Meta tags:
description= Dispatches from the Front Line of the Psychonautic Zeitgeist;
Headings (most frequently used words):
the, share, this, and, of, on, empty, chair, other, from, musings, mad, artist, ian, mcewan, for, novel, my, by, des, lewis, man, letters, psychedelic, recent, search, profundity, 2025, what, we, can, know, mushroom, picking, trip, sitting, roger, keen, brainwright, old, age, triskaidekaphobia, noir, tales, lsd, smiles, madness, operation, julie, writings, ai, images, literary, stalker, avatar, way, cliché, lessons, singing, detective, bbc, classic, dramas, here, are, two, books, press, both, focusing, primarily, psilocybin, mushrooms, but, very, different, standpoints, latest, pages, posts, twtter, categories, archives, blogroll, links, subscribe, to, blog, via, email,
Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (265), and (128), share (40), new (37), mad (36), #artist (36), opens (30), window (30), psychedelic (25), empty (25), from (25), chair (24), this (23), with (20), reddit (20), facebook (20), for (19), novel (16), was (16), about (15), literary (14), des (14), like (13), have (13), other (13), literature (13), stalker (13), ian (13), that (13), which (13), comment (11), loading (11), drugs (11), lsd (11), mcewan (11), december (11), categories (11), story (11), fiction (10), drug (10), 2023 (10), tags (10), through (10), his (10), leave (10), cinema (9), roger (9), operation (9), julie (9), avatar (9), august (9), 2018 (9), singing (9), detective (9), has (9), all (9), but (9), read (9), more (9), one (9), musings (8), now (8), keen (8), movies (8), man (8), brainwright (8), its (8), back (8), are (8), time (8), com (7), mushrooms (7), horror (7), lewis (7), 2010 (7), october (7), february (7), 2017 (7), 2022 (7), triskaidekaphobia (7), general (7), mushroom (7), what (7), who (7), into (7), been (7), many (7), such (7), wordpress (6), blog (6), experience (6), psychotherapy (6), books (6), cannabis (6), press (6), april (6), july (6), march (6), november (6), september (6), january (6), 2025 (6), letters (6), very (6), writing (6), when (6), film (6), two (6), there (6), another (6), also (6), were (6), email (5), subscribe (5), history (5), may (5), 2011 (5), 2013 (5), 2014 (5), short (5), psychology (5), age (5), years (5), kind (5), itself (5), life (5), father (5), over (5), how (5), lessons (5), perhaps (5), where (5), way (5), some (5), stories (5), their (5), view (4), visionary (4), self (4), metafiction (4), memoir (4), hill (4), films (4), counter (4), culture (4), british (4), reality (4), 2015 (4), 2016 (4), 2021 (4), lit (4), smiles (4), noir (4), old (4), info (4), yosser (4), within (4), much (4), they (4), becoming (4), most (4), medium (4), work (4), after (4), then (4), published (4), collection (4), reviews (4), here (4), real (4), people (4), known (4), written (4), both (4), started (3), site (3), website (3), content (3), create (3), top (3), your (3), william (3), trippy (3), social (3), media (3), postmodernism (3), authors (3), crime (3), classic (3), alice (3), wonderland (3), acid (3), space (3), fantasy (3), links (3), 2026 (3), june (3), 2012 (3), 2019 (3), book (3), madness (3), tales (3), search (3), can (3), know (3), recent (3), cult (3), inspired (3), first (3), year (3), became (3), everything (3), idea (3), past (3), four (3), character (3), bernard (3), screen (3), these (3), dramas (3), own (3), those (3), boys (3), blackstuff (3), bbc (3), our (3), hughes (3), effect (3), late (3), between (3), indeed (3), state (3), you (3), form (3), figures (3), reviewed (3), results (3), novels (3), full (3), world (3), including (3), had (3), counterculture (3), dark (3), snow (3), well (3), zeitgeist (3), 1990s (3), set (3), because (3), word (3), making (3), present (3), psilocybin (3), process (3), dystopian (3), poet (3), hardy (3), blundy (3), design (2), name (2), required (2), reader (2), log (2), sign (2), subscribed (2), account (2), join (2), subscribers (2), free (2), page (2), too (2), address (2), posts (2), burroughs (2), war (2), effects (2), science (2), magic (2), experiments (2), kindle (2), joe (2), indie (2), gun (2), psychosis (2), cameron (2), 2001 (2), odyssey (2), digital (2), fix (2), society (2), brain (2), sandwich (2), 2020 (2), television (2), talks (2), writings (2), picking (2), trip (2), sitting (2), profundity (2), sample (2), chapters (2), contact (2), latest (2), older (2), review (2), ago (2), ongoing (2), analysis (2), act (2), final (2), stages (2), later (2), commenced (2), bad (2), personally (2), take (2), shows (2), got (2), right (2), crazy (2), best (2), works (2), become (2), colour (2), yes (2), big (2), today (2), not (2), high (2), sweet (2), house (2), presently (2), mother (2), son (2), forming (2), reading (2), constantly (2), against (2), touch (2), instantly (2), forgotten (2), threads (2), visits (2), home (2), atonement (2), enjoyed (2), uncanny (2), piece (2), similarities (2), part (2), three (2), together (2), ambient (2), altered (2), futuristic (2), dreams (2), ground (2), breaking (2), visual (2), long (2), projected (2), period (2), community (2), made (2), feature (2), actual (2), article (2), does (2), sequel (2), thoughts (2), water (2), https (2), dflewisreviews (2), material (2), unique (2), related (2), enough (2), images (2), drawn (2), regarding (2), purchase (2), publishing (2), cover (2), comes (2), strange (2), 1970s (2), contemporary (2), essays (2), movie (2), several (2), thomas (2), substack (2), different (2), cops (2), experienced (2), saw (2), change (2), better (2), exponentially (2), ever (2), tabloid (2), heaven (2), news (2), far (2), deep (2), alston (2), key (2), figure (2), microdot (2), gang (2), hippy (2), perspective (2), information (2), please (2), visit (2), visible (2), though (2), continuing (2), amorous (2), transgression (2), dirty (2), phone (2), call (2), inclusion (2), certain (2), fictional (2), elements (2), themes (2), great (2), being (2), hasn (2), memory (2), author (2), method (2), subject (2), adjunct (2), grtrs (2), online (2), meet (2), gestalt (2), uses (2), research (2), rob (2), example (2), awareness (2), robert (2), use (2), due (2), cultural (2), primarily (2), britain (2), psilocybe (2), poetry (2), still (2), hundred (2), wilde (2), outside (2), famous (2), dispatches (2), front (2), line (2), psychonautic (2), get, write, comments, collapse, bar, manage, subscriptions, report, privacy, already, promote, enter, receive, notifications, via, follow, topics, networkedblogs, matrix, synecdoche, york, spirituality, special, networking, shamanism, promotion, satori, revenge, quentin, tarantino, print, demand, obsessed, fan, jack, kerouac, howard, marks, control, gay, entheogens, enlightenment, eleusis, dreamachines, dream, depression, castaneda, mccabe, beats, ayahuasca, allen, ginsberg, advertising, addiction, booker, video, vista, zone, beckley, foundation, psychonaut, dowse, erowid, daxx, danzig, transform, toltec, path, teleomorph, itsutterrubbish, fallyrag, evolver, dosenation, ciné, blogroll, feb, archives, conferences, metacrime, interviews, classics, excerpts, blu, ray, tweets, the_mad_artist, twtter, pages, photomontage, described, chapter, inezha, bloglines, newsgator, yahoo, zhua, xia, xian, guo, youdao, google, feed, rss, entries, rerun, republished, did, ten, triumph, invented, similarly, broadcast, 1986, narrative, commences, parallel, progression, misanthropy, psychosomatic, illness, childhood, mirrored, filmmaker, steve, penhaligon, reaches, realising, mimed, song, dance, routines, unlock, same, prog, rock, king, crimson, 21st, century, schizoid, jethro, tull, living, tracks, michael, gambon, prototype, various, versions, develops, cast, play, come, rewatching, mean, influenced, episode, unemployed, unstable, eponymous, throes, existential, crisis, leading, him, totally, unhinged, peerless, performance, just, frustration, sense, victimhood, pity, fulminating, anger, 1982, reminded, clearly, kinds, moods, celebrate, centenary, airing, reruns, loved, favourites, course, something, warm, fuzzy, watching, 2020s, bygone, ratio, leaving, black, side, borders, televisions, somewhat, grainy, resolution, 16mm, lend, archaic, atmosphere, nonetheless, counterbalanced, nostalgia, cards, friends, north, speculation, desertion, her, young, nature, scar, tissue, aware, imbibing, exceptionally, elevated, calibre, shaded, emptiness, grey, winter, sky, impressions, sounds, sights, burst, fireworks, arcs, cones, primary, replaced, again, since, true, major, masterpiece, handles, armada, complex, interlocking, breathtaking, aplomb, broad, historical, strokes, microscopic, dissections, human, emotions, perceptions, early, scene, roland, caring, seven, month, dubious, disappearance, wife, allissa, during, conversation, interrogation, baby, squawks, demanding, attention, infant, point, given, speculatively, considerable, detail, dimension, lay, similarity, explores, common, territory, looks, concrescences, revisits, controversies, wartime, nursing, lucilla, andrews, julian, gloag, cement, garden, romance, tooth, identical, twist, endings, tim, burton, released, months, seemed, portend, dawn, art, vfx, enabled, quasi, viewing, eco, indistinguishable, potential, technology, whether, talking, animation, cyber, hippie, wetdream, decor, technological, rhetoric, impossible, disentangle, hallucinogenic, awaited, moment, finally, arrived, release, sequels, blockbuster, thirteen, gestation, noted, having, distinct, quality, albeit, comparable, stanley, kubrick, alejandro, jodorowsky, caried, tropes, didn, erik, davis, said, aya, holy, mountain, 2009, innovative, fusion, camera, system, enchanting, notably, build, trend, done, reference, psychedelia, strand, revisited, updated, soon, cliché, original, post, triggered, linked, nemonymous, night, assemblage, chairs, them, lonely, sets, ominous, equivocal, shadowy, stalkers, libraries, detectives, nightmarish, tentaculate, silhouettes, brings, source, compliment, experimenting, imagery, weird, freud, onto, salvador, dali, landscapes, further, details, found, alphabetic, dating, days, mid, bournemouth, stretching, realms, tale, covers, revisit, alphabet, wood, hallucination, plym, woods, 1975, messianic, quest, turn, contain, updates, coverage, doctor, multiverse, out, fourteen, themed, appeared, covering, countercultural, avant, garde, states, dequincey, charles, baudelaire, field, directors, ken, russell, corman, david, cronenberg, terry, gilliam, ben, wheatley, explored, oak, tree, therefore, dynamics, qualitatively, wasn, straightforward, good, versus, evil, pushers, money, ideology, politics, personal, controlling, impressionable, proponents, significant, doses, undergone, transcendental, transformative, catalyst, shortcut, meaning, spread, throughout, populace, would, desirable, societal, public, mind, busts, directed, familiar, hard, heroin, cocaine, increasingly, smuggling, distribution, increased, decade, newsworthy, target, exotic, feared, substance, beatles, pink, floyd, driven, term, indelibly, branded, minds, anyone, knows, anything, biggest, anti, initiatives, bust, 1977, day, ramifications, going, biography, historian, andy, roberts, extended, phenomenon, folklore, outlaws, clash, rival, sheriff, nottingham, robin, hood, merry, men, lefors, butch, cassidy, wild, bunch, sides, law, inspector, dick, lee, leaf, fielding, aka, trial, dealing, massive, quantities, paperback, worldwide, darkness, designer, oblivion, theme, sequence, temporary, dreaming, skier, once, twice, polar, explorers, frequenters, artic, regions, must, lightness, thread, based, female, friend, reckoned, she, knew, perpetrator, probably, correct, assumption, road, rage, preoccupation, 90s, cannot, forget, incident, turned, off, m32, junction, cars, parked, grass, verge, drivers, engaged, fist, fight, swinging, haymakers, looking, influences, see, john, lorena, bobbitt, case, happened, almost, exactly, thirty, huge, sensation, generating, undercurrent, comic, pathos, accompany, extreme, violence, congruent, worst, archetypally, freudian, nightmares, pornography, resonates, whole, métier, macabre, guiding, light, love, last, rites, range, distinctly, originally, magazines, pieces, borderline, others, quotidian, lurking, flickers, frames, psychotrope, sierra, title, always, earmarked, thus, titles, impact, especially, genre, grew, recently, adopted, lengthy, descriptive, subtitle, order, readily, advertise, thumbnail, retail, nowadays, unsettling, wry, humour, projects, say, introduction, body, concerning, leanings, hang, blunted, preoccupations, opinion, relevant, rogerkeen, haunting, changing, topography, forging, narrator, bends, steps, bent, shape, employs, glastonbury, catch, motif, psychogeographic, mythic, permeating, levels, therapeutic, circle, implicated, verdict, absent, ghost, telling, transforming, lived, psychospiritual, experiment, embodies, achieved, acted, rocket, fuel, positive, rebased, employed, actively, recording, beginning, problem, blur, each, peril, pen, felicitous, essential, getting, picture, journey, prequel, kunstlerroman, deepening, supplanting, autobiography, goes, using, similar, methods, placing, critic, inside, sublime, recalls, immersive, imax, virtual, headset, dataglove, says, put, epoch, least, mirror, style, latter, higher, connections, disparate, aspects, inducing, awe, insight, product, actually, probed, placed, immaculately, context, called, names, eventually, clocks, midnight, reviewer, project, calls, involves, construction, conjecture, liminal, personality, whom, feeds, existing, catalogue, engages, dialogue, furthering, additional, layers, facts, mix, things, interesting, inspiring, ways, diligence, charm, reaching, 1978, entitled, nightmare, reports, fined, walking, policeman, declaring, jesus, luck, archbishop, canterbury, manchester, evening, 1950s, discussed, graves, arthur, koestler, gordon, valentina, wasson, participated, mazatec, ceremony, mexico, widely, publicised, knowledge, coupled, references, guides, chemical, testing, led, experiential, flourishing, sacred, fitted, accompanying, usage, accounts, hospital, hallucinations, suspected, poisoning, sem, sources, hitherto, difficult, access, local, newspaper, articles, yielding, surprisingly, detailed, record, went, legal, situation, arrests, trials, clashes, farming, prove, fascinating, larger, dickins, charts, rise, native, naturally, occurring, species, liberty, cap, pointed, bell, shaped, semilanceata, pickers, bemushroomed, britons, focusing, standpoints, titanic, cotswolds, mildly, speculative, scenario, struck, slightly, fanciful, could, coming, gaming, internet, streaming, obliterated, serious, mainstream, novelist, novelists, playwrights, advantage, longevity, lives, adaptations, austen, dickens, brontë, sisters, percentage, texts, school, requirements, rhyme, appreciated, hip, hop, centre, francis, 1950, national, treasure, death, exerts, sway, give, removed, 2119, oscar, corresponding, stated, text, evidently, towering, excellent, future, observations, disaster,
Text of the page (random words):
r bends their life into literature then steps back into the bent shape as if it were memory des employs the idea of glastonbury as a catch all motif for the counterculture a psychogeographic mythic space permeating through many levels and he shows how the reader is drawn into the therapeutic circle and implicated and the final verdict of author as absent ghost is most telling for more information on the empty chair and other books please visit rogerkeen com roger keen s empty chair and the brainwright for my old age share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on x opens in new window x like loading categories literary stalker psychedelic literature the empty chair the mad artist tags des lewis literary stalker metafiction postmodernism psychedelic the empty chair the mad artist visionary experience triskaidekaphobia and other noir tales august 8 2023 the mad artist leave a comment like many of my other book projects this short story collection was a long time in the making as i say in the introduction the stories were written in the 1990s and form a body of work concerning my literary leanings back then so they all hang together as a piece being written and set in the past hasn t blunted their preoccupations in my own opinion because the themes are as relevant now as ever the title triskaidekaphobia was always earmarked as thus because it s such a great word and one word titles have a certain unique impact especially within the horror genre it grew to triskaidekaphobia and other noir tales and recently i adopted a lengthy descriptive subtitle unsettling stories of dark psychology amorous transgression and wry humour in order to readily advertise the content from a page or thumbnail on a retail site as so many books do nowadays the stories range from those with distinctly horror elements several originally published in 1990s indie press magazines such as sierra heaven psychotrope threads and flickers n frames to more literary pieces some with borderline fantasy themes and others set in quotidian british life but with lurking dark or noir elements looking back over influences real life and fictional i see that the john and lorena bobbitt case happened almost exactly thirty years ago now becoming a huge tabloid sensation and also generating an undercurrent of comic pathos to accompany the extreme violence of a kind congruent with one s worst and archetypally freudian nightmares the ian mcewan short story pornography from the collection first love last rites also resonates and the whole métier of those stories from the ian macabre period was a guiding light continuing the amorous transgression thread the dirty phone call inclusion was based on a real dirty phone call related to me by a female friend who reckoned she knew the perpetrator and was probably correct in that assumption road rage was another big preoccupation of the 90s zeitgeist and i cannot forget a certain incident when i turned off the m4 at the m32 junction and i saw two cars parked up on the grass verge their drivers engaged in a full on fist fight swinging haymakers at one another designer oblivion is another theme not through drugs this time though there is one sequence of temporary cannabis psychosis but through deep dreaming and through snow snow yes snow as a skier i ve experienced this once or twice and polar explorers and frequenters of artic regions must know it well lightness visible perhaps triskaidekaphobia is published today in paperback and kindle worldwide for more information and purchase links please visit darkness visible publishing share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on x opens in new window x like loading categories general literature triskaidekaphobia tags crime fiction dark psychology horror fiction short stories lsd smiles and the madness of operation julie july 21 2023 the mad artist leave a comment alston hughes aka smiles at the time of trial for dealing massive quantities of lsd the story of operation julie and the microdot gang has become part of hippy folklore a cops n outlaws clash to rival the sheriff of nottingham and robin hood s merry men or joe lefors and butch cassidy s wild bunch many books have been written about it from the perspective of both sides of the law from inspector dick lee s account to leaf fielding s now in search of smiles a new biography of alston hughes a key figure in the microdot gang written by lsd historian andy roberts has been published by psychedelic press here is my extended feature on the book and the operation julie phenomenon the term operation julie is indelibly branded on the minds of anyone who knows anything about british counterculture in the 1970s one of the biggest anti drugs initiatives ever it was tabloid heaven with the bust itself in march 1977 becoming the top news story of the day its ramifications going far and deep in the public mind drug busts were directed against familiar hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine and increasingly cannabis the smuggling and distribution of which had increased exponentially over the past decade what made operation julie newsworthy was the target drug lsd at the time an exotic and much feared substance known to have inspired the beatles and pink floyd but also to have driven people crazy therefore the dynamics of operation julie were qualitatively different the story wasn t about a straightforward good cops versus evil pushers in it for the money it was about ideology and the politics of personal experience about lsd s effect on society and controlling the impressionable lsd proponents people who d experienced the drug in significant doses and who had undergone its transcendental transformative effects saw it as a catalyst to change the world for the better a shortcut to the meaning of life which if it were to spread exponentially throughout the populace would effect desirable societal change one brain at a time read more on psychedelic press substack share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on x opens in new window x like loading categories general drug lit psychedelic literature tags acid cannabis counter culture drugs operation julie psychedelic war on drugs man of letters psychedelic writings april 3 2023 the mad artist leave a comment out now a collection of fourteen psychedelic themed essays several of which have appeared in psychedelic press the oak tree review and reality sandwich covering countercultural history avant garde and psychedelic cinema and the psychology of altered states they touch on figures such as thomas dequincey charles baudelaire and william burroughs and in the field of cinema directors including ken russell roger corman david cronenberg terry gilliam and ben wheatley are explored the essays revisit the alphabet wood hallucination of the plym woods in 1975 the mushroom inspired cult of the novel messianic quest to turn the world on to reality fiction and contain updates to the trippy movie coverage including 2022 films avatar the way of water and doctor strange in the multiverse of madness the alphabetic cover comes with its own story dating back to my strange days of the mid 1970s in bournemouth and stretching into the realms of contemporary horror and fantasy cover design read the full story on medium a tale of two covers further details regarding man of letters and purchase links can be found here dv publishing share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on x opens in new window x like loading categories general drug lit man of letters psychedelic literature tags acid cannabis counter culture drugs lsd psychedelic psychedelic movies the mad artist ai images by des lewis from the empty chair and literary stalker march 28 2023 the mad artist leave a comment as a compliment to his unique real time reviews des lewis has been experimenting with ai imagery related to reviewed material the results of which are as weird as freud s dreams projected onto salvador dali s landscapes des was kind enough to create some images drawn from my novels the empty chair and literary stalker the assemblage of empty chairs some of them on lonely film sets ominous equivocal father figures shadowy stalkers in libraries singing detectives and nightmarish tentaculate silhouettes brings it all back the writing and the source material nemonymous night some ai visual experiments triggered by my reviews of roger keen reviews linked here https dflewisreviews wordpress com 2021 04 05 literary stalker and https dflewisreviews wordpress com 2021 08 29 the empty chair roger keen view original post share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on x opens in new window x like loading categories literary stalker the empty chair tags literary stalker metafiction postmodernism the empty chair avatar the way of cliché january 2 2023 the mad artist leave a comment thoughts on avatar the way of water done with reference to my psychedelia in the movies strand revisited and updated in the soon to be published collection man of letters the 2009 film s innovative fusion camera system 3d was enchanting in a notably psychedelic way but does the sequel build on this trend in december 2022 a long awaited moment finally arrived the cinema release of the first of four projected sequels to the ground breaking 3d blockbuster avatar after a thirteen year gestation period within the psychedelic community avatar was noted for a having a distinct trippy quality albeit an ambient one which made it comparable to movies such as stanley kubrick s 2001 a space odyssey and alejandro jodorowsky s the holy mountain which caried the tropes but didn t feature the actual drugs as erik davis said in his 2010 article aya avatar eco futuristic dreams are now indistinguishable from the visionary potential of media technology itself indeed whether you are talking form ground breaking 3d animation or content cyber hippie wetdream decor cameron s visual and technological rhetoric is impossible to disentangle from hallucinogenic experience indeed avatar together with tim burton s alice in wonderland released three months later seemed to portend a new dawn in ambient psychedelic movies where 3d and state of the art vfx enabled a quasi altered state within the cinema viewing experience itself read more on medium share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on x opens in new window x like loading categories cinema tags 3 d alice in wonderland avatar psychedelic movies science fiction ian mcewan s lessons and the empty chair december 11 2022 the mad artist leave a comment i very much enjoyed ian mcewan s new novel lessons and another dimension to that experience lay in its uncanny similarity to the empty chair this piece explores that common territory and looks back at other concrescences of ian s and my work such as the identical twist endings of the mad artist and sweet tooth it also revisits the controversies over similarities between atonement and part three of the wartime nursing memoir no time for romance by lucilla andrews and between the cement garden and our mother s house by julian gloag lessons is ian mcewan s best novel since atonement a true late major work perhaps a late masterpiece he handles an armada of complex interlocking threads with breathtaking aplomb from broad historical strokes through to microscopic dissections of human emotions and perceptions take an early scene in which a detective visits roland at home where he is caring for his seven month old son after the dubious disappearance of his wife allissa during the conversation perhaps an interrogation the baby squawks demanding attention and then the infant s point of view is given speculatively in considerable detail a shaded emptiness a grey winter sky against which impressions sounds sights touch burst like fireworks in arcs and cones of primary colour instantly forgotten instantly replaced and forgotten again and presently there s more speculation on the effect of the mother s desertion on her young son the nature of the scar tissue it is forming reading lessons one is constantly aware one is imbibing writing of an exceptionally elevated calibre read more on medium share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on x opens in new window x like loading categories general literature literary stalker the empty chair the mad artist tags ian mcewan lessons memoir metafiction the singing detective and other bbc classic dramas december 2 2022 the mad artist leave a comment bernard hill as yosser hughes in boys from the blackstuff to celebrate its centenary year the bbc has been airing reruns of many of its best and most loved classic dramas on bbc four my favourites are boys from the blackstuff our friends in the north house of cards and of course the singing detective there is something warm and fuzzy about watching these works from what has now in the 2020s become a bygone age they re all in colour yes but the 4 3 screen ratio leaving big black side borders on today s televisions and the somewhat grainy and not very high resolution 16mm film lend an archaic atmosphere that is nonetheless counterbalanced by sweet nostalgia what has come over from the rewatching personally is how much these dramas mean to me and how they have influenced my writing take the episode yosser s story in boys from the blackstuff which shows the unemployed and unstable eponymous character in the throes of an existential crisis leading to him becoming totally unhinged bernard hill s peerless performance got everything just right the frustration the sense of victimhood the self pity and the crazy fulminating anger so much so that back in 1982 he reminded me all too clearly of my own father when he got into those kinds of moods four years later when i commenced my novel about a bad father the empty chair yosser became a prototype for various versions of the bad father character and when the film within the novel develops it is an older bernard hill who is cast to play that screen father michael gambon in the singing detective similarly the singing detective first broadcast in 1986 the very year the empty chair narrative commences became a kind of ongoing parallel story its progression through misanthropy psychosomatic illness analysis of childhood psychotherapy and the act of writing itself mirrored everything in my novel and when filmmaker steve penhaligon reaches the final stages of realising his film about his life it is the singing detective s mimed song and dance routines that unlock his idea to do the same with prog rock king crimson s 21st century schizoid man and jethro tull s living in the past to name ...
|
