Saturday 20 April 2019

Dinosaur Ride Dream

So this meta blog post about dream in which I write a blog post. This is the content you're getting now. It's not even an interesting story movie dream I have sometimes. No, it's about this ride at this park, that has to be the biggest pack in existance. Bigger than all of Disney World including the empty land between days.

I even wrote fiction today.

Dream 19/04/2019:
While on Holiday, go to this dinosaur ride in Trope park like place. This ride is in the back of the park. It's the newest ride, it's a trackless fly like ride, that involves going through a cave. There is also a video explaining a story-line that does not exist in the park. Some minorly famous actor appears in the ride videos, but is definitely not Sean Bean, (or is he?). No one else is a at all recognisable. The dream starts like Exportation Park video, going into the detail of how it was built and other such nonsense but this is a bland new ride.

It then switches to my pov (but still me dreaming in third person), going on to the ride for the first time.

After going on the ride, I write a blog post about the experience/general thoughts of the park, which leads me to doing more research and then leads me to go back to the pack to follow this obvious black cable going pack and leading through the ride building. I go back into the ride building/seating area. The area is covered but the seats are still soaked somehow. A solid level of water on these metal squares that are used as seating.

I sit there for a while, in the back of my mind, my sibling is near by, waiting for me. The pack closes, so they lock the ride building with people inside, leading us out the back, past this computer section where the white family made of a mum and six kids book tickets for tomorrow. This part of the building is typically jungle browns themed. This is only part that's completely inside.

Going out the back is confusing and I end up following this woman and her kid who wasn't waiting in the waiting area before. The steps have blue arrows that don't make sense so end up trapped on this ramp/stairs bit that doesn't look like it should be seen by guess compared to the rest of the pack. I follow this lady into a back building that connected to the ride. The begins to be the feel that this lady is here not by accident and is looking for something.

I looked at my digital watch that tells me it's 6:31 clock meaning I think the park shut when it was six clock, it was still daylight outside, I guess consistent with evening light but also a dream so it could be any time especially when location is revealed.

I follow this lady further into this back building. We can hear the ride still going and we past parts of the ride that is still for some reason still automatically running with no people on it and the sound effects are still going, which I thought was weird as they have neighbours who would hear the ride still going. We climb over things that make obvious we going the wrong way in hindsight but I don't think dream me thought about it. We climb over this ride track that themed to the ride, being brown with purple splashing. It sharped wrong for track is bumpy and coated thickly which makes sense since this ride has no tracks but I guess has fake tracks for story reasons that I can't remember ever learning.

At some point, the little girl disappears and we're in this old factory building but the rooms are finished. Walls painted white. The place is full of craft stuff as though it mainly used for designing. So we're hopeless lost. We go into this room when we hear staff coming. The woman wants to hide from them. I don't question this, but tell her I have enough so got out into the hall to meet the staff. It's a group of teenagers in blue polo shirts which is the standard uniform of the park. They look confused to see me, but I tell them I got lost and ask if they could show me the way out.

They awkwardly point to this ramp that walked past before, that has this black bit of cardboard, hang from the roof. It's big enough to the block the entrance, but you can see the exit if look under it, so I feel like idiot when it's pointed out. Dream Logical I guess, because why would that ever be the exit. There was still random chalk blue arrows in place in the building.

I get out the building and it leads me outside in this built up place. Up this hill with flat buildings that recently been built. Those orange rock coated ones. It's now dark but I'm not sure of the time. I start walking down this hill which eventually leads me to a main street (for a big town) and has two McDonalds on it. A normal one and McDonalds McCafe that is closed for the day. The place is pretty empty and I recognise the place but I can't think where I am.

I bump into these two guys that are 80s style of punks that I don't trust that walking down this same hill, but then people I recognised from uni are there. Specifically, randomly Amy who I've not talked to much. She the only one I actually recognise from real life. We all walking towards this parking lot where my car and I guess my sibling are.

Amy and I are trying to get a signal on our phones to figure out where we are, while walking along this dark country road with this group I'm now in. Finally, I get google maps to work and we somehow in Cumbernauld. Before this park felt like it was in London or Germany. Even my dream brain couldn't wrap around how this park exited in Cumbernauld or figure out where this packing lot.

I then call my sibling whose waiting for me in this packing lot. She annoyed, obviously. I tell her to go wait in the 24 hours McDonlads or the Tescos which I dreamt of before and I suddenly know is near this pack. In the back of mind since leaving the factory building is that I should just get a taxi to the park parking but I wanted to know where I am. I guess I had decided to just walk it but this is where this dream breaks down because I wake up then to Leia and darkness where it's 3.30am.

Saturday 13 April 2019

Being Ill and wandering into the Twilight Zone.

I have been ill for the majority of April; it was probably the flu. It also hospitalised my sister for a week. They were probably being cautious, but doesn’t it sound more dramatically to say I was ill with the thing that Hospitalised my sibling and then leave out the bit where she got a transplant a few months ago and is autoimmune compromised.

It’s not liked my life needs the extra layer of drama. Or maybe it does. My life is minefield of boring surround by medical craziness and a family who definitely needs therapy. I've been ill so that while I've been missing in action.

So Twilight Zone is back and I’m been rewatching the classic episodes. The problem with the new episodes is that there too much like the classics. I mean I could just watch the classics. The first one is random ep, but the second one is the main one that has been remade already twice times. The Twilight Film, and let’s be honest The Simpsons counts as remake.  I mean the Simpsons have remade a lot of the Twilight episodes and generally, it’s a bad idea to pick the most known stories.

Going off the Trailer they are going after the episodes that both were in the film and in the Simpsons, which basically just straight up remade those eps but with the Simpsons. I mean, they doing the evil kid but he’s president because the President of the USA is a fucking child. Political statement. By the way, of course the Twilight Zone has always been politic. That was Rod Sterling’s main motivation for getting the series made.

But there’s difference between the communists being Aliens/they are the monster themselves and the Terrorists being Terrorists. I’ve only watched the 1 and half eps. That’s right I bailed on the 20,000 feet remake. There are several problems.

Obviously, this is the most famous ep of Twilight Zone. It’s been parodied and frankly was one first shorts at horror on a plane but 56 years later, bitch we’ve been there with snakes and polar bears. The worst part that while trying to be inventive with true crime podcast from the future, it’s has the premise of Final Destination, which then makes me think of the X-files and Scully’s brother.

The X-files thing aside, there’s has now been plenty of films/shows that have dealt with the horror of air travel. 1963 only had the terror of being trapped in the air, completely out of your control, this was before hijacking would become real fear in 70s and planes would explode over villages. Gremlins are now beloved 80s franchise. My main point is that fear of the air travel has been ran into the ground. Hell, there’s several pop culture moments where an airplane is limbo.

The real problem with 30,000 feet is that completely breaks down when questioned and frankly someone would notice that pilot’s voice changes after someone has stormed the cabin. Like I said I didn’t watch the ending but I did wikipeded to know if was worth my time. They all have to die/never to be found. Maybe the podcast series starts before they found somehow but the info in it wouldn’t be common knowledge yet. I guess the person who wrote this ep doesn’t actually listen to mystery/true crime podcasts.

I have yet to watch the third ep which I’ve heard is better and is more of its own thing. I do think Jordan Peele is the right fit to give this ago and it’s not that I don’t think old eps should not be revisited. They are eps that so belong to their time that updating for now would make a lot of sense, but Nightmare at 20,000 and a comedian getting his comeuppance are pretty timeless stories (by the way, none of those reference list have mentioned “It's Take My Life...Please!, season 1, episode 22, so we know them to be bull and only know like five episodes).

Now, Jess-Belle is my argument for ep that should be updated. One, it’s was originally set in time period that was nostalgical for its viewers. Two, suffers from time period where woman couldn’t just be straight up evil. Three, Billy Bob is fuck-boy and gets no comeuppance. He should be the bug at the end and Jess-Belle and bland love interest should run off together. I turn everything Queer in my head, mainly because it more interesting in two girls fighting over a fuck-boy. They should love each other instead. Friendships is acceptable too.

But seriously, there’s a lot of eps that play with revisiting the times of our parents. It would be interesting to revisit the 60s or time before phones. Revisiting the 80s is obvious one as well. The Twilight Zone often played with nostalgia; it was one of its main themes. We’re literally living in a Dystopia now, so playing with that nostalgia makes sense. A time before the threat of Nuclear devastation was the norm and just something you live with like terrorism and child predators.

In all fairness, the Twilight Zone was the first tv show to play with horror and sci-fi in such a smart way and has sharped so many stories. Hell, bloody the plot Toy Story 1 and 2 appears in the Twilight Zone.  Frankly, most horror tropes can be found in the Twilight Zone.  Obviously, a lot before Twilight Zone is gone. We don’t know exactly everything that shaped it, we know that short stories and radio plays helped. Urban Myths is something they touched on, especially with the stories set 60 years ago in them.

Parallel universe are in Twilight Zone and what would happen if you found yourself in a slightly different world. Mandela Effect before that had name.

The Twilight Zone is massive, and we have been wandering in for over decade of culture with other shows and works stepping into with and without its name. The 80s sure did have a lot of Horror anthologies. The only one I’ve watched completely is Freddy’s Nightmares, the rest are strew in my brain. I recently discovered ‘Tales from the Darkside’ which is so blatantly the Twilight Zone it’s beautiful with it’s gay 80s uncles giving their nieces evil doll houses.  I also have the nonsense that is ‘Urban Gothic’.



There’s never quite been a show that deals with Technology and horror in the way Twilight Zone did. Hell, Black Mirror has failed to keep being good after being Americanised. Maybe if it moved from the mirror instead of finding different ways to say technology bad. Frankly, it just got very obvious. I think Black Mirror is never going to say all there is to actually say to say about how the world works now; there is definitely room to make podcasts horrifying but predicating plane clashes is pretty overdue.

Horror doesn’t have to say anything but it’s a lot more interesting when it does. The Twilight Zone is a place that I want to wander into 2019, but I don’t want to go over the same story plot over and over. The themes and the core of its idea is what we should be doing, not remaking classic episodes.

Also 40 minutes is too long for most Twilight Eps, I even think the classic eps suffer at being too long at hour length for TV. It’s better to slap the audience and run, than slowly tap their faces and then walk away. A lot of this is just my random thoughts, if I was still making videos, this would be one.

Also the voice thing in US (2019) being very bad choice would have been a video. All you gonna miss is being making joke that Jordan Peele should hire me to work some mystery thing (maybe if they second session of Twilight Zone) but also not because they also a bunch of POC who are also mute and deserves their voices to be heard. But also, in all seriously, hire me too LOL. I’ve not worked out if Jordan Peele actually has that much control over Twilight Zone reboot but also I’m just putting out there I want to re-write Jess-Belle for modern audience and it’s not over played ep to do it with. I also just want to put ‘but’ too many times in a paragraph, with ‘also’ guess starring.

Twilight Zone is beloved thing for me, it has so many eps with dolls involved and that’s why I love it. Also, the politic messages and how it’s least not offensive. I haven’t made it through a proper re-watch but they actually hire Asian actors to play Asian parts, so far. Also random Asian waitress in one. "A Quality of Mercy" is bit awkward with the accent choices.

I don’t how to end this, so let’s steal from Rod Sterling (and possible Charles Beaumont).

They never found Charley Parkes, because the guard didn't tell them what he saw in the glass case. He knew what they'd say and he knew they'd be right, too, because seeing is not always believing, especially if what you see happens to be an odd corner of the Twilight Zone.