Dreamt last night that I could hear someone walking up the side of my house - ie, striding up the vertical wall. And then they appeared at an upstairs window, looking down on me, and very malevolent, as they stood with their feet on the glass. I don't think they were there to clean the windows.

Every time I pass this tree on my way to the shop, I think of Jurassic Park.

Today I walked through what is apparently the world's first reinforced concrete underpass. It runs under Norwood Junction station in south London, and according to the plaque above its entrance was opened on 31 July 1912. If I'd waited till next week I could have wished it a happy birthday.

Now playing ('cos it arrived today) and pleasing my ears: an audience recording of Tangerine Dream live in Brussels, 1976. Very sturdy CD sleeve - perhaps the sturdiest cardboard one I own, outside of box sets. Chunky and glossy, with inner sleeves for the discs. Not gonna fall apart any time soon.

After visiting the newly restored @cpdinosaurs.bsky.social in Crystal Palace Park on Saturday, I had a flick back through my photos of them from over the years. Here's an iguanodon in June 2018, June 2025, and July 2026. "All right there, Iggy. You know the pose, mate - let's do this!"

New Guardian interview with John Carpenter. "Usually my nightmares are, I'm directing a movie and no one will listen to me. No one will follow my directions. Seriously, that's what I wake up from."

‘Everything I know about evil I learned in that small town’: John Carpenter on terrifying the world with Halloween, The Thing and The Fog

At 78, the king of horror and sci-fi movies is as much of a rebel as ever. He talks about creativity, compromise (he’s not a fan) and how he became addicted to moviemaking

theguardian.com

A headless Dante, overlooked by the Crystal Palace transmitter and a painterly sky, yesterday afternoon.

"If you dwell, you go to Hell." Advice to myself on waking this morning, as anxiety cackled in my face. Googled the phrase verbatim to zero results. Considered making some T-shirts.

“Winter Daphne DOA” is our latest Haunting The Atom video. We have this playlist of all the videos we have done since we started. If this were the 80s, we’d put this out on VHS for you! youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Deadlight Dance Haunting the Atom Collaborations AKA The Singles - YouTube

Videos we've made with Haunting The Atom

youtube.com

I once had a macabre tongue biopsy. I was in a chair, and it was dark outside so the window in front of me became a mirror: I could see everything. As blood ran down my chin, I felt like I was in a '70s horror portmanteau. "Did you see the one where the bloke has tongue surgery at the barber's?"

Found these unscratched scratch cards in a cobwebbed corner of my King Kong collection. There's a potential £150,000 here but, nah, keep 'em intact, man - mint condition or bust! (Coin for illustrative purposes only. Twenty three years after the closing date, I really don't want to know...)

Saw a Cyberman trapped in a bin. #DoctorWho #FacesInThings

Here's my latest video collaboration with Wiltshire goth duo @deadlight-dance.bsky.social, for a song they describe as "centred around the themes of exclusion and, um, gardening!" If you're into ancient Greek metamorphosis myths, magical pictures and decaying plants, this video has your name on.

Winter Daphne DOA (official video) - Deadlight Dance

YouTube video by Deadlight Dance

youtube.com

If you’re not following us over on YouTube, now is the time to start. Our Haunting The Atom produced music video for “Winter Daphne DOA” is out this week. #goth #gothic #postpunk

Nice waveform. You can tell that the producer has really pushed the boat out. (Pic: South Norwood Country Park, this morning - a lovely wander in cooler temps!)

It's 33 degrees indoors, and I'm sitting here trying to edit a video... with a horrible cold. C'mon, god of everyday annoyances, pick one: hot or cold. I can't help thinking that bestowing both upon me at once is an overreach of power.

A couple of snaps of @warringtonruncorn.com from yesterday's electronic all-dayer at Iklectik in Peckham. A cracking set - at one point, a chap behind me shouted "tune!", to which I wholeheartedly concur - and, as you can see, a great view too.

A snapshot of @sulkrooms.bsky.social at yesterday's electronic all-dayer at Iklectik in Peckham. An intense and, I'm gonna say, shamanic* performance, it was one of my favourite sets of the day. * Dynamic and clearly from within. He broke on through, man.

On the way home this evening, the weather turned thunderous. So I pointed my phone at the sky, hoping to get a decent frame of lightning at 120fps. I'm pretty happy with this. I've cropped space from the right, so the pic's square, but I've otherwise tweaked nothing. The black line is a tram cable.

Filming with Wiltshire's gothic pride, @deadlight-dance.bsky.social, in sunny Devizes yesterday. And when I say 'sunny', I mean 'hell-on-earth, do-not-venture-outside, organs-turned-to-ashes nightmare'. But we enjoyed ourselves and that's what counts.

Deadlight Dance@deadlight-dance.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Back with Haunting The Atom for more visuals. Brand new video from “Vox Populi” coming over the next few weeks. In the meantime, we’re all off to cool off! 🥵♨️😎

Up and out early today for a video shoot, and I’ve just been overtaken by a man, clad in colourful Lycra, riding a penny farthing. Consequently, I’m wondering whether I’m actually still in bed.

A few snaps from last night's talk, 'The Fortean and Folklore Origins of Hookland', at The Bell, London E1 - written and presented by @hookland.bsky.social creator David Southwell. 'Twas a delightful deep-dive into the catalysts for, and influences on, this strange, enchanting, open-source world.

One year, when I was 11 or 12, the Easter Bunny brought me some plastic model kits. Chocolate's his main gig, obviously, but I think he's got all sorts of stuff on the van.

Oh my; I've just discovered that the Scarred For Life podcast is now available in video flavour, via YouTube. Careful now - that could have your eye out.

Scarred For Life

Home of the Scarred For Life podcast, a weekly deep dive into the dark, dystopian pop culture hosted by Andy Bush and Dave Lawrence.

youtube.com

Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein at the Roundhouse? Don't mind if I do.

This Friday @deadlight-dance.bsky.social release their third, and rather splendid, album Vox Populi. I created the record's artwork, from a photo session we did in January, plus this six-minute EPK. Take a look: there's darkness, hope, humour, and snippets of 10 cracking songs. #goth #darkwave

An introduction to Vox Populi, the new album by Deadlight Dance

YouTube video by Deadlight Dance

youtube.com

Here's my attempt to give the new Tangerine Dream album a celebratory entrance. Disc one has since crawled in what remains of my tinnitus-ravaged ears and worked its way into my cerebral region (aka 'the noggin'). Feels good.

Stumbled across this scene in a Westminster park. Had a flashback to that bit in The NeverEnding Story.

Here's my soggy bottom (I'd just clambered over a stone wall) photographing gothic duo @deadlight-dance.bsky.social in Bowden Hill yesterday. I railed it over to Wiltshire to snap the chaps in various locations, and indeed poses. Look/listen out for their new album, Vox Populi - coming soon.

I was among the 300+ people who completed a questionnaire for this project, in late 2020. Great to see Pete's research coming to fruition. I love the blurb on the clickthrough that describes '80s kids as "the first children of the video generation". Man, we were pioneers! #ScarredForLife

Pete Turner@ilovethatfilm.bsky.social · 7mo ago

My book on people's memories of watching videos they perhaps shouldn't have been watching in the 1980s is finally almost here from @edinburghup.bsky.social Available to pre-order at edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-unsuita... Use code NEW30 for a 30% discount!