"There's a permenant crease in your right or wrong"

I bought my first copy of the fantastic monthly journal Fortean Times in 1992, and I've bought and enjoyed every copy since, honest! It's the leading tome of strange phenomena in the UK (perhaps the world?). But it's more than that, because it has an attitude, see. There's no entry rules no belief system or dogma or any school of thought to subscribe to other than the offer "hey, pull up a chair, wanna listen to a strange story?". It's a collection of weirdness, a little cosmic dust do sprinkle on our humdrumity. It's serious about its strangeness, but flippant about its formality.
Put it this way, it'll never have an astrology column, but it might tell you a werewolf was reported in Wakefield!
Richard Dawkins says there should be, in a civilised society, no place for superstition. He is right. But surely there should at least be a place for mystery and fun?
I've only seen the Fortean Times on sale in a newsagents once. It was in mid to late nineties, when the X Files and conspiracy culture was thriving. Good old FT had got a bit of the action, and there was the great journal on the shelves along with TV Quick and Hello magazine.
Till then I'd avoided the X Files because I thought it was to Fortania what Happy Days was to Rock & Roll. Heck, we get precious when we're young, right?
But, of course, I learned to embrace the X Files, and accept it in my life fully. Which leads me toooo . .
Yay! (and groovy) Saw the new X Files movie tonight and thought it was super. I'd heard of low box office receipts and lukewarm reviews, so I didn't have too much expectation, but I loved it. It's creepy and witty and pushes all the right spooky buttons, the way better episodes of the series did. There's some subtler stuff in there too, contexts and all . . I'll enjoy watching it again on DVD because I always miss stuff in movies.

I think perhaps it wasn't quite 'blockbuster' enough to please all the reviewers. It is, actually, like a feature length episode of the TV series. But that suits me. At least it hasn't been dumbed down in order to get bums on seats. The whole 'faith in science or faith in god' question pops up, Mulder's faith in the paranormal offset with Scully lapsed faith in god, and the whole question of if there is a god, why do bad things happen to innocent people, (I know that sounds quite basic, there's a dying child, but there's also a paedophile priest who states 'but god made me the way I am').
Thrills, spills, gore, sinister goings on and daring-do, plus summat to think about. All well filmed, scripted and acted and there's a two headed dog. What more could you want?
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Have you ever heard the song 'Stand' by Sly and The Family Stone? For what it's worth, I love it.
I first heard it at a time when I wasn't so happy, 'bout eight years ago (we all get these times, surely?). It struck a chord with me at the time, and I've always been fond of it, though when I listen to it now it also reminds me of not so good times.
But that's okay, we carry on. The song is saying, essentially, there are "things to go through if you're going anywhere". It's a call to arms, it's asking you to 'stand' for all you believe in and all that you see as right.
But not in a trendy way, I must add, not in a "ohh look how caring I am" way that you get these days. It's almost like a clarion call to the undertrod, to the low achievers. I'm sure it's a song of its time, in a 'political way', but it works for me too. I'm conceited enough to let it apply to my little middling struggles against real work.
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That's me done posting. It's almost two AM and Classic FM am playing jazz (as they do after midnight and that's a splendid idea).
There's no stars, and the badger I've seen for the last four nights under my window seems to have disappeared. But I've been out to the pictures, and it's raining.
Perhaps I'll see his little stripey head again tomorrow.