Suspense Magazine Interviews Stephen King

If you could solve any mystery for yourself, for example: Jack the Ripper, Atlantis, etc, what would it be?

I’d like to know–for sure–that Oswald acted alone in the assassination of JFK.

I recently saw the special 10 questions for the Dalai Lama, who would you like to be able to sit with and talk to, alive or dead?

I suppose I’d like to have a conversation with H.P. Lovecraft, although I suspect I would be disappointed with what he had to say. Still…the curiosity is there.

What is on your iPod right now?

Most recently, a rock group called James (Hey Ma is the name of the album). Also Coldplay, the new Al Green Album, The Raspberries’ live reunion album, the new Randy Newman album (Harps and Angels), the Hold Steady, and a great record called Real Animal by Alejandro Escovedo. But there are thousands of songs on there. Oddly enough–or maybe not–what I keep going back to are gospel songs by Mavis Staples and the Staples Singers.

You helped coach your son’s little league team to the Maine Little League Championship in 1989, which is something he will never forget, can you recall your most memorable moment when you played Little League?

The Maine State Championship game, which we won with a walk-off home run in extra innings. The crowd, as they say, went crazy.

If you were not a writer, what profession would you do?

Long-haul trucker.

Since you play guitar for The Rock Bottom Remainders, what guitar player or band would you like to jump on stage with for one show?

AC/DC, of course.

What is the worst job you have ever had?

When I washed industrial laundry for New Franklin Laundry in Bangor, twice a week (in summer) we used to get the table linen from Testa’s of Bar Harbor. Testa’s is a famous seafood restaurant, where the elite meet. But the elite never saw those napkins and tablecloths after a hot summer day in the back of a laundry pick-up truck. They stank, which was bad, and they were squirming with maggots. But I washed em, and by God they came out clean.

How relieved where you when the Boston Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004?  And I live in Los Angeles, so thanks for Manny Ramirez! I’m still waiting for the Minnesota Vikings to win the Super Bowl!

I miss Manny. He really has fun playing the game, and you gotta like that. As for the Series win in 2004–I’ve got a tee-shirt that says NOW I CAN DIE IN PEACE, and that pretty well sums it up.

In looking back, which one of your published works would you pull off  the shelves?

I did pull one. It’s called Rage (under the Bachman pseudonym). I’ve never regretted doing that.

What is one item that is on your Bucket List, you have yet to complete?

I guess I’ve done it all–I’m lucky. Becoming a grandfather might have been the last one. I’d like to win a major literary prize, but–probably lucky for me–that’s optional.

 

Clever Elevator/Staircase Ad

Here is an elevator ad for Becel margarine from Istanbul, Turkey that states, “Take action. Love your heart.” 

 

The realistic looking staircase is actually a “trompe-l’oeil” (trick of the eye) painting on the rear wall of the elevator.  You can click on the picture to expand the image.

 

Stephen King On His Love For ‘Prison Break’

Here’s a truth that should be self-evident: There can be a big difference between what you think is great and what you actually like. When it comes to TV, the finest series currently on offer is — in your Uncle Stevie’s humble opinion — Breaking Bad (not AMC’s other series, Mad Men, which is just soap opera with a great retro feel). But when it comes to what I’d walk over my grandmother not to miss, the answer is Prison Break. Simple as that. I love Prison Break madly, deeply, truly.

Before you rush to catch up on everything you’ve missed, let me warn you: If you picked up the first three seasons on DVD and watched them all at once, your frakkin’ head would explode. I’ve scoped the entire run, and even I have only the dimmest idea of what’s going on. And that doesn’t detract from my pleasure even a little bit. Here’s a rough summary of Our Story So Far, concocted not with help from the usual Internet sources but from my own little Break-obsessed head. EW fact-checkers will try to fix this. I won’t let them.

So okay, there are these two brothers, Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield (I don’t remember why they don’t have the same last name). Linc gets convicted of murdering the Evil President’s brother, and is sentenced to death at Fox Mulder Memorial Prison (or maybe it’s Fox River; I know there’s a Fox in there somewhere because the show’s on Fox). Michael commits a robbery so he can also go to prison and bust his brother out. The escape plan is tattooed on Michael’s body. (It gets lasered off in season 4: the whole thing, all at once. Ouch!) Michael befriends the warden, who’s making a Taj Mahal out of Popsicle sticks, and falls in love with the prison nurse, Sara. In season 3, Sara gets her head chopped off, but it’s mistaken identity and she comes back in season 4.

With me so far?

Anyway, Michael and Linc escape with a bunch of assorted fruits and nuts. The most over-the-top is T-Bag, a degenerate Night of the Hunter-type psycho brilliantly played by Robert Knepper. There’s also this one guy who’s a few fries short of a Happy Meal and wants to live in a painting. Of Holland, I think. (He jumps off a water tower.)

The second season is the best, a Sam Peckinpah shoot-out with the escapees looking for some money buried by — I think — mythic skyjacker D.B. Cooper. They are chased by a badass prison guard named Bellick and a pill-popping FBI lunatic named Alex Mahone. Mahone killed and buried a guy in his backyard, but that’s another story. (Oh, and T-Bag lost a hand and had a vet do a transplant, but it didn’t work; the hand now looks like something swiped from a department-store dummy.)

Here’s the part that kills me: All the survivors except Linc wind up in a Panamanian prison! Yes! It’s called Sona (Spanish for ”Fox Mulder”). This is the strike-shortened third season, and it’s gotta be the sweatiest 13 episodes of TV ever filmed. As an added taste treat, the swag-bellied Bellick (Wade Williams) stumbles through the first two in a pair of filthy undershorts. Not a yummy picture.

Needless to say, there’s another escape. T-Bag gets lost in the desert and is forced to chow down on his running buddy. When The Bag finally catches a ride, the driver sizes up his nausea and inquires, ”What’s wrong, man? Eat some bad Mexican?” Classy! Well, you know what they say: If you can’t eat the one you love, eat the one you’re with.

Turns out the president’s brother was murdered by a shadowy outfit called The Company, and now Linc, Michael, the resurrected Sara, and their cohorts must take the bad guys down, including dragon lady Susan B. Anthony (sometimes known as Gretchen — don’t ask).

What makes this so much damned fun are bright exteriors, crisp cutting, outrageous action sequences, and, most of all, the acting ensemble. I especially enjoy William Fichtner as Alex Mahone — Fichtner’s probably the best character actor on TV. These guys play it straight, so the audience does the same. There’s also a crazy existential subtext: No matter what these hapless escapees do or how fast they run, they always end up…booya!…back in prison.

For season 5, I hope it’s a gulag in Siberia. (By Stephen King for Entertainment Weekly)

Get Michael Chabon’s Maps and Legends For Only $12

Michael Chabon’s sparkling first book of nonfiction is a love song in sixteen parts — a series of linked essays in praise of reading and writing, with subjects running from ghost stories to comic books, Sherlock Holmes to Cormac McCarthy. Throughout, Chabon energetically argues for a return to the thrilling, chilling origins of storytelling, rejecting the false walls around “serious” literature in favor of a wide-ranging affection. His own fiction, meanwhile, is explored from the perspective of personal history: post-collegiate desperation sparks his debut, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh; procrastination and doubt reveal the way toward Wonder Boys; a love of comics and a basement golem combine to create the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay; and an enigmatic Yiddish phrasebook unfurls into The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.

You can order this beautiful book for half price ($12) HERE for a limited time!

Original Locations of 15 Mega-Chains

In this era of strip malls and outlet stores it’s getting difficult to tell one suburban community from another. Some people might like the fact that you can hardly tell your hometown from a city across the country or even in another part of the world, but it wasn’t always like this. All these ubiquitous chains started somewhere with only one location, so if you ever wanted to know where to go to shake your fist in the air to curse the strip-malling of America, these 15 locations would be a good start. (From Bootsnall.com)

 

Brand Colors

Choosing the right dominant color for your brand is crucial. This color should appear on all your promotional materials, including your logo and product packaging. As much as possible, the color you choose should set you apart, work with your industry and image, and tie to your brand promise. It should also take into account color psychology, which is fairly complex. Colors can mean different things depending on the culture, situation and industry. However, in U.S. advertising at least, studies suggest some universal meanings.