Paranoid about Paranoia?

Are you scared a lot - or just plain angry?  Maybe I'm just getting old . . . well, if truth be known there's no maybe about it.  We all are - and as we do, the word 'nostalgia' begins to take on more flavour for some.  'Things were so much better in MY day.'  How often have you heard that chestnut?  What the hell is MY day anyway?  Probably some nebulous fantasy land where good thoughts always prevail, just in time for the final curtain - and after all, it is the age old standard for good to emerge victorious over evil, eventually.

Sounds good.  But it's not the experience of most.  We constantly battle with the frailties of our being, and with the world itself.  On the face of it, it appears the whole Universe is out to kill us.  Mentally and spiritually to begin with - and then good old mother nature delivers the final coup de grace.

Meanwhile, we are encouraged from the corners of light to be happy in our journey down the river Styx, to battle against the force that the world in general throws in our faces on a minute by minute basis.  Yet, I only have to view a television set for an hour, or look at a daily newspaper for a short time, before my spirits are being dampened by abject misery.

The conspiracy buffs argue it's orchestrated fear, the religious fundamentalists say it's 'The Last Days'.  The atheists say it's random, or science, or whatever.  The rest of us maybe try to ignore it.  I was there on December 31st to sing 'Auld Lang Syne' with the best of them.  I was perpetrator.  I'm guilty, your honour.  It was expected of me as a DJ to deliver on that Groundhog Day tradition.  But somewhere in the dark cave of my conciousness I knew we'd all jump back on the treadmill soon enough; there would be crushing news to hear sooner or later.  It was sooner.  The terrible events in France over recent weeks have hit us all, reminding us all of the turbulent cauldron we live in.  And it's only January.

And yet, there are plenty of good people around us.  There are those who want to enhance other lives rather than destroy them.  The sad thing is, we nourish the need to report the bad.  'It's important information,'  we say.  'Everybody needs to keep informed'.  I can agree with that - to an extent, and I do realise we have a choice whether to expose ourselves to negative media coverage or not.  I know people who have chosen not to - and are much happier for it.  Is it a case of plonking your head firmly in the sand - or choosing a different way?  I for one couldn't watch a 24 hour news channel for more than half an hour without feeling myself sliding into depression - no, worse, despair.

Whether we are being manipulated into fear by a secret society or the illuminati is a question to be answered by those who are better informed.  All I know is, too much bad news makes Jack more than dull.  It makes him feel the need to see a shrink at his earliest convenience.  My call is to try mostly to see the good in the world; not in some naive Pollyanna way, but in a controlled way that remains very aware of the troubles that challenge, but is not overwhelmed by them.

Sorry, have to go now.  The TV news programme is about to start . . .

We need another Star Wars?

I love the movies.  A simple statement to make, but very true - for me.  It has been very disheartening to find out that, in the UK at least, Cinema attendance has fallen into decline, much as in the 1970's.  That was until Spielberg and Lucas came along with Jaws in 1976, followed by Lucasfilm's Star Wars in 1977.  At the risk of getting boring, (because I've mentioned this before) I like most people, was indifferent to cinema up until the point Star Wars came along.  Everything about that movie blew me away.  It just seemed so real - compared to what had gone before.  Say what you like about George Lucas's directing chops; for me he got this one dead right.  It really looked as if this created universe had been around for ever - and we as the audience were just being granted a peek into an already well established world.

It's only now that I maybe notice the hokey script, the bad science (if any at all).  Oh yes, there was plenty of noise about Han Solo's bragging of the 'kessel run'. Remember?  Han says he did it in less than 12 parsecs.  But anybody knows a parsec is a measurement of distance and not time.  Duh?  Who cares?  I didn't give a monkeys when it was brought up.  Talk about splitting hairs.

The sad thing is, when I re-watch Star Wars now, I am reminded of the accepting nature of a youthful mind, and a soul yet unjaded by a constant barrage of the world's terrible troubles.  I am reminded of a sequel too many, of shameless cash ins, of enough spin offs to make a man dizzy for a month.

Where's the magic?  Have I become too old and too farty to appreciate cinema anymore, or has everybody just gotten too damn greedy?  Well, no one will convince me the latter is not true - if some of the dross we see at the cinema these days is anything to go by.  It seems to me it's television pushing the boundaries now and not film.  No wonder there is a growing interest in TV production, whilst cinema box office begins to dip. 

Give a medal to that aged committee who decided to make every cinema a multiplex.  It all started back in the day of course, when most grandiose single screen theatres were converted into 5 screen flea pits.  One minute you were watching 'A New Hope' in 70mm with surround sound, the next you were upstairs in what was once the 'Circle'.  Except it wasn't the circle any longer.  It was half of it, walled off, with another three screens under your feet.  These walls were often so inadequate you could hear the dialogue from the theatre next door . . . and the ones below.

Oh yes, we appreciate film alright.

Now, I do appreciate the movie business is just that - a business, but I fear the industry is being controlled too much by money spinners, and not people who want to create.  It's more than a fear.  It's a fact.  There's no way big Hollywood backing would have allowed Frank Darabont to end his horror classic 'The Mist' in the shocking and downbeat way it did.  I read somewhere he actually had bigger bucks available to make the CGI effects that bit better, to elevate his movie from, let's face it, B movie status to horror blockbuster.  He would of course, have to do it their way if he wanted the funding.  Well, it seems Frank gave them a big thumbs down - and made his own movie.  I reckon that's why the film came and went with barely a whimper, maybe missed by those who would appreciate its Lovecraftian flavour, and its faithfulness to the Stephen King source material.  We're talking Frank Darabont here, the guy who directed 'The Shawshank Redemption' - as well as championing 'The Walking Dead' TV series. 

'Money talks - but it can't sing and dance and it don't walk'.  Only part true, Mr Diamond, because it appears it can get people to sing and dance, even if it can't manage the feat itself.

Cash flows here, there and everywhere.  Movies, good and terrible are churned out, with budgets that would make me rich beyond the dreams of avarice.  Meanwhile, on the front line, where people are, multiplex cinemas are trying all ends up to get bums on seats.  I find it quite distasteful that most of the time at my own local cinema, the dedicated box office is closed.  You have to get your ticket from the food bar; usually having to queue behind someone who has clearly skipped dinner and is putting in a half hour shipping order - filling up on popcorn, nachos, coke - to the point in which they need to take their feast into the auditorium on a tray!

The cinemas are not making enough on box office alone, it seems.  Now they have to double as part time restaurants - and it looks like things are only going to get worse financially.  I can remember heartily declaring I that would never stoop to watching movies on a hand held device as an alternative to the big screen.  Frankly, I have been persuaded to go back on that deal.  Don't misunderstand, I still go and see many movies at my local multiplex, but it's too easy now to climb into a warm bed, turn the lights low, don a pair of high quality headphones, and watch streamed movies in HD on an 8 inch screen.

i will, of course, continue to support my local cinema, but I hope they don't sell out completely, becoming more food bar than a theatre for film.

 If they do, I for one will be getting back into bed.