Showing posts with label Stephen King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen King. Show all posts

Saturday, July 28, 2018

VINTAGE KING




Image result for stephen king the outsider







I have just finished Stephen King’s new book The Outsider.   This is a dark book reminding me of Carrie.   I have always felt King’s earlier books were his best.  The last twenty years his books have not reached out and grabbed me from around a dark corner – the kind of stories that send chills up your spine – though they are always a good read. 

This book is dark and disturbing and may be an uncomfortable read for many.   It is about a shape-shifter and the violent rape, murder, mutilation and cannibalism of young children.  Some of the descriptions are guaranteed to disrupt your sleep.   I am pretty calloused, but I could not read it at bedtime. 

That said; I recommend it.  It is a page turner.
the Ol’Buzzard


Saturday, August 5, 2017

IT'S COMING





MAINE, THE VACATION LAND
 






ENJOY THE CLOWNS IN
BEAUTIFUL DERRY, MAINE
WE ALL FLOAT HERE!

the Ol'Buzzard


Sunday, May 7, 2017

THE DARK TOWER

Eight books into one movie - I don't expect a lot; but if you are a King reader it is a must see.   




the Ol'Buzzard

Thursday, May 4, 2017

STEPHEN KING AS THE CLEANER



Stephen King has two movies due to debut this summer.   A remake of It will be out soon, followed by The Dark Tower.   If you are a King fan you will not want to miss either.


And

If you have a dead body you need to dispose of you probably need the cleaner.  

Stephen King's cameo in the The Sons of Anarchy:






They all float down here!
the Ol'Buzzard

Friday, March 31, 2017

PENNYWISE IS BACK!




A remake of Stephen King’s IT is due out this September.  

If you are a follower of King, as I am, this is a must see movie.





Remakes are rarely as good as the original; but I will hold my opinion until after the release.   

One thing we know, King is at his best when his subjects are kids.   He has always been able to realistically step back into childhood and touch a scary  place that we all remember.  

Very rarely are movies as good as the books; but Stand By Me and It were well done, and I have high hopes for this new release.   It will be ruined if script moves away from the story and the young actors to spectacular computer animation.

We all have to admit; clowns are scary as hell.




the Ol'Buzzard

Monday, October 3, 2016

SCIENCE FICTION OFTEN LEADS REAL SCIENCE BY DECADES







From Buck Rogers’ space suit, to the flip phones where the message was usually, ‘Beam me up Scotty,’ science fiction has been the catalyst for many scientific developments. 



One of my old man diatribes is that cell phones have become a grafted appendage on the human race.   Whether running from a terrorist attack, walking down the street or sitting in a restaurant, people can’t ignore their cell phones.
 
Stephen King wrote an apocalyptic novel titled: Cell.   The story line begins where every cell phone provider is hacked and infected with a virus that causes people to turn into murderous psychopaths when they try to make a phone call.   The only people that aren’t affected are people that have forgotten their phones or old buzzards like me that rarely use one



We know that the human brain is effectively a biological computer chip with circuits and wiring that determine our intelligence and actions.   We also know that when certain sections of the brain are desensitized or damaged, behaviors can be modified.   

The brain gives off electrical pulses that can be measured, and for years, scientist have been trying to decode these voltage readings.  

If you could modify these voltages could you reprogram the brain? Will the time come when the brain could be reprogrammed by downloading an app?  

It might start out as a medical research to repair brain function for Parkinson or Alzheimer etc.     But let your mind conceive programmable humans.   



Is this a possibility or a probability?      And how far in the future?


the Ol’Buzzard

Friday, January 31, 2014

THE KING IS BACK: LONG LIVE THE KING










Stephen King could write on the shithouse wall and I would read it.   You might say that I am one of his constant readers.   This, however, doesn't mean that I view everything he writes as equal; or that I enjoy every book the same.  



To be somewhat critical, I believe his best books were written during the seventies and eighties.   The rest are good reads, for the most part, but the real thrillers – the one’s that reach out of the dark corner of the room and grab you when you least expect it  - the classics - are his earliest books.  

I dare you to read Salem’s Lot late, on a dark, windy night alone and not get the shivers.   Pet Cemetery will scare the B’Jesus out of you.    Then there is Carrie, The Stand, The Shining and we can’t forget It.   

That said; his new book Doctor Sleep is vintage King.   In order to make connections you must have read The Shining (or at least seen to movie.)   But this ‘can’t put it down’ page turner will grab you from the very first chapter.



On a side note about movies made from King’s books: most sucked a root.   Salem’s lot was a sleeper – not up to the actual drama of the book…One exception being Carrie:   this was a production where the entire theater audibly gasped at the end of the movie, and patrons left talking to each other and mumbling to themselves about the shock factor. 

People seem to either love King or don’t like him…It is probably more their take on the genre.

But if you are a King fan: check out Doctor Sleep.  

the Ol’Buzzard



Saturday, June 22, 2013

WARNING! DO NOT VACATION IN MAINE!




My wife and I were watching LONGMIRE, the sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming; a character created by Craig Johnson and now a new series on A&E TV.

During a commercial I commented that considering that there was at least one violent murder in this small rural county every week - why the hell would anyone want to live there?

My wife laughed and pointed out that we live in Maine and in Jessica Fletcher’s Cabot Cove there were up to two or more murders every week day; and that Cabot Cove would have to be the murder capital of the world – per capita – according to Murder She Wrote. The only reason that there is still people left in Cabot Cove is that clam diggers and lobster fishermen must breed like rabbits.

And of course she is right. And then there is Stephen King.



Thanks to Stephen King, if you traveled through Chamberlain, Maine near Lisbon you might run into Carrie White; who covered in pig’s blood could wreak unbelievable mayhem on you.



North of Brunswick, at Salem’s Lot, you could find yourself in the scariest vampire story ever written (If you sat through movie version I feel sorry for you.)

Then near Bangor, in the town of Derry, you could happen on a clown that lives in the sewer - It is not a nice place to visit.



In Haven, a town of less than five thousand, supernatural deaths are as normal as a trip to Wal-Mart; and you might come down with the Tommyknockers’ disease that is caused by an alien space craft.

Let’s not forget the alien invasion in the great north woods near Millinocket where your only protection will be a Dream Catcher.

And, take this warning: whatever you do, don’t get into a red and white Plymouth Fury called Christine.



Even a woods vacation isn’t safe: for in the unincorporated township TR-90 you might find a Bag of Bones and the ghost of a blues singer haunting your cabin.

In western Maine, near where I live, you definitely don’t want to play sex games with your husband and allow him to hand cuff you, necked, to a bed in a rural cabin on a remote lake in late Fall of the year - for he might drop dead on the floor next to you and leave you in a real fix, as happened in Gerald’s Game.



Whatever your plans are please stay away from Castle Rock, near Freeport, when you are visiting L.L. Beans, for you never know if you will run into a rabid Saint Bernard named Cujo, or feel the need to buy some Needful Things at the local antique store – a real mistake.



This is only a small smattering of the danger of vacationing in Stephen King’s Maine. So, out-of-staters BEWARE!   We have every hazzard up here except zombies...Oops! 



if you go to Bangor stay away from the Pet Cemetary.

the Ol'Buzzard