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San Francisco, 6:18 AM
Sun Nov 8
10 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #documentary more →

    Documentary Celebrates the Long Reach of Lovecraft's Tentacles

    Studying the Human Animal from a Zoological Perspective [NSFW]

    A Sneak Peek At Your Future Love Implants And Human-Robot Hybrids

    12-Year-Old Makes Zombie Feature: You're An Underachiever

    The Ancient Maya Predicted Bicycles and VCRs

    The Father of Parallel Worlds, Commemorated by Indie Rock

    Alan Moore Explains Why He Is the Comic Book Messiah

    Make Your Own Cloverfield, For ABC's Fucked-Future Documentary

    Leon Theremin: Rocker, Lover, KGB Agent

    Harlan Ellison Doc "Dreams With Sharp Teeth" Is All Bark, No Bite

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    Image of Rilo-Andy Rilo-Andy
    10/02/09

    In reply to Documentary Celebrates the Long Reach of Lovecraft's Tentacles
    Hi gang. I've been dying to jump into Lovecraft for my first time, but I don't know where to begin. Can anyone give some pointers as to where to start? Thanks a bunch!
     Reply
    crashedpc - unrein promoted this comment Rilo-Andy was starred Rilo-Andy was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    10/02/09

    @Rilo-Andy: If you want to get several specific books, get the Penguin classics. The Call of Cthulhu is a compilation with the eponymous story, as well as The Dunwich Horror and Shadow over Innsmouth, which are my all time favs. After that, get The Thing on the Doorstep, also published by Penguin.
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of gorehound gorehound
    10/02/09

    In reply to Documentary Celebrates the Long Reach of Lovecraft's Tentacles
    And now if Hollywood would actually make an intelligent treatment of HPL I Would be very happy
     Reply
    gorehound was starred gorehound was unstarred
    Image of phoghat phoghat
    10/02/09

    In reply to Documentary Celebrates the Long Reach of Lovecraft's Tentacles
    Gaiman's A study In Emerald which is a mashup of Sherlock Holmes and the Old Gods is one of my favorite short stories.
     Reply
    Edited by phoghat at 10/02/09 12:39 PM phoghat was starred phoghat was unstarred
    Image of evan7257 evan7257
    10/02/09

    In reply to Documentary Celebrates the Long Reach of Lovecraft's Tentacles
    What inspired Lovecraft? Well if you read the collection of his personal letters: racism and the discovery of relativity.
     Reply
    evan7257 was starred evan7257 was unstarred
    Image of Cthulhula Cthulhula
    10/03/09

    @evan7257:
    That is narrowing it down to its most sensational elements. You can find his actual influences in the work of Lord Dunsany, Poe and pretty much everything listed in his SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE.
    Sure he was racist, but look at his back ground.
    A white man from a well to do family in severe decline who lead a sheltered somewhat hermit like life. A life where the major influences on him were his mother and elderly aunts. It would be natural for him to be afraid and distrustful of the 'outsider'.
     Reply
    Trai_Dep promoted this comment Cthulhula was starred Cthulhula was unstarred
    Image of Trai_Dep Trai_Dep
    10/03/09

    @Cthulhula: Oops. Meant to approve just your comment and it sort of ricocheted up the chain. Good observation, tho!
    But so long as we're here: anyone want to expand on the impact of Relativity (Einstein's, right)? I'd think with the Elder Gods of Chaos, the discover of the sub-atomic universe would be more apt.
     Reply
    Trai_Dep was starred Trai_Dep was unstarred
    Image of Rasselas Rasselas
    10/02/09

    In reply to Documentary Celebrates the Long Reach of Lovecraft's Tentacles
    That reminds me: I keep meaning to read Michel Houellebecq's writing about Lovecraft and never getting around to it.
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of Annalee Newitz Annalee Newitz
    10/02/09

    @Rasselas: Me too. I have it sitting on my bookshelf. Mini-reading group?
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz was starred Annalee Newitz was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    10/02/09

    @Annalee Newitz: Smells like a very interesting discussion...
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of Ninevah Ninevah
    10/02/09

    @Rasselas: Title/ISBN?
     Reply
    crashedpc - unrein promoted this comment Ninevah was starred Ninevah was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    10/02/09

    @Ninevah: I'm guessing this:

    [www.amazon.com]
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    10/02/09

    In reply to Documentary Celebrates the Long Reach of Lovecraft's Tentacles
    Ahh, Joshi. Some people have issue with his editorial commentary, but I think the footnotes that he added to the Penguin releases of Lovecraft short stories were very enlightening.
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of Shojo Bat Shojo Bat
    10/02/09

    @crashedpc - unrein: Joshi's mountains of research (on the biography, the letters, the stories, the essays, and on and on and on) have definitely provided a foundation for the serious study of Lovecraft (and other weird writers). I just hope other scholars pick it up so that the field of weird criticism isn't so dominated by one voice.
     Reply
    crashedpc - unrein promoted this comment Shojo Bat was starred Shojo Bat was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    10/02/09

    @Shojo Bat: That reminds me, I need to finish this compilation by Robert Price. His short stories got repetitive after the first 15 or so, though. Hmm.
     Reply
    crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of Shojo Bat Shojo Bat
    10/02/09

    @crashedpc - unrein: I haven't made it to Price yet. I'm writing my dissertation on weird fiction, so I'm trying to read as much as I can. Oddly, I find some of the writers who immediately followed Lovecraft (Derleth and other fans) some of the most tedious. I think Joshi's newest book (which I also have not read) makes a similar argument.
     Reply
    crashedpc - unrein approved this comment Shojo Bat was starred Shojo Bat was unstarred
    Image of crashedpc - Haifisch crashedpc - Haifisch
    10/02/09

    @Shojo Bat: I'm no literary major (engineer yay), but IIRC Derleth was more about building onto the semi-established Lovecraftian mythos and it feels that he was trying to get his name all up in that.

    The Price book that I have, Blasphemies and Revelations, starts off with several good short stories, but after a while I started to notice that every single one of them ended with a "WHATTA TWIST" sentence/short paragraph. That got tiring after a while, especially since the "shocking" revelation was easily predictable after 5 stories.
     Reply
    Edited by crashedpc - Haifisch at 10/02/09 10:35 AM crashedpc - Haifisch was starred crashedpc - Haifisch was unstarred
    Image of FrankenPC FrankenPC
    10/02/09

    In reply to Documentary Celebrates the Long Reach of Lovecraft's Tentacles
    Awesome! Available on Netflix 10/13/09
     Reply
    crashedpc - unrein promoted this comment FrankenPC was starred FrankenPC was unstarred
    Image of farcast farcast
    09/21/09

    In reply to Studying the Human Animal from a Zoological Perspective [NSFW]
    The guy appears to be a shower, not a grower.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment farcast was starred farcast was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    09/21/09

    @farcast: Yes, he does. Nice tan, though!
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Shadowdagger Shadowdagger
    09/21/09

    In reply to Studying the Human Animal from a Zoological Perspective [NSFW]
    Uhm, I don't agree with that documentary 100%.
    In my oppinion, there are strong differences between us and animals that makes us unique in the animal kingdom. Those "differences" are called creativity, imagination, thinking about the past, present and future (not just "what am I gonna eat" or "I have to find a mate"), reflection, culture (art, music etc.), great curiosity (which led to science --- I mean which other animal had ever built a space shuttle or a LHC?) etc....

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we are far better than any other animal (we are animals). But what I'm trying to say - you can't compare apples and oranges.
    Clearly, it's an interesting perspective on humanity but the director should have mention human discoveries, space flights, computers, internet, maths etc. as well. Not just showing the human instincts and the "animalistic behavior". Mention an animal which is philosophizing about the meaning of life? Who/what created life? Where do we come from? Those questions led to religion and science.

    Well, that's my oppinion.
    You can criticize me if you like :) :P
     Reply
    Cash907Censored promoted this comment Shadowdagger was starred Shadowdagger was unstarred
    Image of The_Sporean_Bob The_Sporean_Bob
    09/21/09

    @Shadowdagger: Maybe they don't philosophize about the meaning of life because they A. already know it (eat/have sex/ try really hard not to get killed), or B. they're scientists, and need results, not endless suppositions without proof!

    Also, "The Great Questions scatter like roaches when you flip on the blinding light of pure pragmatism."

    While I do not disagree with your main point (there are strong differences between us and animals that makes us unique in the animal kingdom) I would say that most of the traits we possess that make us different don't make us different by us having them, but to what degree do we use them. For example, crows, chimpanzees, parrots and dolphins all use tools in one way or another. We use the most the most often and with the most modifications.
     Reply
    Edited by The_Sporean_Bob at 09/21/09 2:30 PM The_Sporean_Bob was starred The_Sporean_Bob was unstarred
    Image of Shadowdagger Shadowdagger
    09/21/09

    @The_Sporean_Bob: I agree that many animals use tools as well. Animals can't modify them. They just take a stick or a stone to reach food and that's it. Humans modify tools and nature to make life easier - and not just for hunting. For example to create art.
     Reply
    Edited by Shadowdagger at 09/21/09 2:43 PM Shadowdagger was starred Shadowdagger was unstarred
    Image of Daumier Daumier
    09/21/09

    @Shadowdagger: Chimpanzees in the wild have been observed modifying their tools to suit their needs, such as the chimps that were found tearing side branches off of sticks and sharpening the sticks with their teeth in order to hunt bush babies.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Daumier was starred Daumier was unstarred
    Image of CodenameV CodenameV
    09/21/09

    In reply to Studying the Human Animal from a Zoological Perspective [NSFW]
    this doesn't appear to be very..."science fiction" related, someone just wanted to see naked women and/or men (as the case may be)
     Reply
    Cash907Censored promoted this comment CodenameV was starred CodenameV was unstarred
    Image of Cash907Censored Cash907Censored
    09/21/09

    @CodenameV:

    That's Gawker media for ya. Every now and then, they feel the need to cross promote their various blogs by plucking stories and then hitting the ol' shuffle button. This is why Gizmodo ends up with posts that should be on LifeHacker, and io9 gets the bits from Lauren that seemed originally written for TreeHugger. I'd give them a harder time about it, but it's not like they are the only ones doing it. AOL cross-promotes the heck out their properties too.
     Reply
    Cash907Censored was starred Cash907Censored was unstarred
    Image of Dead Air ummm Dead Air Dead Air ummm Dead Air
    09/21/09

    In reply to Studying the Human Animal from a Zoological Perspective [NSFW]
    I remember seeing this on TLC...at least 10 years ago. It was late night, I was barely a teenager, and I had a fondness for seeing naked ladies.

    Of course, I was tricked into learning about biology! Like educational toys! BOOO!!

    Seriously though, I remember it being very interesting. I'll have to watch it when I'm not making honey for Queen Corporate.
     Reply
    ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Dead Air ummm Dead Air was starred Dead Air ummm Dead Air was unstarred
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