Monsters @ MindSay

I'm not afraid of monsters, I'm afraid there are no monsters. I'm afraid that this is it, that there is really no real mystery in the world and all that we have is what we see.

Last night I went to the Lost Lounge, a club the size of your living room with a stage as big as a sofa-bed (I exaggerate and it's funny.)  It's located at a Snooker Club in Mississauga in a Chinese/Korean stripmall.  I go there because every other Friday or so, my friend Joe plays a set there, his singer-songwriter acoustic folk-soul style has gotten very polished in front of his closest friends.  Last night he threw a massive bash to celebrate the completion and release of his long-awaited indie EP.  I haven't listened yet but I know the songs and he's got some really great stuff.

Anyway, one of the performers he had up there was his girlfriend, playing a few covers on the piano, as well as at least one on the guitar.  She's special and I hope it works out for them because not every girl would introduce her next song "I think you all know this one" and launch into an acoustic version of "Paint It, Black."  They also did a duet.

Anyway, while all this was going on and I was, as is often the case, subjected to watching the young, newly-minted love of others, I began composing a poem in my head.  Of course, I got so caught up in the music later that evening that it slipped out but I managed to grab onto a few stray lines and will reconfigure them as best I can soon.  Until then, here's an old, untitled one from the notebook, written around February when I was feeling a lot of deadlines...

Untitled Feb 10

Same-day furniture delivery,
two-hour dry cleaning,
glasses in about an hour --
oil changed while you wait.

My essay's due on Friday,
my time is running thin.
Even if I knew what I want to say,
I wouldn't know how to begin.
I have vacation days saved up
rolled over from last year.
I'm getting ill
and time stands still
if you're just standing here.

Ten minutes until the library closes,
a subway train every three to five,
twenty seconds to cross the street,
a world in the blink of an eye.

KOR-SAW

I started a book of monster sketches that lasted for all of three months (if that) before I lost it. Each page contained sketches of imaginary creatures- some inspired by other creatures while others were pure brain vomit. I loved the idea and apparently, I wasn't the only one.

 

This artist is much better than even my best monster drawing. Here is a favorite of mine.

I gotta say it again — I freakin' love Netflix. They seriously have EVERYTHING. It seems I have nothing else to talk about lately besides movies. It's probably not a good thing to have so much free time on my hands but eh.....screw it.

So anyway, I rented and just got done watching "100 Years Of Horror" hosted by Christopher Lee of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and has also been in several of the old Hammer Horror films such as Blood Of Dracula, Dracula A.D. and The Mummy. Over 2 hours, they covered a ton of various horror icons, films and actors. Everything from Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi to Robert Englund and Jaime Lee Curtis. Everything from the silent films to giallo to sci-fi and old monster movies. Overall, I thought it covered a lot of ground but then when it ended, it dawned on me that they missed A TON of material. In 2 hours, not ONE single mention of George A. Romero or any of his movies. Only one mention of the word "zombie", a short snippet of a mention of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. No Lucio Fulci, Takashi Miike, Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, etc. As I realized this, I noticed that they spent most of the time covering the old Universal horror films and the Hammer horror films to follow. There was a brief mention of Suspiria and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but not much else. I was surprised that they even mentioned Mario Bava. I guess I was disappointed that they completely missed out on really digging into certain movies that completely changed cinema like "Night Of The Living Dead", "Suspiria", anything from Lucio Fulci or Joe D'amato or Jess Franco. They completely missed the boat on Italian horror, Japanese horror, film noir, zombies, Troma Team movies and even some of the blaxploitation entries like "Blacula" and "Blackenstein". Ehh....disppointed, I am. Still, it's worth seeing if you are at all interested in the origins of some of the most famous movie monsters in history. For example, the Werewolf myth came from some crazy European guy from the 1500's who killed, raped and ate his victims for almost 25 years. When he was arrested and charged, he confessed saying the he couldn't control himself because he was given a magic belt by Satan himself that turned him into a crazed animal who ate and molested people. Pretty funny.

For the past three nights, I've had progressively worse dreams. This may explain why I'm up at 5:45 on a Saturday morning.

These are the normal 'bad' dreams, there are no monsters, no one is chasing me; but they leave me will a feeling of unease. They seem real and I think that's what makes them so upsetting.

I'm sure I can handle more of these, because the unease really only lasts until I get in the shower, but why the hell would I want to?

I hope for better ones tonight.