Hi, Oi, Hola, Здравствуй, salut, こんにちは EVERYBODY!! 😃
I’ve been having a glorious vacation, and as you already know, the first part of it took place in Portland. OR. I had such a fabulous time, and I have so much to share, that is going to be an EPIC blog! So pour yourself a glass of absinthe, pop some popcorn, and relax...and here we go!
Those of you that have been following me a while know that the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon is an annual pilgrimage for me. For those of you that might be unfamiliar with H.P. Lovecraft, you might be surprised to know that his work has influenced horror and science fiction for over 80 years, including such music artists as Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Dream Theater (and many more), television programs such as Night Gallery and Star Trek, and inspired a HUGE number of horror films ranging from John Carpenter’s The Thing, the Alien series of films, and direct adaptations of his work such as the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society’s Call of Cthulhu and the 1986 production, From Beyond. Old H.P. has even influenced SG! Need proof? Simply look at the right thigh of our beloved @Pulp, and you’ll see Cthulhu, himself, in “living” color.
“That is not dead that can eternal lie, but in strange aeons, even death may die.” - H.P. Lovecraft 🦑 Thank you, @Pulp, for being our Cthulhu poster girl today!
This year’s HPLFF/CC was much busier than last year, with 3 day passes completely sold out, and one day passes for Saturday also sold out! It also was also cold and rainy most of the time; I was glad I brought my trench coat for the coldest night and my umbrella for the rest!
I saw a wide range of short and feature-length films this year, including Mr. Momento, The Strange High House in the Mist, The House of the Seven Gables, Samantha, and Hammer of the Gods. I could write a blog on the films themselves! For now, I’ll say my favorite was Young Liars, a film set in our current time in which a young woman and two of her male friends utilize a new technology that seems fun and interesting at the outset, but quickly turns horrific when they discover that they can share each other’s thoughts and then swap bodies in consciousness! One of my other favorite parts of the festival in regard to movies, though, was the Lovecraft Under the Gun competition, in which independent filmmakers have exactly 72 hours to script, film, and edit an original Lovecraftian film that includes a specific prop and a line of dialogue to prove that it was done in the allotted time. I won’t spoil the endings for you; if you’re curious about seeing films from the HPLFF, go to ArkhamBazaar.com; I believe this year’s films will eventually be available on Blue-ray!
Still, as fun as the films are, I enjoy meeting people as well as live performances. Each year the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society performs a dramatic performance of a Lovecraft story that they have very professionally adapted to sound just like a radio show that would have been on the air during the 1920’s. This year’s show was “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” It was awesome! The HPLHS offers many of their Dark Adventure Radio Theater performances on CD and much more at HPLHS.com. P.S. I’m not getting paid to endorse these sites; they just happen to be monumentally fabulous!
The other live performance this year was a real treat, and the reason that the festival/con was almost sold out: a Japanese idol group, Necronomidol, performed for us and came to Q&A sessions later. If you like Heavy Metal sung by cute Japanese girls, then you’ll love Necronomidol. I got to meet them, and they were all wonderful. I wished I knew more Japanese than “Kon'nichiwa,” and “Arigatō.”
Check them out on Twitter and YouTube! NECRONOMIDOL
If that wasn’t enough, there was also the annual drawing contest, entitled “Pickman’s Apprentice,” in which artists compete to complete a drawing of a specific Lovecraftian monster in a precise setting. This year’s specifics: Zoogs in a Tiki Bar. It was meant to be humorous, of course. The theme for this year’s festival overall was Cthulhu Tiki, which may sound silly, but it worked! The drawings were then auctioned off for charity. The best of the drawings are below:
I really wanted this one, the kitten is sooo cute, and zoogs are from H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands, which is partly where my most recent novel is set! But the opening bid was $150, and I had already spent too much on souvenirs!
The Hollywood Theater looks impressive at night; but Portland isn’t always so pretty; I saw a man lying drunk asleep in the middle of the sidewalk on the way back to my motel room; not the type of thing a girl wants to see when she’s walking alone at night. I checked to make sure he was breathing.
Safe and sound after the fun and madness.
I had such a fabulous time! My best friend flew up from Los Angeles to attend most of the festival with me, and I got to meet up with a girlfriend for brunch the following day!
Stay tuned for the next segment of my vacation blog with pix from the Stonehenge WWI Memorial, which I visited on the way home - right after the intermission! 😂
💗
- Dhyani
Maybe @Rambo and @MIssy will put my blog on the FP? 😉
