I was always a fan of Twilight Zone, but I'd forgotten the juicy tidbits (Except for that great theme song) until we got the entire boxed set. Wow. Rod Serling was the man. Is still the man with the politically incorrect cigarette simmering between his fingers as he discusses each upcoming tale. He was the master of airtight, four scene weirdness; each black & white episode is spare, shot without fancy sets or costumes, staged like theater, with actors and actresses who went on to fame or infamy: Martin Landau, Jack Klugman, Ed Wynn, Fritz Weaver, Donna Douglas (of the Beverly Hillbillies) to name a few. Some shows are better than others, but who could ever forget "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder", where a woman who has gotten facial surgery, and is anxiously awaiting the removal of her bandages, is reminded by the doctor, whose face you never actually see, that if the procedure doesn't take, she will be forever relegated to a fringe community of freaks. The ending is a shock (and a thrill) and I won't blow it for the unordained.

Rod hailed from upstate, NY. He was a boxer and a paratrooper (who later suffered flashbacks); a Jew born on Christmas day, who later converted to Unitariansim. Even before he conceived of the Twilight Zone, he penned many well-regarded scripts for television, including "Requiem for a Heavyweight". Twilight Zone had a rabid cult following but was never financially successful until it went into reruns. After Serling sold the series to CBS (who then made the fortune in reruns), he taught communications at Ithaca College. In Hollywood, Serling fought against McCarthyism and the over-commercialism of TV. One of his quotes: "Hollywood's a great place to live . . . if you're a grapefruit." Another: "If you need drugs to write you're not a good writer."

Tonight, a friend brought over a DVD he found in the $5 bin in Walmart: a 50-episode set of a 1959 show called One Step Beyond. An online description: "Outside the known is irreality (Pretty sure that's not a word!), and one step beyond that is Surrealism. John Newland introduces reported cases of supernatural phenomena, whose poetry is revealed in magnificent and almost brutally compressed dramatizations."
One Step Beyond was mainly filmed at M-G-M Studios, Hollywood, and partly at M-G-M British Studios.

At any rate, this show is comprised of supposedly true tales, as opposed to Serling's fictions. It's not as good as TZ, but does have its charm. The Titanic episode is chilling--one realizes that there were many premonitions of this disaster before the fact all around the world, including a novel written a few years prior, that was an eeire mirror of the real event, down to the fictitious ship's name: The Titan.

Tags: episodic tv, one step beyond, sci-fi, serling, surrealism, twlight zone
Current Location: studio
Current Mood: mischievous
Current Music: Twilight Zone theme song

I TIVO some strange things, Oprah included. Okay, I admit it, I also watch Celebrity Rehab and the View. I need something fun and wacky to do if I can't sleep by 1 am. Anyway, Oprah was disturbing yesterday. There was a segment on beauty products around the world. Apparently, some Japanese women ply their cheeks with bird doody, claiming it keeps the skin soft. Many young Iranian ladies get nosejobs. This practice is so prestigious and widespread that it is a source of pride to walk around in public with the post op bandages. Ladies, you're okay as is!

Steve Adler (Former drummer for Guns N Roses) on Celeb Rehab is particularly heartbreaking and also charming. His mother threw his stuff out on the street when he was eleven. ELEVEN, folks. Can you imagine trying to scramble for a warm bed and the meaning of life at that age? He's so full of energy that he literally vibrates. And remember Tawny Kitaen aka Julie?

Okay, for slightly higher level TIVO content: Fringe is usually decent for edgy plotting of the extrasensory woo-woo kind. And House, with his cane in your face, is still the guy we love to hate. Then there's always Meet the Press, George Stephanopoulis and Gwen Ifill on Washington Week for politico junkies.

With TIVO, one can load up on content after day is done and never suffer another commercial, only ludicrous TV.

Current Location: In front of my hi-def TV
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: theme song from any TV show

Nothing like doing Thanksgiving early. There are no traffic jams, no turkey shortages, no parades. We got the complex cooking out of the way.
On the real Thanksgiving we'll simply go out for a bite to the local hash-flipping jointster.

It's been ages since I've posted. I'm sometimes over at Twitter, and micro-blogging is so time-thrifty. But I do miss the longer post, and like reading others' posts. I've been teaching 1984 to college freshmen. Eighteen and nineteen year-olds are a better age than high schoolers for that book. I had the kids (It's an art college) do modern portraits of Big Brother, or a member of the Thought Police (Or some other 1984 fixture), along with a page description. One guy did BB as a cross between Cheney and George Clooney. And the Ministry of Truth was compared to the headquarters of the National Enquirer. Interesting that Hollywood and its fixings were considered updated distopic elements.

Hey, it's snowing outside already.
Happy lovely somber early winter.

Current Location: catskills
Current Music: milt jackson

Only a few more days to register for my New School class in writing for children and teens.
Two of my students from last year have just gotten contracts for their novels--YAY!!!!!!
My course is called “From Chapter Book to Teen Fiction" course # NWRW 3807 A.
Call 212 229 5690 to register, or online at
www. newschool.edu/register
Polish that rough gem.

Contact me at www.catherinestine.com

May a writing wish come true for you in 2008!

Catherine Stine

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Tags: www.newschool.edu/register
Current Mood: bouncy

New Year Greetings,

In these dark winter days when writing spaces are chilly and motivation low, it helps to catch inspirational sparks from fellow writers within the structure of a class. I’m teaching a class in writing for kids at the New School starting Thursday, January 24th. It’s called “From Chapter Book to Teen Fiction,” and registration has begun.

I’d love to see you there, or please spread the word to friends searching for a good class. We workshop, do fun writing exercises and discuss various opportunities for children’s authors. One published writer--and possibly an editor or agent will visit class.

This link goes to the New School website. SCROLL DOWN to "Special Topics in Writing" and to "From Chapter Book to Teen Fiction," course NWRW3807.

http://ceregistration.newschool.edu/register/index.cfm?deptcode=NWRW&semesterpick=200730

Find out more about my work or contact me at www.catherinestine.com.
Or call the New School Writing Program for more info at 212 229 5611.

Happy New Year!
May a writing wish come true for you.
Catherine "Kitsy" Stine

Tags: newschool.edu
Current Location: New School, 66 W. 12th Street, NYC
Current Music: something literary-sounding

So, my family is sitting around the kitchen table, each one with their own laptop and we are checking out our facebook, livejournal, etc etc accounts BEFORE we open presents.
Ain't that progress?!

Have a very merry whatever you celebrate.

Tags: old christmas cds
Current Location: the solarium
Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Nat King Cole etc

Pre-holiday changes:

Go to Philly and have a nice long visit with my elderly mom, listening, with affection, to her relay the old stories about walking to the art museum to square dance and how she hand-sewed all of her shirts for the hundred-millionth time. Well, there was one new juicy tale about some guy who invited her into his room to "watch TV," which she coquettishly turned down.

Eat really greasy Chinese food at a place next to the hotel because I am too tired to drive around looking for an open restaurant in this pristine suburb that always sleeps. Listen to amazing but depressing songs over and over like Dirt by Phish, and Chicago by Sufjan Stevens. Come back to incredibly overheated hotel room and fling open the window, praying for a huge gust of frigid air. Troll Internet when I should be doing freewrites. Enjoy the plink of the rain on the Germantown Avenue cobblestones, and bask in the fact that tonight  I can isolate from family because soon the holiday will be upon me with throngs of family and friends and a wicked big New Year's eve fete at our place that'll probably last two days.

Tags: pre-holiday changes
Current Location: hotel in philly
Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: chicago by sufjan stevens

Surfing around late at night with too much energy to sleep like I should. Tired right now of Facebook, and of "throwing" virtual turkey legs and candy and pumpkin pies at folks. Tired of invitations to get "bitten" and "poked." What is with the vampire craze, anyway? It never seems to die--I guess vampires don't either.

Writing group is good, as always, and thank the lord that teaching is almost over until January. I've got to catch up with the reading I'll assign in late JanuaryCanterbury Tales, comedy by Aristophanes.

Basically, I'm climbing the walls now that two long-haul projects are finally done, and I'm actually free to think about what I might want to do next. It will be good to go outside tomorrow and play in the snow.

I meant Happy Penguin Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to all livejournal friends!

I am sitting in my barn studio up in the Catskills, alternately looking at my old paintings (what was I thinking when I painted the mother grasshopper feeding her children Coke?)  with nostalgia, and typing. My son is drawing. It's so fun to have him in here doing something creative. I am listening to Nick Drake with a background of flies being electrocuted by a fly zapper, which makes me feel like a gallows worker, but hey, this studio is a fly circus. I mean mass swarming, and I don't want to set off some kind of toxic bomb!

Anyway, it's lovely to be able to get out of the city (and then dive back in, at will). That enough is a blessing.

We'll probably go to the local crappy theater at some point, and watch Beowolf with 3D glasses. Three cheers for cheap thrills.

Happy enguin day says Mr. Turkey!

Catherine

Current Location: my barn studio
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Nick Drake