997 J.K. Rowling introduced the world to what would go on to become the best-selling book series in the history of literature, HARRY POTTER.
Politically, the dissolution of the Soviet Union occurred in 1991, with multiple Soviet Socialist Republics declaring independence from the USSR. 1991 also saw the outbreak of the Gulf War, after Iraq invaded Kuwait. A coalition force led by the United States drove the Iraqi army from Kuwait in just four days. Also of note, the United Kingdom handed sovereignty of Hong Kong to China on July 1st, 1997.
Academy Award winners for Best Picture during this decade were –
Here it is then… my list of 10Favorite Movies from the 1990’s. Googles on. Swimsuit fitted. It’s time to dive in.
Every frame of these movies a feast!
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Be sure to click on next time when… SCENIC WRITER’S SHACK will report ‘live’ from the upcoming Brisbane KISS concert.
Most people wouldn’t be able to name the perpetrators of the most recent mass shooting in the U.S. or act of terrorism on the international stage. Yet the name Charles Manson lingers more than half a century after his crimes.
MANSON FAMILY VACATION is a 2015 film which I watched on Netflix a few days ago.
It tells the story of two polar-opposite brothers: one a lost soul who has a fascination with the 1960’s Manson murders – the other a straight-laced lawyer who is nothing short of repulsed by his brother’s interest in the cult leader.
The Manson-enamored brother, named Conrad, is insistent on emphasizing the perceived positive aspects of the cult guru – his environmental activism, love of animals, his ‘helping’ of kids who’d been kicked out of their homes and of course Manson’s music.
He’s also ready to tell anyone who’ll listen how Manson was not present during the nights of the murders in August 1969 and so his conviction for those crimes is doubtful at best.
But his responsible legal-eagle brother, Nick, is having none of it. In one exchange between the two that takes place in a bar, Conrad observes, “I knew you would freak out if I raised the topic of Manson”; to which Nick replies, “Dude, EVERYONE freaks out when you raise the topic of Manson”.
In another scene, bearded Conrad becomes giddy with excitement when he meets a guy who shows him where Manson’s family busnow lays rusting and abandoned in the desert. When he’s invited to sit in Charlie’s seat behind the wheel, it’s a moment of pure euphoria for the free-spirited black sheep of the family.
With his shaggy haircut and bushy beard, the actor (Linas Phillips) taking on the role of the ultimate Manson fan even looks a bit like Manson, a connection that becomes more relevant as the movie goes on.
It’s rare that anything associated with Charles Manson can put a smile on your face but this character study with elements of both buddy film and road movie does just that. It’s no easy thing merging dark comedy and a brother re-bonding story but in this case the filmmakers manage to pull it off.
For anyone new to the whole mad Manson saga, this video might help bring you up to speed…
Before GLEN writes his LIS synopsis… He should WATCH THE EPISODE from beginning to end and know what he’s talking about… It’s very simple Glen.. Just plug in your bluray or DVD and WATCH IT and then WRITE… Your synopsis always have glaring mistakes… In this synopsis you wrote that Dr. Smith was thrown out of the Jupiter 2 camp because of missing dutronium canisters… WRONG!… He was thrown out for almost letting John and Don die in the quicksand when they fell in and he casually walked away without helping them…
Thanks for the stern lecture Michael – delivered all school teacher-ish like. Seems like you’ve got a bee in your bonnet about something… but I wish you well in any case. It’s all about LOST IN SPACE enjoyment for all of us. Probably better to concentrate on that positive aspect, I reckon.
Couple of things to note here – (1) What you’re reading are the exact, word-for-word transcripts of the exchange between The Goblin and myself. Nothing has been changed, embellished or altered in any way. (2) From the opening round you can see Michael is quite fond of his shouty capitals. Again, nothing altered here. This is exactly how his emails were written and sent. 
Grinding down one’s adversary seems the way to go in a drawn-out style battle. However, a frustrated opponent is an unpredictable opponent. And the Goblin is about to unleash one last desperate flurry of kicks, punches and elbows – street-fighting style – in his bid for what I’m pretty certain he would view as a ‘victory’.
Scenic Writer's Shack 