I’m having a slow kind of day and don’t know what to do with myself. My painting is going nowhere fast and yet I need to do something. The colours don’t blend properly and the paint doesn’t end up where I want it to be on the paper in front of me. Everyone else seems really into their work and not up for talking. I don’t want to disturb them, but I don’t want to carry on doing what I’m doing.

I wander downstairs to the printmaking studio. My tutor is always an inspiration and if anyone else is having problems I advise them to come down here. It’s not my time to be in here but my tutor smiles and says hello. I sit and tell him that I’m stuck and don’t know what to do, all I’ve got is a book of photos of the landscape near my friend’s parent’s house in the Yorkshire dales.

My tutor hands me a screen and talks me through a technique whereby printing inks are put on the screen quite haphazardly and then pulled through onto paper with a squeegee. I like the sound of this and at a loss for anything else to do, I immediately take up the idea.

About two hours later I lay my prints out on a table so that I can overview my work. My painting tutor enters the studio and looks over the prints. “I wish you could get this freedom and fluidity into your painting,”he says. I do too.

Back in the painting studio I roll out some paper and pin it to a board, about five feet long and three feet wide. I squeeze out some paints onto a palette and take a big brush. These are going to be the biggest, loosest landscapes I’ve ever created.

Before I go, Stu I checked out that enigin PLC design website that you recommended and it was totally helpful on my last paper, thanks again!

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My first encounter with the erstwhile teen television show My So-Called Life was reading a novelization of the TV series that I had checked out of my local library as a teenager. Needles to say, it was great fun, and I made sure that I gave the show itself a few hours of my viewing pleasure. The show was surprisingly good, too. Set in the aptly-named Liberty High, the show revolves around a group of extremely self-aware and precocious teenagers, and dealt with a lot of topical and important issues, such as drug use, alcoholism, homophobia and violence. One of the great things about My So-Called Life was the way that these issues were actually introduced and dealt with. An effort was made to weave them into the over-arching plot of the show, ensuring that they were dealt with in a realistic manner. I found this very refreshing, as it’s common for shows aged at teens to sensationalize such issues, or deal with them in a ‘one-off’ basis, forgetting them after a single episode. This, of course, has the consequence of trivializing large and affecting problems, and it’s great to see a show such as My So-Called Life avoid this problem.

Unfortunately, like all good shows, My So-Called Life came to a premature end, having been axed after a single season despite critical acclaim and the fact that the first season had ended on a nail-biting cliffhanger. There were a few reasons for the show’s demise, and not all of them had to do with ratings, which were, unfortunately, not so great anyway. Claire Danes, star of the show, might be best known now for her work in films such as Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet—the reason for this is that she expressed her desire to leave television work to try to make her name in the film industry. Obviously, without the seminal character, it was difficult for the show to keep on its legs. Curiously, the show’s cancellation resulted in an online debate, with fans hotly contesting the reasons behind the show’s demise. Not a bad reaction for a show that apparently rated poorly, is it?

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However, while shows such as the X-Files found tremendous success and endured for many seasons, American Gothic had no such luck. The show was axed in 1996—after only a single season had elapsed. Rightly so, this angered fans, who were forced to see another show end part-way into its promised plot-arcs.

Perhaps it was the darkness of the show’s material that contributed to its early demise. Main character Sheriff Black was, after all, a murderous rapist—despite his uneasy ability to appear charming and likeable. Themes such as sexual assault, trauma, and suicide also feature in the show, perhaps alienating some viewers.

However, there’s no doubt that creator Shaun Cassidy and director Sam Raimi are talented individuals—as are the starring characters of the show, of course—and a quick hunt around online shows that between them they have produced a body of work that fans of American Gothic might be interested in.

Shaun Cassidy is credited as the producer of shows such as The Agency, Cold Case, Invasion, and, according to Wikipedia, the forthcoming Inseparable and Missing You. Sam Raimi, probably needs less of an introduction, having been involved in such classics as The Evil Dead films, Spiderman, the recent Drag Me to Hell, and 90s television series Hercules and Xena. With such a wide-ranging and varied body of work, American Gothic fans can hopefully find something else created, directed, or produced by these two ingenious individuals that is well-matched to their tastes.

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I don’t know exactly how many episodes they actually made but I think I must have seen most (if not all) of them. I can also remember getting to watch the film of it as well (‘Munster, Go Home’) when it came on television. Someone in this forum mentions what a good idea it would be for them to make a new movie of it. Personally, I really hope they don’t; remember how ‘The Adams Family’ turned out, it just wasn’t the same anymore…

Besides, how could you ever try and replace any of those wonderful actors in the original show? Fred Gwynne was excellent as Herman and Al Lewis made a great Grandpa (sorry, that is a great ‘Grandpa’ not a great-grandpa). However, for me, the star of the show was always the beautiful Yvonne de Carlo. I think that my first great crush was Lily Munster; what a babe! Mortica Adams was attractive but Lily always had a warmth about her.

Their house was pretty cool as well. I can remember that they had some kind of creature living under the stairs that would stick its head out and breathe fire sometimes. Every room was coated with a thick layer of dust and Lily Munster could often be seen draping extra cobwebs over furniture and fittings. Because the show was filmed in black and white it made the whole thing look quite dark and Gothic. In fact, I don’t think that it would have looked half as good in colour; another very good reason not to make a modern film of it!

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When I go into a shop and hold a door open for someone it is unusual for them to say ‘thank you’. This is a little bit annoying but I have come up with the perfect solution!

All that you need to door in this situation is shut the door in their face. Once you have established that they are rude, simply let go of the door and allow it to close on them! It works even better on a windy day!!! Failing this (and if the victim is happy to play along) take their hand and shut the door on their fingers! This is bound to have an impact on them and they are going to think far more seriously about thanking people in the future.

Here is another little trick that I have come up with for people who insist on being rude… When you buy something in a shop, and the assistant makes you feel like you are being a nuisance for giving them your custom, pull a face at them! I have found this to be very effective and you never know quite what reaction you are going to get. Don’t make a half-assed attempt at it and simply stick your tongue out; really go for it and contort as many of your facial features as possible!!! When you have mastered this technique you can try adding to the effect by introducing sound. A good, loud ‘Duuuhhh!’, ‘Bletch!’ or ‘Uuuurph!’ works an absolute treat!

One final rant that I feel I must have is about Micrografting. I mean, why is it that we are in a society today where this is okay, and where you can ride the tube in rushhour and look around you and see about a dozen ads for different kinds of cosmetic routines. And now they are directing these ads towards barely-legal aged people. Really there is no cause why someone in thier twentys should even think about ’having to look years younger’, I mean don’t people have better things to spend thier time doing or worrying about these days? If they don’t then I really think we need to look at the primary issues

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