Great article. I'd love to see a film of Ubik by Philip K Dick.

The Time Machine (1960) 🎥 Directed by George Pal #FilmSky

Royal Mail supposed to collect a parcel today - 9.55am to 12.55pm. Time slot passed with no collection. Just received a new email: “Collection attempted at 1.40pm, but no one was home.” Well actually, Royal Mail, I *was* at home & would have seen from my window any postie arriving at 1.40pm. <tuts>

Departing Kirkby Stephen. 19 April 2026. #railway #photography

The only advantage humans have over other living things is their brain power. Outsourcing that now to AI seems like an open door to extinction...

This planet is run by crazy people. ... Think what they have to do to get where they are. Their perspective is so narrow, so... brief. A few years. In the best of them, a few decades. They care only about the time they are in power. — Carl Sagan, Contact

Just finished a re-watch of LUDWIG to prepare for series 2. Despite the unbelievable set-up, it’s a great prog. Funny & clever. And I do feel like I have a lot in common with Ludwig himself - nerdy misfit who’s good at puzzles. Although I don’t have an identical twin. Nor a beard.

Not looking forward to the return of the 30+C temps next week...

It's another Starlog Sunday on PCS365! News broke late last month that Starlog is coming back, but I'm happy to go back through my collection of classic, original issues, like this one from 1979: issue 26 with its Making of Alien feature. This is easily the most well-read issue from my childhood!

Remembering 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺 𝗛𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗸𝗶𝗻𝘀 on what would have been his 77th birthday. He was also known for Tim Burton's Batman, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, and Flash Gordon. . . . #Starwars #WilliamHootkins #Porkins #ANewHope #RaidersOfTheLostArk

On this day 5th July 1948 the NHS was born. (The Nurse, 1963 Artist: John Berry)

Next in my re-read of all Philip K Dick: IN MILTON LUMKY TERRITORY This is one of PKD’s non-SF novels, published after he died. Bruce, a buyer for a discount house, falls in love with a typewriter store owner & tries to build a new life. It’s brilliant, sad, wise & beautifully written. #PhilipKDick

Sunday comic 😄

Vintage mysteries on the spinner rack

Great news from #HammerFilms! Val Guest’s 1957 fantasy-horror film ‘The Abominable Snowman’ is receiving a 4K release in a lovely limited edition box. Written by Nigel Kneale, and starring Forrest Tucker and Peter Cushing, it’s one of my favourite Hammer films!👇 hammerfilms.com/products/the...

New issue of Film Stories is very, very good. Great articles on A Scanner Darkly, the music of 2001, T2, Roger Deakins, David Koepp, Spielberg + more. @filmstories.bsky.social @ryanlambie.bsky.social @filmsonwax.bsky.social

YUSSS. Beautiful work by @mattferguson.bsky.social

Anyway, no #GettingFit walk for me today. Channelled my energy into gardening instead. Trimmed back some bushes, generally tidied up & lowered a stepping stone that had become a trip hazard because of a big root forcing it upwards from underneath. Exhausted & hurting, but in a good rewarding way.

This sounds like a good idea (hhmm, possibly - maybe some doubts), but I'm not sure about the "streak" culture it refers to. I'm keeping my clothes on while I'm out walking, thank you very much.

Walk 30 minutes a day - I can only dream of such feats... (Also, surely Brendan Foster isn't a "former" Olympic medallist. They haven't taken the medal off him, have they?)

Me, looking at all the new book & disc releases and knowing <dammit> I can't afford them all...

Happy Day...

Pleased as punch to have contributed in a very small way to this alongside such luminaries as @barryf48.bsky.social @mrgeetsromo.bsky.social @accordingtojond.bsky.social @tobyhadoke.bsky.social and many more! hammerfilms.com/products/the...

The Abominable Snowman! In a super-duper new release! Yes, please!

Here's what they're saying about our books! Get a big 15% off with the case-sensitive code PAGES15 till midnight tomorrow, Friday July 3! They're a massive trilogy of tomes about the darkest, weirdest pop culture of the 70s and 80s... Store link is in the replies!

Currently listening to the soundtrack for Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams while I sort through (and try to organise) all the random notes & ideas I've generated over the past few months...

Um... No. I didn't even watch when they played at teatime.

Wishing I was here #2

Wishing I was here...

1. Being re-admitted to ICU 2. Losing more of my eyesight (I already have a blind patch in my left eye after a retinal infarction) 3. Increasingly hot & longer heatwaves (I can't cope as it is)

It’s approaching the anniversary my giving up a really good job with fanastic prospects to become a freelance writer instead - all because of a couple of short story sales. Seemed like a good idea at the time. These days... <looks at failing writing career> ...not so sure. #StupidDecisions

Today’s #GettingFit walk - stumbled and almost fell off the pavement in front of a lorry. Which was nice.

Quite obvious and entirely correct choice for its replacement youtu.be/aQUlA8Hcv4s

The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) The Day the Earth Caught Fire is a 1961 British sci-fi disaster movie which tells the story of the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously conducting nuclear bomb tests. The resulting explosions do something nasty to the Earth, resulting in floods,…

Had our new food waste caddies (and bags) delivered by the council today. It's good idea. I'm all for recycling wherever possible. They should also have caddies for batteries and light bulbs as well. Maybe collect them every six months (because they wouldn't fill up so quickly).

Les Edwards’ sublime cover for Stephen Baxter’s “The Time Ships”.

Michael Byrne as Sergeant Duff in The Medusa Touch. RIP

Rod Serling poses in the TWILIGHT ZONE prop room for the TV GUIDE issue that was published 64 years ago today.

Felt good on today’s #GettingFit walk. Not too hot, just nicely warm. Plus: passed a bush that smelled just like my Auntie Ethel’s garden when I used to visit as a child. Then, farther on: caught that distinct aroma of a donut kiosk at a 1980s Hoseasons seaside caravan park. Mmm, lovely!

Brilliant film! Alex Guinness is fantastic. And Joan Greenwood... <swoons>

Back o' Rackhams

No more

Top of the Pops (29th June 1989). M are back in the charts with Pop Muzik '89.

“Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to have knowledge. It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being.” ― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

Before June ends, it’s the centenary of Agatha Christie’s best early novel… The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Famous, very much better on the page than in adaptation, but if you’ve not read it one thing may surprise you: Like many Christies (especially her first-person narrators), it’s very funny.

Electricity just switched off - for the second time today! Both times it was only off for a minute or so, but it takes my computer down while I'm typing. Then I have to go round re-setting the clocks on the boiler, the cooker, the landline...

Blimey, life is just endless stress. Work, health, elderly parents, AI, the weather, politics, blimmin awkward computers & websites, life in general. I try really hard to stay positive & relaxed, but sometimes... I’ve been scanning the job ads for “Hermit Wanted” - no luck yet though.