Lost Carcosa

Lets see… How can I tie in trailer for the new Star Trek movie into this Lovecraft/Pulp/Cthulhu based blog?  Well, Geeks of Doom does mention a Cthulhu like beast that Kirk ends up fighting!  How bout that?

Actually, Star Trek (the original series) was for the most part a pulp story, or set of stories.  Captain Kirk and his adventures were pretty much 1940’s pulp thrown into space.  Can you really get any better than that?

Check out the awesome trailer, and read the analysis at Geeks of Doom!

Philly.com has posted up a rather good looking list of horror movies and shows on DVD, both old and new, along with a short description of each.   The DVDs are sorted into categories such as Classic, TV, Asian, European, and English-speaking.  Personally, I want to see “The Machine Girl”!

Read the whole list at Philly.com

Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs make a great pair in the movie industry.  At least I seem to think so.  They do a great job creating entertaining movies together, but it looks like Combs has turned down playing a part in Gordon’s adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Thing at the Doorstep”.

Stuart was like, ‘Yeah, I know, being in bed with beautiful women all day, it sounds tough, and I went, ‘You know, Stuart, actually, it is. I’m married, and I don’t wanna do that.’ It’s not part of my world. It was just too much, it was like, ‘And then they’re writhing, and then they’re humping some more, and then they build to a climax, and then they climax, and sweat…” I wish him all the best with that one, but not every project’s right for me.  

~Combs

You can read Comb’s thoughts over at Arrow in the Head News.

I just watched a French movie called “In My Skin” and wow… I’m not sure just what I can say about this one.  “In My Skin” is a disturbing movie, both in imagry and psychologically.  It is a story of trying to connect to one’s self, and maintaining a semblance of control.  When someone loses control over the world around them, that person may go to extreme measures to regain a feeling of control over something.

IMDB says:

A woman grows increasingly fascinated with her body after suffering a disfiguring accident.

The Playground says a bit more:

After drunkenly gashing her leg open at a party, Esther becomes obsessed with her body and it’s perceived imperfections. She begins to poke, prod, cut, gouge and mutilate her body on a journey to self discovery.

Its hard to say much more than that without really giving too much away.  Even with all the cringing I did, I thoroughly enjoyed this film.  It says a lot without really saying a whole lot.  The acting is good, and imagry is great, and the raw feeling is powerful. Basically, what needs to be said is add it to your NetFlix queue now.  Unless you can’t stomach blood and self inflicted wounds done really slowly and deliberately.  Then you might want to pass.

IMDB: Dans Ma Peau

NetFlix: In My Skin

How does one find any joy in life after being completely cut off from their child? Or find any self worth when the child they love is being told that she is better off with out him in her life? How does one find the heart to carry on?

I guess thats three questions…

What would H.P. Lovecraft do? (WWHPLD?) Maybe he’s not the best of role models having been quite the racist misogynist. He’d probably say its best to just shut out the world.

How about Robert E. Howard?

Howard’s writings reveal that he planned to go out while young and in the prime of health. Friends recall him defending the act of suicide as a valid alternative as early as eighteen years old, while many of his stories and poems have a suicidal gloom and intensity that seem prescient in hindsight, describing such an end not as a tragedy but as a release from hell on earth. -Wikipedia-

hmm… maybe not. He took a .38 to his head.

Maybe Ambrose Bierce? Mr. Bierce decided that being a gringo in revolutionary Mexico was a great way to go as you can see to his last letter to his niece:

Good-bye — if you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico — ah, that is euthanasia! -Ambrose Bierce- -Wikipedia-

Theres always Iraq. My only reason for not going is gone. I have no one here to worry over me, and no one to keep myself safe for. It sounds tempting, quite tempting actually… except for the heat… and I’d fall really far behind on my daily web comic reading over there. The bullets? meh…

So, what would Poe do? That one I’m pretty sure I can answer.

Bottoms up! Not a bad idea, but it tends to lower my scores on the Physical Fitness tests.

Arthur Machen seems to have the healthiest of answers. After the death of his wife, Machen, with the support of a friend, joined The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. While this didn’t last long, a sudden change of career to that of acting, and with it much traveling, led to a second happy marriage.

Sounds good, but I like Massachusetts too much to move, and I have too many bills to give up the salary of my computer career.

So whats a Joe gonna do? I have no idea. I guess that leaves scouring the web for more Lovecraft and friends news, info, and historical tidbits to post on LostCarcosa.net!