renegade knits

Nightmares & Dreamscapes

I haven't read any Stephen King in a good while.  I've dropped into the uncut version of The Stand once or twice and skimmed through The Eyes of the Dragon thinking it's the only book of his my daughter would read (that's one reason he wrote it, so his own daughter would read one of his books, funny that), but I haven't started and read all of any of his books in a while.
TNT has made several, eight, of his short stories into hour long shows and started last week with my favorite of all King stories, Battleground, about a hitman attacked by little green army men.  It's awesome and TNT translated it so wonderfully to a visual medium.  Only visual, the entire 55 minutes it aired (no commercials at all) the only word uttered was "Ow!"  Entirely visual, and very well done.
This week was another favorite, The End of the Whole Mess and a reminder of how hard some of King's work is to read.  It's not high literature, he freely admits that himself, but it's well written and he's got a knack of reaching into your brain, into your soul, pulling out what hurts, what frightens you the most and holding it up, into brightest sunlight so you can see it in every detail.  Even some details you missed the last time. 
Being a good bit older than I was when I first read these stories now I understand why things that disturbed me in some unformed way then did so.  I know what makes them scary, why they hurt and just how badly they can cut.  I'm pretty sure I don't like knowing these things, but they did make me the person I am and I like that most of the time.

Astounding

I used to think Mary Poppins was the bomb when it came to stuff in her bag.  She could reach in that carpetbag of hers and pull out anything, including a full size hat rack, truly awesome.  Man, she's nothing on Jack Bauer, he's been "dead" for a while now and he's got all of the latest, coolest, spy-type tech toys in that bag he's got slung over his shoulder.  Did the Tooth Fairy leave them there while it was hidden in his house between seasons?