Bunnies of Bradninch (a tale of fear)

I don’t normally upload any of my nonsense poetry but I’ll make an exception with this example. First written in 2008 when I was going for guitar lessons in the Devon village of Bradninch. On my return to Exeter, I would often find myself driving in foggy moon-lit nights with rabbits staring at me on the side of the road. Anyway, one night in bed I woke up with an urge to write the following, and so at 3.30am this stuff came out of my head, my apologies in advance.

Image by Chris Chew

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bunnies of Bradninch (a tale of fear)

Road lit by car beams, the land lit by moonlight,

Strange shapes and shadows in the middle of the night.

Bunnies of Bradninch at the side of the road,

Gathered in numbers so huge they’re a horde.

Fluffy ears and cute eyes, but don’t fall for that look,

As it’s all explained in a psychology book.

The beauty outside and the madness within

‘Tis a natural order to the bunny’s sin.

Bunnies to the left and bunnies to the right,

All with evil faces that fills me with fright.

Black wide-open eyes, floppy ears on parade

With long sharpened fangs and carrot grenades.

And then in the fields when all is asleep,

They hop in like mad and kill all the sheep!

Hear the pigs go oik! Hear the cows go moo!

It’s a panicky bloodbath then they’re gone too.

And then in your home, hopping up to your bed

The hard heads of cabbage are smacked on your head.

They’re nibbling, then jumping, biting and bumping,

And this craziness ends with mad bunny humping.

So heed my warning on this special occasion,

The few nights before their little invasion.

The Bunnies of Bradninch evil horde on the road

They’re hatching a plan to take over the world.

The Bigfoot Tapes (2012) – 1 hour 19 minutes wasted

There are plenty of reviews of this film and I agree with the frustrated feeling conveyed by the ones I’ve read. The Bigfoot Tapes DVD is currently selling for £7 in Sainsbury’s and I pondered long and hard (5 seconds) as to whether I should buy it or rent it via Virgin Media at home. I decided on the latter option and now I’m pondering if Virgin Media will take pity on me and refund me my £3.99 for watching such utter garbage. The Bigfoot Tapes is one of those films that simply shouldn’t have been made.

Now there’s no spoilers here, I certainly won’t give away the plot but I have plenty of comments that may be of interest to you.

The film is mimicking the style of the Blair Witch Project; in fact it doesn’t add anything new to it and I wonder if Bigfoot had a special focus elsewhere such as  plot. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case, the film is unoriginal and it left me feeling disappointed.

This is the story of three film-makers who go out in search of the Bigfoot due to a recent alleged sighting, the characters are very much like those characters in the Blair Witch Project; these are film-makers who are no different in that they are of low intelligence and are irrational. For adults they lack even the basics of common sense, they were annoying and very unconvincing. They also did no research into the subject matter they’re supposed to be investigating. Writer, producer and director Stephon Stewart should have picked up the phone and called Richard Freeman or someone from the CFZ first (Britain’s most famous cryptozoology group)! It would have resulted in a film worth watching, especially if you want interesting characters.

Whether this film is making a comment about a modern day United States is up for a very short debate, something else I’m not convinced about. There seems to be three elements to this film; the mysterious elusive Bigfoot, the urban film-makers with money, opportunity and a sense of ‘fun’ – because let’s face it that’s the only reason why they’re making a film and the rural population who appear to be just as wild and chaotic as nature itself and who are bent on savage criminal acts, which they consider normal. In this way, the film appears to convey stereotypes, which I think is unnecessary and unfair – almost in the way The Wrong Turn and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre encourages viewers to be scared of strangers including those people who live in the country, because let’s face it psychopaths and cannibals love living in isolated places!

Film-makers often don’t understand the rudimentary elements of human psychology, particularly when trying to make a good scary story, this film is a good example of this.

If one reads about the reported Bigfoot sightings in the USA then one would learn that these observations are being reported by your average person, not backward individuals with nothing better to do than create a good yarn for a fast dollar. A sighting of the Bigfoot does not necessarily reflect the intelligence or the religious beliefs of the observer as suggested by this film.

Permit me to ask you this? If you’re in a tent at night (something you’re told you shouldn’t be doing)  investigating a mysterious creature in the middle of nowhere and then in the early hours you hear strange frightening noises nearby do you

a – keep still, stay calm, keep listening and hope that the noises don’t come near you or do you

b – act like a freak, switch on as much light as possible and make enough noise so that whatever’s out there will learn of your location?

People panicking, acting like idiots and accompanied by irrelevant camera shaking makes frustrating watching – I felt a little like this when watching Cloverfield. These characters are not schoolkids, they’re adults, admittedly very stupid ones but this doesn’t make a good story. If characters are going to be so annoying then the viewer will be tempted to switch off. I didn’t and that’s only because I paid £3.99 to watch it. Mr. Stewart I want my money back please as I’ve lost 1 hour and 19 minutes of my precious life.

Viewers are informed in the film that the forest is the home of the Bigfoot but it’s also where evil men grow drugs! So who are we meant to be more frightened of? The Bigfoot or a gang of druggies? I didn’t feel a thing in this movie except the coming of Death to take me away to a place where I would forever be exposed to Coronation Street reruns.

One scene presents a clearing in the forest where goats are tied to posts, spilled blood has been found along with a black cockerel, so this alludes to the belief that these locals are into devil worship. Yet this isn’t explored at all, it’s a red herring from the start and adds nothing to the story as the ‘bad guys’ are plainly just evil men. Although questions about the coming harvest was discussed briefly by farmers this was lost in the story arc and made no sense. Is there a devil worshipping community in the outback as suggested by one of the characters? Well we don’t know because the film doesn’t go in this direction.

I hate to say this but Bigfoot is a lazy production. The badly acted religious nut (the man who made the phone call to the police) leaves the film makers behind because he had an ‘experience’ and then we don’t see him anymore. It’s not logical for a writer to not invest in his characters.

The three film makers believe that the locals are setting them up for some occult ritual but the film consists of unconvincing dialogue. Just look at the work of amateur film maker Ashley Thorpe, it’s very refreshing to have someone like him focus his material on existing legends (e.g. the Hairy Hands legend on the B3212 road) – long may his success continue.

One thing that really gets under my skin, more so than a bad plot and shallow characters is the amount of swearing contained within the dialogue. Perhaps it’s my age but one of the reasons why I hated this film was the constant use of the F-word. I don’t think this is needed, in fact, it diminished my ability to lose myself in the story. In fact the only sympathy I felt was not for the characters but for myself in watching this crap. Stewart had no reason to use this amount of swearing.

So, does the film have any scary moments? Apart from the opening 911 call, which made me want to know more as a viewer, no it didn’t. When characters started disappearing by an unseen force the remaining characters, in trying to look for the girl for example, lacked any credibility. They had no sense of urgency, they frequently self-reflected as if they were characters in a war movie, they lacked genuine emotion. Davey, one of the film makers, says “I think tomorrow is going to be a good day.” No it isn’t. The viewer knows that Davey and Stefan are going to die, it’s obvious. The fact that they’re completely dum actually encourages the viewer to want them to have a most horrid death. In fact, the sooner the better.

I didn’t care for any of the characters. None of them were believable nor did the plot take me away to a fantastic place of the imagination. The whole plot was lame and any special effects were reserved for the final few seconds where….and even that was a pointless exercise as a nod to the 1967 Patterson footage.

The Bigfoot Tapes is a major disappointment. I don’t know if my friend Steve Horvath has reviewed it but knowing him he would have hated it. This is Stephon Stewart’s first attempt at writing/producing/directing a film so I can appreciate that it’s a steep learning curve etc etc but scary films aren’t as easy to make as one may think.

It’s unfortunate that the film is rubbish and here’s why. Whilst the legend of Bigfoot is universally known, the cases of alleged sightings are actually quite creepy. This atmosphere is lacking and the film could have done with a build up of it but it wasn’t captured.

Knowing, and having spoken to a couple of cryto-zoologists myself, who have also been to the States (and elsewhere) to try and find Bigfoot, I’m aware that there are some really interesting observations.One example is of an American Bigfoot hunter who took the CFZ to a place where she communicates with Bigfoot regularly and leaves food for it. It inhabits a tree and communicates to her through banging on the wood. When I was told this my sceptical thinking came into play but I couldn’t help but imagine how scary this would be; to hear a knocking in response by something hiding in a huge tree. Of course, it wasn’t Bigfoot but a bear and the CFZ knew this, but it’s how the scenario played out in my mind, like a story being told in a tavern, it caught me completely by the hook and led me into a lovely piece of imagination. This is what the film lacked, using sound to allow our imagination to build a pciture in our minds in order to terrify us. The only sound the viewer got to hear was the constant rustling of grass and branches and the annoying unnecessary shouting of the characters. It destroyed any element of surprise that sound could bring to the screen.

The mysteries in the world also say much about the people who report even experience them. These encounters inform us about social concerns and anxieties and then there is the genuine esoteric element to these encounters that I find fascinating, which involves ideas of liminality. Instead of presenting such themes in the film as I expected The Bigfoot Tapes was merely a cheap attempt in making a scary film and it failed completely.

Anyone interested in the mystery of Bigfoot should watch the infamous and enigmatic Patterson-Gimlin film. (The stabilised version of the film can be found here). Its authenticity is irrelevant, it’s the way it’s been filmed that offers the viewer a shuddering moment and the recognisable camera shake that led to the style adopted by the Blair Witch Project et al. Obviously Mr. Stewart thought is was appropriate to mimic this in his own film but he should have created something more original.

Good points: just two, the film starts off with a realistic sounding 911 call where two voices, the police woman and the caller, are conveying a frightening scenario. That there’s an intruder in the caller’s grounds, that the intruder is big and that the intruder is staring directly at the observer as he’s making the call. The caller doesn’t know what he’s looking at. This is the best bit of the film and the viewer is advised to switch off at the end of that scene. The Patterson film is briefly included that’s the second point.

Verdict: an awful, badly made film. A harsh review I know but I’m a scary film buff and I want to be entertained, The Bigfoot Tapes did not do this.

Lecture – The Golden Age of the Museum

The Worldwide Spread of Museums in the 19th Century

Evening lecture – 6.30pm

When: 9 May 2013

Where: Royal Albert Memorial Museum (01392 265858)

Tickets: £4.50 (£3 concession)

The nineteenth century was truly the great ‘Age of the Museum’. Local authority-run museums in Britain sprang up after the 1845 Museums Act, but they were already being founded throughout the colonies of the British Empire.

This lecture will be given by Professor John Mackenzie, historian and pioneer of the study of popular and cultural imperialism and environmental history.

He will discuss why colonial museums were important, what form some of these extraordinary museums took, what they tell us about the global spread of European culture and the role this played in the development of national identities.

My goodness they were good – Doctor Who episodes 3 and 4

Judging from my last comments about the current series of Doctor Who I wondered if I was going to be led into a room of utter despair, but I was surprised. Cold War saw the return of the Ice Warriors, in an episode that featured only one of them in a number of scenes reminiscent of the film Alien. The story was wonderfully pleasant and touched on my fondest memories of classic Who. What better than a group of mariners trapped on a submarine deep underwater, if that wasn’t terrifying enough! One also has Grand Marshal Skaldak to contend with in and out of his suit…I’ve always wondered what they look like out of their uniforms,  still do.

Okay, so story good, special effects good, atmosphere good (but borrowed, not original) but I don’t really care for the character of Clara and that bloomin’ sonic screwdriver is continuously exploited as a plot device from episode to episode. Holy moly if the Doctor ever seriously loses it then we’ll never have a story where he solves a problem without ever needing to use it! However, my point here is that I enjoyed the episode.

The fourth episode, Hide, was just as good as the previous story. It has a great cast and I was hooked at the start sat with my dinner on my lap enjoying every moment. A little scary but the story’s haunting was only due to a pair of aliens in love who had been separated for a long time, one trapped here on Earth and the other trapped in another dimensional reality. How sentimenal, how dull, zzzz.

This was a lost opportunity for genuine creepiness, the sort that Blink offered but instead we’re back to the same old lovey-dovey side of human nature. It makes me sick with rage and I want to get my big stick and whack the heads of the writing team again and again and again until I hear a voice or two cry ouch! I might even take that sonic screwdriver and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine (I love Fox Mulder’s character).

When are you guys going to learn that the cause of ‘hauntings’ isn’t meant to be about people being in love. The idea of being separated into different realities didn’t lend itself to a spooky atmosphere. Stop being traditionally Dickensian, I know you work for the BBC but you need to up the Aunty and stop being namby-pamby!

Stories of love and tragedy also contain expressions of anger even hatred by a love that’s been spurned or other horrible tragedies such as death caused by jealousy. Do you not think an audience would be interested in such things where viewers can feel sympathy for a victim. How about the personality behind the haunting to be an utterly evil force  that  needs banishing by the Doctor and without the use of his blasted sonic screwdriver!

I think Doctor Who writers need to rethink their stories and offer us something original. Either do that or I want to see the return of Sapphire and Steel, where the stories were scary and different.

I’m trying to be as positive as possible about Dr Who and whilst I did enjoy the last two episodes they weren’t at all original stories. I know the success of the film The Woman in Black makes it difficult for writers to do something to rival it but at least make the effort!I feel very strongly about this but I think the writers are perhaps resting on their laurels of past efforts and in so doing are losing opportunities in creating unique plotlines. I don’t believe that Doctor Who has ran its course as there are plenty of writers outside of the BBC who contribute original fiction within Who fandom on a regular basis, so I think there’s hope yet.

Next time I will comment on something Ufological along with belief systems….unless the next episode of Who I watch punches me below the belt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phonicon feedback and Doctor Who ep.2

Phonicon was very popular with lots of money raised for PhonicFM, the local community radion station. I want to personally thank Sean Branney for giving us permission to show the HP Lovecraft Historical Society film The Whisperer in Darkness, which stirred a lot of interest among new fans of Lovecraft’s stories. It was also an opportunity for me to promote their work.

Incidentally, this film is scheduled for release in UK cinemas later this year courtesy of Grimm Entertainment. So keep a look out for their exciting screenings.

Phonicon also featured a Simon Guerrier film called Cleaning Up (2012), which was  produced by the notorious Guerrier Brothers, who have just finished Wizard guest starring David Warner. Cleaning Up is a great short that features the talent of Mark Gatiss and Louise Jameson. This is one B&B I wouldn’t like to stay in. If you haven’t discovered it go to the Guerrier link above and have fun. Above all, please make sure that you forward the link to others who enjoy the genre of the fantastic. Simon has written “tonnes” on Doctor Who, Bernice Summerfield etc and there’s more to come.

Sunday’s Phonicon also gave me the opportunity to say hello to and interview Gary Russell.

One time child actor in the TV-series of Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five he was also instrumental in being one of a large number of fans who produced high quality Doctor Who articles and stories in the 80s and 90s. His fine moment was the 30th anniversary of the show. Gary, like many other fans around him, helped to convince the BBC that the return of Doctor Who to the screen would be a huge hit. It was bigger than the Beeb expected. Gary is too humble to admit being a part of such a massive contribution but he forgets that his corpus of work inspires writers like me today who are also massive Who, sci-fi and horror genre fans to know what can be achieved through hard work and determination. Gary, I’m not kissing bottom, just appreciating your effort.

Doctor Who – The Rings of Akhaten

Okay. So what about series 7 episode 2 of the current series of Doctor Who? I’ve been holding this off for as long as possible – you know I don’t like ranting. This particular story, called The Rings of Akhaten, had potential for being something interesting but was rushed into a 45 min episode. My opinion is simply this…it shouldn’t have been made in this way.

I’m not going to blame the team behind it because they work incredibly hard to deliver something for the fans…it’s the way the BBC works that’s the problem in determining how programmes are produced set against budget expenditure and time schedules. Not what an angry viewer would agree with after seeing that pile of poo on Saturday evening, but the young fans I met at Phonicon told me how disappointed they were with it. That says an awful lot…it tells me that the show has lost its way and the BBC don’t understand how to structure a show’s longevity…here’s a clue…involve the fans…you’re such a dumb-ass (my favourite American word to date).

And what is it with that bloody sonic screwdriver? It can do everything and is constantly used as a plot device to resolve tricky situations. STOP IT BBC, stop being a p***k and get back to basics with the show, you’re missing an obvious trick!! Get some new blood…can’t you hear me? I’ve been ranting for so long about this.

I thought Rings had some decent elements within it, apart from the alien-scape clearly copied from the cantina from the Star Wars IV film, it had some great characters and some menacing evil aliens but not enough was made of them. This episode could have been scripted for two episodes, enough to bring out character and plot. The living planet, which is essentially Lovecraftian, appeared as nothing more than an angry hungry planet-like thing, is the best way of describing it. Not really Azathothesque or Nyarlathotepisque! But it could have been…it could have been much more and a little frightening too. So the Beeb have missed yet another opportunity. The Moff has my complete support and sympathy but Steve you need to get back to your Coupling days of writing…much more interesting. Stop focusing on female characters…this has already been done to death with them playing a pivotal role with the end of the world or the origins of the daleks (is this to come? zzz).

Sorry that was harsh so who do I direct my anger and frustration too? The BBC? Well I did send a complaint once and heard nothing back…customer service isn’t the same nowadays. To Steve? No I’ve met him and Sue and they’re lovely. No, for now I’ll just shake my fist in the air, growl and sound like a man in his 90s who couldn’t make it to the loo on time.

But seriously we need a fresh approach, new blood in the form of writers who understand Who not just good writers. How about the BBC inviting the fans, who know how to write, contribute stories to a new series of Who? A little bit of inclusivity wouldn’t go amiss here. TV companies used to do focus groups…has this been done for Who? Shrug. Crikey Aunty Beeb perhaps you lack much in the way of vision? Perhaps you suffer from tunnel vision.

Well, until next week when I’m…hopefully…excited by the appearance of Ice Warriors. As an optimist I believe in hope, well for humankind anyway.

Rant over.

Exeter’s sci-fi convention – Phonicon 2013

Phonicon science fiction convention

Date: 7 April 2013

Location: Phoenix Arts Centre, Bradninch Place, Gandy Street, Exeter

ADULT £12.00
CHILD (Under 14) £4.00
FAMILY (2 adults 2 children) £25.00
CONCESSIONS £8.00

Something exciting is coming to the city and I will be there on the day interviewing Devon-based film maker and Fangoria writer Ashley Thorpe. The Q& A session will not only focus on his successful award-winning short films but I will attempt to unearth more information about his Spring-Heeled Jack and Borley Rectory Projects.

I also have the privilege of being able to introduce the HP Lovecraft Historical Society later that day. The Society was founded by a group of Lovecraft fans and they are a very talented bunch as over the years they have turned a number of HP Lovecraft‘s tales into audio recordings  such as Shadow over Innsmouth and the Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

These are incredible productions and they’re value for money too. Let’s face it, some of Lovecraft’s tales have over the years been produced as audio CDs but the voices of some narrators are less than inspiring.

[NB an exception is the podcast material, produced by Andrew Leman and Chad Fifer, is definitely worth a listen. Their version of Call of Cthulhu is a greate xample of how to produce quality podcasts. Their Cthulhu illustrates how the narration is brought to life through an interesting voice (that of Andrew Leman's) supported by wonderful sequences of music that was produced by Chad Fifer.]

At least one can always rely on the fans to produce the goods (look what happened with Dr Who in the late 1980s) the HPLHS bring Lovecraft’s writings to life through dramatisation, great sound effects and a masterful supportive soundtrack to boot. However, their hard work has also been translated onto the big screen. The Call of Cthulhu was  released in 2005 and has since won acclaim and several awards. Honouring the old black and white silent films, this production used basic special effects proving that old tricks of the trade still work to produce on-screen magic. It was a wonderful moment seeing Lovecraft’s story come to life, even the mighty Cthulhu appeared to be a nod to Ray Harryhausen.

So on the 7th April visitors to the Phonicon (Black Box Studio) will be able to watch The Whisperer in Darkness, which was written by Lovecraft in 1930. This 2011 adaptation is true to the original tale with the exception of the appearance of Charles Fort. Although not one of Lovecraft’s characters, Lovecraft himself would have appreciated the addition of a man who at the time was clearly interested in understanding anomalies that had been observed in reported in numerous publications of the day.

Running at just over an hour in length, this silver screen wonder was made in the style of a black and white talkie. The film itself doesn’t look aged as it lacks crackling in the sound and film, it looks a little too clean perhaps, but the storytelling is wonderful and this time the special effects includes CGI which was used to imitate stock motion animation. A superb telling of one of Lovecraft’s most disturbing tales of terror from beyond the stars!

Will Storr is back!

His previous work in 2007 was Will Storr vs The Supernatural which was a fresh opinion on the subject given by a journalist who experienced the paranormal and those people whose lives are very much focused around the subject matter. Mr. Storr experienced the frightening as well as the clearly ridiculous and I enjoyed reading it very much so much so that I actually contacted him and asked him to do something similar about the UFO subject. Storr’s response was surprisingly disappointing in that he told me that he didn’t see any connections between the UFO subject and the paranormal. Unfortunately he’s very wrong in that assessment and the link is very much with the people who are deeply involved in the subject. It is the life-changing ability of reported extraordinary experiences and their deep convictions that link them. 

So why am I writing about Will Storr now? Well I just received a blanket email from his publisher’s blog to inform me about Will Storr has a new book, which is called The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science, published of course by Picador. Heretics, which is available from the 14th February, questions why people believe in the irrational and using his fun investigative journalistic skills he travels to different parts of the world  to speak to “creationists, UFO spotters, ESP experimenters and people who believe they have alien worms living in their skin.”

Now, I will be reading this book because I enjoyed his last endeavor, however, I won’t be expecting any surprises and unfortunately he should have just focused on the subject of UFOs. This book possibly just sounds like a jolly. Now you might be thinking…well of course you would say that Mr. Eccles because you’re interested in UFOlogy so you’re bound to be biased…well yes but from having been in the subject for many years I have encountered a plethora of people, a multitude of ideas and beliefs, a variety of experiences, I’ve even interviewed members of cults such as the Aetherius Society whilst on one of the sacred hills on Dartmoor. (By the way, the Aetherius members I met were very normal lovely people who, regardless of what they believe, want to make the world a better place…perhaps a hint that more of us should get off our backsides and actually do something ourselves).

I can tell you too that my own experiences are nothing like those shared by individuals who claim to be aducted by aliens nor are my thoughts the same as those members of the Aetherius Society. Basically, UFOlogy is an indepth subject worthy of a tome to be written by someone neutral like Mr. Will Storr, I really want this to happen because the subject would benefit from such a fresh perspective, Storr’s own humour and his opinion…UFOs shouldn’t be tackled as a quick chapter in a book – a common mistake made in many popular press publications.

I am a UFO witness myself but I don’t believe in Government conspiracies and crashed saucers!! So Storr’s writing will not, I feel, represent my experience nor the experiences of other UFO witnesses, that’s the point really. Whilst I experienced the irrational I certainly don’t attribute the alien mythology to it…which makes me a normal open-minded individual. Storr’s book clearly seems to focus on extreme beliefs, which has been done before so it won’t cover the UFO subject in any depth just its top thin skin.

When I’ve read his new book I’ll review it on here and who knows maybe my current expectations and cynicism in such publications will have been misplaced…

Realms of the Haunting, remember the game?

Realms of the Haunting was a game I played fondly back in the late 90s on my old PC. It was created by Gremlin Interactive in 1996 and has remained in my mind since then as an inspirational piece of work. Despite technological advancement in gameplay this old haunted house game is a great piece of story-telling. I know the graphics are very much Doom-like but the atmospheric graphics and simplistic eerie keyboard music actually gave me fond memories of frequent late evening play.  I got past many of the chapters but never actually finished it, there was one puzzle I couldn’t get past so I found that very frustrating.

Basically you play Adam Randall, a character who receives a mysterious parcel in the post from his father. You’re then visit a large house somewhere in Cornwall which is connected to him and you’re exposed to a multitude of magical worlds within. Adam Randall, a young and good-looking chap, rarely shows the brain patterns of today’s man but it’s a basically it’s a game of good versus evil. I’m currently watching a walkthrough on YouTube (composed of 60+ plus ten minutes sections) and it’s bringing back so many fun memories.

ROTH was ahead of its time in the late 1990s and surprisingly when I look at purchasing PS3 games now I hold ROTH up as a comparison. It’s amazing how many games actually don’t compare in terms of story-telling and gamer experience. Obviously I feel that the series of Unchartered, Resistance, Killzone and Mass Effect are games that push those very boundaries we need. You see, a game shouldn’t just be about great graphics and guns that go BANG!! It’s more about the quality of the story-telling and a good number of console games for me rarely do this.

If we take Unchartered, for example, all those small treasures one can find on secret ledges can be revolved 360 degrees, this is nothing new…it was done in Realms of the Haunting, but what a great way to show off newly found items. I understand why Unchartered 4 needs the Playstation 4, because gameplay evolution is important and as a player this is the sort of thing I want…although what I don’t want is to fork out £300 for another console when I feel that the PS3 is still a young machine.

Now Doom has been revamped and sold with the old PC games attached…I played them a couple of weeks ago. So how about someone making Realms of the Haunting for the modern console but with a new twist and new content or even a sequel game? And a second CD with original and new music scores? I’d be very interested in hearing about such a project…

 

 

A Magic Mo-ment for Movember

My first and only entry for this month concerns my participation in some fun fund-raising to help raise awareness of men’s health, in particular prostrate and testicular cancer. Movember takes place every November and thousands of men grow dodgy-looking moustaches for the whole month in the hope that the public will take them seriously enough to make a small donation. I would be grateful for your support.

I’ve attached an updated photograph to show you why I don’t normally grow a moustache – it simply makes me look like Flanders from the The Simpsons!

Looking like Flanders…this is how a moustache destroys any chance of me looking cool this month.

However, it’s easy enough to grow and wear one for charity and I am part of a team of 5 based in Exeter. Please check out the above links, please do have a good laugh at my dreadful tash and more importantly, if you can, please make a donation. I would never ask anyone for large amounts of money but if each of us gives a small amount then together we can accomplish wonders.

Thank you.

Advice for those new to the UFO subject

The UFO subject remains shrouded in ridicule for obvious reasons; the evidence for ET visitation is lacking, the UFO observer has been poorly portrayed in the public eye and the media is still in love with a subject that brings in so many entertaining stories.

We are left with an impression that the subject is peopled solely by those who go in search of ET and that these very people are somehow sadly disconnected from reality. This impression has become a serious misconception that’s sadly embedded in our social consciousness. UFOlogy today still consists of two main elements – the ETH believer and the debunker – with a central element of objectivity largely missing.

My research seems to fits into the central category. I think of myself as an open-minded individual (I question this regularly) and work with a healthy scepticism that allows me to explore the profound nature of such extraordinary experiences. Tomorrow night (meaning 26th October), I will talking to members of the Science Cafe, who hold their meetings at the infamous Oystercatcher Cafe in Teignmouth. Following on from the lecture I recently gave at BUFORA‘s 50th anniversary UFO conference, I will be talking to members generally about the UFO subject and specifically the Anamnesis Project, which I will be reinitiating with Professor Alex Keul of Salzburg University.

One of the key points I want to convey is how extraordinary experiences have the power to transform the experiencer’s life. For me the UFO experience serves a purpose and appears to have an unusual function that is connected to human consciousness. It has the potential to change not only the experiencer’s life but also potentially, person by person, cause wider more significant change in our society. From a science perspective perhaps, the experience is understood as largely an event that happens within the experiencer’s mind or it is mere misperception and misinterpretation. For many scientists that is it, it is simply an imaginary event and they do not see anything important beyond that. Perhaps instead of using the word ‘imagination’ we replace it with the word ‘vision’ will that enable us to take our exploration of the subject in another direction?

Meaning, from a psychological point of view, is something implied by the individual concerned, which in the case of UFO sightings tends to blossom into a sort of Grail quest. However, from what I understand about experiences, there is more to this subject than meets the eye and I will be trying my best at opening such a discussion with Science Cafe members this Friday.

I totally understand the frustration met by many UFO experiencers (observers whose sightings have moved and influenced them) of being unable to produce concrete proof of the utterly strange nature of their experience or the ability to persuade anyone that what they are telling others ACTUALLY happened to them.

One such unfortunate example was Brigitte Barclay who was asked to take a polygraph test in Andrew Maxwell’s recent BBC documentary Conspiracy Road Trip (episode 3: UFOs). This demonstrates the extent experiencers go to demonstrate the reality of their experiences. Maxwell had a change of heart but Miss Barclay openly showed her conviction. Unfortunately, Maxwell perhaps hadn’t realise that polygraph testing (acting as a lie-detector test) is somewhat flawed in that anyone can pass the test (demonstrate they’re telling the truth) by actively believing in the account they are being tested for. But that’s also besides the point, Miss Barclay had encountered what many experiencers have to go through, incessant doubt from others on an individual basis and on a larger scale.

I am a UFO witness myself and have personally felt the ridicule process for 20 years. The experience has taught me a number of things; that unexpected things happen to people for reasons that can’t be explained. That these events do not fit into our concensus reality. That witnesses are unable to physically prove that the experience ever happened. Knowing these things I can happily listen to other experiencers and realise that what happened to me that fateful night in October 1989 is happening to other people today, just in a different form. The differences in their narrative is poignant and significant. Instead of searching for physical evidence, which I know can’t be found, I can focus on the individual instead and take note on what the experience means to them and how it affects their lives. One last note, I realise that the Anamnesis Project is a worthy study of the close encounter witness as it very much allows the experiencer to express themselves freely and also to realise that they are valued as individuals who often find themselves at the start of a sort of spiritual journey.

For me though, modern UFOlogy has lost much of what had been learned in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly from the likes of Dr. Jacques Vallee who brought some very unique ideas to the subject. (This period also saw its fair share of hoaxing and belief-driven groups which are linked to the development of new age belief systems e.g. Aetherius Society).

Three of Vallee’s books Passport to Magonia, Forbidden Science and Messengers of Deception are recommended for new students to the subject. Vallee, who is now working on the replacement international space station, refuses to re-engage in the world of UFOlogy as he feels that the subject today continues to be filled with nonsense and in-fighting. The subject has changed in ways unknown to the media in that there are fewer UFO organisations around (actually there’s alot more groups in the UK and Europe working closely together) but I do feel that alot of important information I had come to know as a younger researcher is now lost to a new generation, which is a shame.