As Easter fades in the distance, my Easter egg that had melted leaving a perfect foil egg to trick me is eaten, it is about time I posted something on my journal. I have had a good weekend of heading back to the place of my birth, seeing family (Dad is doing well, I have left with the first two CD sets of Battlestar Galactica to watch whilst he recovers) and also friends. Ended up at one of those parties where everyone is there. Except for an odd few people I saw most of my friends (known as ‘Marrowbrook’) over the last 14 years in that one house on that one night. I also ended up staying in my old room at the house of Marrowbrook, the home of my early adult years and many good times. The room is still the purple and black that I painted it when I moved in.  It brought back many memories as I laid there looking up at the underneath of my old black shelves.  I wrote a little poem that started as a text, its simple but for me poignant.

Laying in Bed in my old Room

Old Room

Stayed in my old room last night.
Lots of memories.
Many smiles.
Some tears.
It was good to see you.

Onto another memory,

Many, many years ago when I was a Technical College at the tender age of 18. It was a dark evening between the departure of Autumn and the arrival of Winter. I remember being sat in the Library watching short films from Channel 4′s ’4mation’ collection. It was already a atmospheric and spooky night, the Library was quiet and generally empty. I grabbed one of the VHS videos off the shelf and sat back down at the CRT television with a the built in video player and massive black headphones. I had found a animation short called ‘The Sandman‘. I was engrossed in instantly, loving the style and story. It stuck with for many years, but had trouble sourcing a copy. But as seasons passed and returned the Internet grew and youtube was born. And once again I could watch the short animation that had spooked me out so much all those years ago. It was directed by Paul Berry who went onto bigger things with the likes of Tim Burton with ‘The Nightmare before Christmas‘ and ‘James and the Giant Peach‘. The sandman inspired by ‘Hoffmanns’ novella ‘The Sandman’ and is is very expressionist drawing on many infulences from German film to Hitchcock.

So if it is bright outside, wait till its dark. If it is noisy and busy around you, wait until your alone…

…is it dark?

…are you alone?

Enjoy…