12 July 2017 - I Shudder To Think

Ola my sexy little blog-reading bitches!  It's the Baz here to pollute your eyes as well as your ears.

For my first blog post I've decided to focus on a subject close to my heart and regale you with a story from my weekend.  Settle down at the back, I am of course talking about video streaming services.  More specifically I'm talking about specialist horror streaming site Shudder.

I first became aware of Shudder a month or two after it launched in the UK courtesy of our glorious leader who I suspect was probably subscriber number 4 or such like.  I signed up shortly before we recorded our Baz v Rob Zombie show as most of the movies we were covering on the show were available on the site.

Now it has to be admitted that the UK version of Shudder does not have  a huge range of titles available (it is improving every month however) but those that are on it are generally of a high quality and unavailable on other platforms and their selection of short films is genuinely excellent.

My main complaint however was that it was not available via the Amazon Fire Stick which is one of the leading TV add-on devices in the UK at present.  To be frank I found the situation baffling.  I then found out fairly recently that you could add Shudder as a "Channel" to your Amazon Prime subscription allowing it to be accessed via the Fire Stick, so last Saturday I sat down to try and link my Shudder account to my Amazon account.  

Turns out "problematic" doesn't even begin to describe that process.  "Physically impossible" is in fact a better description as the only way of doing it is to cancel your original Shudder subscription and take out a new one via Amazon.

By the time I discovered this fact hidden way down in the FAQs page on Shudder I was utterly apoplectic and stormed off to bed muttering about money-grabbing corporate whores and the like.

It appears however that the Amazon's invasive home technologies must have been monitoring my rantings because the very next morning I awoke to an email from Shudder proudly proclaiming the a new Shudder app had been added to Amazon's app store which would allow existing Shudder customers to access the service via the Fire Stick.  Mere minutes later I had downloaded it, stuck in my login details and was happily watching a skinless man making sheet-ruiningly sticky love to his surprisingly ungrateful girlfriend.  

Panic over, disaster averted and no-one had to die.

If you've not checked out Shudder in the UK I would highly suggest you do so as it's getting better all the time and it's now available on just about every platform you could wish for.

See y'all when you're less dressed!

Baz.

11 July 2017 - The Power of Updates Compels you

Welcome to the Blog Under the Stairs!!

Well hello dear listeners/readers!! 

It's all systems go at the moment over at TPUTS HQ with the planning of our Summer Top 10 series of shows now beyond the planning phase and into movie viewing and scheduling the recordings!! The first episode is less than 2 weeks out and for 11 episodes we will be doing what they call the impossible, in a recording idea and schedule that might finally turn me into Sam Neill at the start of In the Mouths of Madness!!

All Work And No Play..yadda yadda yadda Sutter Cane and such like!!

All Work And No Play..yadda yadda yadda Sutter Cane and such like!!

If all that wasn't enough...we have more Baz v Horror to plan as well!! 

The very first Baz v The Masters of Horror isn't a million miles away either as The Baz certainly has a date with a double bill of macabre Miike madness in his diary!!

I'm not sure what will happen ladies and gents, sufficed to say that I think I speak for the entire class when I say that Baz v Audition will be an experience we might never hear again!!

In the meantime, I had the fantastic opportunity to guest over at The Little Pod of Horrors last week and verbally gushed for 2 hours on my favourite horror movie of 2016...The Neon Demon!! 

It's a movie that sparked a lot of debate on the TPUTS facebook page but I have remained mostly silent about...until now!! When that episode comes out you will hear the mental anguish and joy that has broken and fixed my brain since my first viewing back in October 2016 and the synapse threads that are still tangling themselves round the cold case mind-map board of my psyche.

A huge thanks to Boz for having me on the show and keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook page and other social media's for details when that show drops!!

We have some cool news on the horizon with regards to a potential live appearance of both myself and The Baz at an upcoming event which we are still confirming details on...however when I know something you can bet your sweet ass that you will to!! It's a fun concept and if the stars align then we will be there!!

To join our mailing list for further updates all you need to do is enter your email in the form below!!

This entry of the Blog Under the Stairs was written while listening to Reuben and their quirky single track Freddy Kreuger.

Until the next post, wherever you are, whatever the timezone is and whatever you're up to, please take care of yourselves....This is Duncan McLeish typing from Under the Stairs...Signing Off.

26 June 2017 - Summer Top 10 2017

Welcome to the Blog Under the Stairs!!

It's that time of year again folks!! When the sun is out at it's brightest, clothing is at a minimum and every pale skinned horror fan hides indoors counting down the weeks until the leaf colour turns brown and the carved pumpkins adorns the streets!! 

That's Right...IT'S SUMMER!!!

I hate the heat and hate summer so much that I usually set myself some horribly long recording schedule under the guise of the annual TPUTS Top 10 Series...but maybe this year I've bitten off more than I can chew?

2017's Top 10 Series is soo broad in scope and will be prone to volatile outbursts from guest hosts and horror fans alike. With so much controversy at stake there is literally no way I could pass up this fiendishly wicked idea!!

With the decade known as 1970's, horror fans were truly blessed with some of the greatest examples the genre has ever offered up. Unlike any other show which would create a top 10 list of movies being not truly representative of each year in the decade, TPUTS is making sure that every year will have a chance, however only two movies will go forward from each year to the eventual Top 10 list.

My lizard brain calls this the Noah's Ark rule where the movies leave each year two by two!!

I have selected 5 podcasters and given them two years each from the decade!! They will join me on each episode and bring their 5 favourite horror movies from that year to compete with my favourite 5 (if my guest chooses the same movie as me then I will choose another to ensure 10 movies will be discussed on each episode), whereupon we will converse, debate and throw down until only two movies leave each episode.

At the end we will have a list of 20 movies which which will be scored by all 5 guest hosts and myself and tallied up to give the ultimate TPUTS Noah's Ark Rules Top 10 70's Horror movies tp be discussed on a massive Roundtable 1970's Horror Podcast.

But it doesn't stop there...oh no!! 

Each listener will also get to score the final top 20 list and we will create the ultimate TPUTS Listeners Noah's Ark Rules Top 10 70's Horror movies!!

But it still doesn't end there...oh no...oh no...oh no!! 

I will compile the scores from both the hosts and listener lists to create the Definitive TPUTS Noah's Ark Rules Top 10 70's Horror movies!!

It's going to be rough, it's going to be hard but above all...it's going to be WAR!!

Shows begin late July to a TPUTS feed near you!!

To join our mailing list all you need to do is enter your email in the form below!!

This entry of the Blog Under the Stairs was written while listening to FM-84 and their amazing Synthwave track Mainframe.

Until the next post, wherever you are, whatever the timezone is and whatever you're up to, please take care of yourselves....This is Duncan McLeish typing from Under the Stairs...Signing Off.

Duncan McLeish
4 June 2017 - A New Hope

Welcome to the first post in the Blog Under the Stairs!!

AArrgghhh so this is actually now a thing?!

It has been my ambition, for quite some time, to do a spot of additional content on this website. Now the cynical or those that like to adhere to the stereo-type that all Scots are frugal with their money, might assume that this blog is purely to get my monies worth out of the hosting costs on the website...but as loathed as I am to burst that bubble, I just like the idea of both myself and The Baz doing something a bit different in the TPUTS world.

So the Blog Under the Stairs, as it's to be known, will be the vehicle in which we share our thoughts on things we've watched, trends we see in the genre, thing's that we feel need to be addressed, under appreciated topics/movies/music & of course plenty of other nonsense that pops into our alcohol fuelled heads.

NEW NEWSLETTER?

One cool idea that sprung to mind was the inclusion of a TPUTS Newsletter which you can sign up to. Every 2 weeks you will get a update by way of our newsletter telling you about what is happening Under the Stairs, upcoming shows, competitions and any new Merch that we are planning on selling.

To join the mailing list all you need to do is enter your email in the form below!!

This entry of the Blog Under the Stairs was written while listening to Brian Reitzell & Shirely Manson - "Queen of the Bored" (American Gods OST)

Until the next post, wherever you are, whatever the timezone is and whatever you're up to, please take care of yourselves....This is Duncan McLeish typing from Under the Stairs...Signing Off.

Duncan McLeish