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Mol Smith
Film Maker. Writer. Digital Artist
MOL'S BLOG
September 2022
The Dying Light
After surviving for nearly 71 years on Planet Earth: smoking, drinking, working hard, creating, and falling in love with several beautiful women, my ageing biology and ill health have caught up with me. It is disabling my physical stamina and ability to do many things I was able to do a few years ago. It now denies me the stamina required to make movies.
As I cannot live without creating, I have switched my attention and focus to fiction novel writing. I hope to stylise my books in a similar manner as I try to achieve in my film-making, namely: sex, conflict, humour, and surprises galore which hopefully will make my novels stand out from the same cliche story-telling that seems to be awash in the mainstream.
As I write this, I am currently completing my 4th proof run of my first novel hoping to complete that pains-taking task by the end of September to release my book in October.
I hope to start writing the sequel immediately afterwards,
OLDER BLOGS
March. 26th. 2019
The betrayal of Amazon Video Direct
After over 2 years of placing movies on the Amazon Prime platform, myself and many other Independent film makers
are discovering Amazon is removing our movies from their platform. The word is that they only wanted Indie films
until they could create sufficient films of their own making to buy time to compete effectively with Netflix. This means folks preferring the less censored story telling and films are finding it increasingly harder to watch films they like online.
Our solution for the time being is we have launched our very own streaming channel here: onview cinema.
It is £5.00 a month, but once you have seen all our films, you can simply cancel the subscription. Its better value for money for you and we at least get more than 6p a film watched which is all we got from Amazon.
Nov. 28th. 2018
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The illusion of being treated for a disease related to smoking
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So... all my life (well, since the age of 14 years old) I have smoked cigarettes. I now, of course, have lung disease. It was diagnosed about 7 years ago. The air sacs in my lung are greatly destroyed. My fault of course for becoming an addict. And... I love smoking. Shortness of breath, no stamina, but low and behold my oxygen levels in my blood remain high at 98%. They... the doctors... measure it and I have similar devices to do the same.
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The issue is that this measurement is absolutely useless as I continue to smoke. The doctors and nurses continue to monitor my blood oxygen levels, and I am honest and tell them I still smoke - like a trooper!
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The illusion of being cared for is this.
Your oxygen levels can be as high as you like in your blood stream but it does not mean your body tissue can actually use that Oxygen. A blood cell which also contains a molecule of Carbon Monoxide (a gas given off by burning tobacco) cannot release the oxygen it might carry into your body tissue. The oxygen molecule is locked and bound to the Carbon Monoxide molecule and also locked into the red blood cell. This locking up of the oxygen remains until the red blood cell dies.
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So, measuring your oxygen levels while you continue to smoke - as the doctors and nurses do at the GP surgery - is a waste of their time and yours (if you continue to smoke). So, my question is: who are they kidding, themselves or you?
Nov. 22nd. 2018
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I've been a smoker since I was fourteen years old. I still smoke today, despite having incurable lung disease. It's too late to give up as my air sacs are irrevocably destroyed. The addiction is complete and total. However, I decided a week ago to try and reduce the amount of Carbon Monoxide in my blood stream as this further hampers my physical activity.
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I've tried various Vapes but they make me cough profusely and I also believe sucking on a stage smoking machine (which these are in miniature) is probably as harmful as smoking real cigarettes.
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A week ago I started using a new device which does not burn tobacco but chars it instead. It's the IQOS 2.4 plus produced by Phillip Morris, the company who produce Marlborough cigarettes. You can read more about these heat not burn devices by clicking on the IQOS link.
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The IQOS 2.4 plus purports to provide 6 minutes of smoke time per HEET (the cigarette replacement sticks), or 16 inhalations. These HEETs come in three flavours: Amber, Gold, and Blue - the last being a menthol tasting blend.
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So, what's my opinion of these alternative smoking devices and products? Firstly, and my biggest bug-bear is my device works for just four minutes of the advertised six minutes and you get about 10 - 12 puffs before the HEET is finished. This means I find myself literally racing to smoke each HEET whereas as a roll-up
A SOLUTION..?
Finger Pulse Oximeter measures Oxygen Levels
smoker, I find smoking the real thing a more relaxing experience and not a frantic race against the clock. The HEETs themselves are miserly small with most of the tobacco stick being filter elements with only a very tiny tobacco plug at the end.
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Having spent 3 billion dollars on research and development, Phillip Morris could have been less greedy and actually have developed these devices so the stick was longer and burnt for say 8 minutes with up to 20 puffs, which would have made them a perfect alternative to real and very damaging cigarette smoking.
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However, if you are a cigarette smoker, I find the device the closest thing to real smoking with - I suspect - far less damaging consequences as they deliver about 95% less smoke and particles and almost zero Carbon
Monoxide! And, amazingly, with a little bit of restraint daily, I have used them to effectively reduce my smoking from around twenty-five roll ups per day to less than ten. The number of HEETs I smoke per day varies but averages out at around eight. If Phillip Morris would only increase the amount of time one has to smoke the existing advertised sixteen puffs, I would probably swap altogether and I'm sure they would continue to make an enormous profit. Are you listening Phillip Morris?
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