Since I started the topic, I thought I should lay down my cards.
I tried
After Dark. For about $40 per year, I was expecting something more substantial than 15 pages. Actually, it's only 14 interior pages, but Premiere Radio Networks counts the FRONT COVER as page one. I'm serious. This despite the fact the cover is nothing but art work, versus, say page one in a general newspaper. Perhaps they count the back cover as Page 16. The back cover for some reason, has an index of the last 32 or so C2C shows with dates aired and guest and host names and topic. Who would need this old information as part of a newsletter is anyone's guess. It would be much better to use the back cover for a story. Oh wait, they are showing you a past shows index to advertise
Streamlink, to which you can become a paying member and listen to those indexed above.
The
page count wouldn't be an issue with me (pardon the pun) if it were 40 or 50 pages, but when it is only 15 and page one is the cover, I feel a little disgusted and ripped off.
Page 2, the inside front cover, is reserved for Mr. Noory's thoughts. It didn't do anything for me.
The inside back cover is half filled with the tail end of a Lex Lonehood interview, while the other half of the last interior page is a subscription form and the magazine's publication information.
So, if you skip Noory's balderdash, we've gone from 14 pages to 12 and a half.
It's a kind of reverse Darwinian mechanics the more you investigate.
(Remember, it's 39.95 a year for 12 issues.)
On any given page of the remaining 12.5 pages, one-quarter and often up to one-half of the page will be graphics.
You see where this is going. We are quickly headed to an insubstantial 6 or 7 page newsletter, charging magazine subscription rates, perhaps blaming it on postage rates while I blame greed.
I won't go into detail about some of the sub par writing.
It's understandable if you are curious about
After Dark, because it's a really good idea that could be done much more effectively, but you really should see a sample copy before shelling out $40. I looked on the website and couldn't find a way to order just a single copy and it was my loss. I'm sure there is a reason they don't sell single copies, because if you paid $3.30 for a single issue, you would feel like an idiot and order no more. They are counting on dissatisfied customers who subscribed to not cancel, because it is human nature to let things ride and consider it a lesson learned. I'm not a typical human.
It took 6-8 weeks for my first issue to arrive which was the August 2007 issue. Compared to when I received my first issue, it was actually the previous month's issue, as if they were unloading remainders. Within a couple of days I received the September 2007 issue. What I am saying is that had I decided to cancel my subscription after August's issue, it would have been impossible to stop September from coming, as it was already on the way.
In no time, it seemed, I received the October 2007 issue. I was TRYING to like the poor thing, but found two or three of the writers especially irritating (Not Lex, BTW) and noticed more and more how VERY LITTLE written material was included.
After I received the third issue, I decided I had been a sucker and called and canceled the remainder of my subscription, which was 9 more issues. The operator was a rude little sprite, probably getting complaints all day about this lame newsletter.
Why did I subscribe? I thought it might be a neat way to read about the paranormal and the strange and not have to suffer through Noory. I was also drawn in by the art work presented on C2C's website for the then "current" issue- July 2007, thinking I would frame that particular cover. Of course, they waited so long to process my order that I never received that cover. They were also giving away a CD of an interview by Art Bell. I was interested in hearing the interview with some old guy who was "down on his luck" and had all this information about the Philadelphia Experiment. George said if you subscribed during this time, they were going to give this gentleman financial assistance for every
After Dark subscription ordered.
The CD was an interview by Art Bell with Al Bielek. In my opinion, it was wasn't worth recording or preserving, let alone given away to induce subscriptions. As I recall, I had to pay some hyped up extra postage for the stupid CD, so it was not really FREE.
If ghosts are your thing, I suggest you try TAPS Paramag. It's more expensive. $56 instead of 40, but is a real magazine and light years ahead in quality for the extra $16.
www.tapsparamag.comIf UFOs are your thing, I don't have any recommendations, as I am of the breed who who has been in long time contact with James Wales, a disciple of Laura Mundo, who was a disciple of George Adamski. I was actually in touch with Laura Mundo just before she passed, and she sent me some wild stuff on how to contact the space people. (I like retro UFOs and Venusians who blend in with us and smoke cigars simply by holding them in their hands. I'm not really a Greys kind of guy.) However, I'm sure someone else can recommend a more mainstream UFO publication. I'm still in Rev. Ivan Stang's debt for turning me on to Laura Mundo through Stang's
High Weirdness by Mail book.
Btw, Mr. Wales' UFO
hard copy newsletter is
FREE, as C2C's should be, since
After Dark resembles nothing more than an ad brochure from BEST BUY.
Most of
After Dark's problems are easily remedied. Why they don't fix it is beyond my understanding.
I've bought several books over the years from various guests, my favorite being Rosemary Ellen Guiley's and Deepak Chopra's.
Bought a flashlight from CCrane, the 7 LED, 3 C battery model. So far so good on that. It's about 5 years old and is so bright I can not look into it. It's a translucent red housing and resembles a pornographic ribbed condom, but I can't complain about the operation. It was VERY over priced though, as it was purchased at a somewhat bottle-necked gate of newly available LED flashlights.
Due to technological advances, current LEDs are almost
twice as bright while operating on
less power than previous designs and the brightness power ratio keeps improving every year. It's like buying a computer in a way. As soon as that LED flashlight is in your pocket, you can bet there are new LED bulbs in the wyrks and your new torch is already outdated. But you have to take the plunge sometime, and now you have several cheaper options other than CCrane.
I'm selling my three issues of
After Dark and the Al Bielek interview for $10.00 + postage and handling. Anyone interested?
(crickets chirping)
That's what I thought.
(edit note: I canceled after THREE issues, not four, and have changed it accordingly above. In my recollection of the traumatic event, I apparently added an additional agonizing issue. Also, I finally located a small, low resolution file of the July 2007 issue that I wanted to frame. I found it at the Internet Archive,
www.archive.org, which if any of you are unaware of it, allows you, via archives, to "look back in time" at many websites that have been deleted or changed. It can be hit or miss with many image files, but I lucked out.)
The artwork appeals to my aesthetics regarding dark art and humor:
Nightmares: The Horror In Your Head issue of After Dark
? July 2007 Premier Radio Networks
Low resolution and size Fair Use
