Tag Archives: lovecraft

goodness, nerd

Fun with words

I cannot recommend the H. P. Lovecraft reading experience highly enough.  In addition to being totally immersed in his fantastic writing style and dark, misty universe full of monsters and ancient, unspeakable evil, Lovecraft is making me a smarter person.  New vocabulary for the win!

smooth with bubbles inside

smooth with bubbles inside

Word of the Week: Fulgurite
Fulgurites are awesome.  They’re the result of a lightning strike (or some other intense discharge of energy, like a downed power line) to the ground.  The soil/sand fuses and liquefies, then instantly hardens, creating a tube in the shape of the path the discharging energy took.

Here’s the really cool part: Fulgurites can be found all over the Sahara desert.  Why would that be?  There’s no lightning in the Sahara desert today, but the presence of fulgurites demonstrates that what is now a desert used to have completely different eco and weather systems.  So tubes of glassy sand buried deep in the desert tell us that the driest desert on the planet used to have intense rain and thunder storms.  Super cool!

fulgurite 1

the path of lightning

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goodness, life

Burfdaaaah!!

if only valentine's day took place some other month...

It’s mah burfdah month!  February is the best (after October for obvious reasons).

Plans for this month:
Go to cardio every Tuesday– It’s time to get fucking toned.  I was feeling pretty great when I did cardio on a regular basis about a year ago.  It’s time to get super sexy again.
Get blueberry pancakes– BLD has the best blueberry pancakes!  If I can get the day off from Karate Job (they owe me!), it’s gonna happen.
Go ice skating!– I love ice skating, and I don’t have any friends who share this passion (Los Angeles doesn’t get much snow).  Still, I’ll go alone if I have to!
Nap– I have trouble napping, but for one reason or another, I haven’t been able to sleep in for over a month.  Yesterday, Boyfriend’s phone went off, and I was cranky all morning.
Read– I haven’t had much time to read on my Kindle (walks to and from work and the car don’t really count).  Lovecraft awaits!
Take a shot of Patron– I don’t drink much at all, but am a fan of tequila.  The Patron on the counter is calling to me.  Limes, watch out; I’m coming for you.
Watch Call of Cthulhu– It’s a classic!  I can’t believe I haven’t seen it.  And now that I have the story, I’ll have to read it first!

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goodness, nerd

Rapidly falling in Lovecraft

creepy genius

I bought the entire collection of H. P. Lovecraft’s stories (for a dollar!) on my Kindle Touch, and… I’m in love.  This man’s writing style is everything I crave when I pick up a book: damned souls pulled in by seductive haunts and eerie landscapes, written in the turn-of-the-century style that takes its time to set the mood and make me feel actual fear for the main characters.  What was frightening in 1900 is frightening now.  No hyper-clever plot twist needed, just a draining sense of safety.  Like a shadow creeping with unnatural quickness, like the slow approach of distant drums, a cloak is cast over my shoulders as I read, bringing a chill draft and a musty scent of old lunacy.

I just can’t seem to get enough of it.  His writing is more than descriptive, it’s airtight.  I hope others in my generation will allow their curiosity to take hold, and take the time to read his stories (instead of just alluding to them endlessly).

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goodness, humor, nerd

Everyone loves Cthulhu

I found myself in the strange position of explaining the Cthulhu phenomenon to my dad over the weekend.

STOP COMPLAINING AND EAT IT

It started with this hilarious-looking game, Miskatonic School for Girls, where members of the H. P. Lovecraft universe make up the staff.  The point of the game is to help your house’s students retain their sanity longer than your opponent.  The card that pushed me over the edge?  Cthulhu as the lunch lady.

First I explained what Kickstarter is; an online service that allows people to raise funds for independent projects for which there are too few/zero financial sponsors.  Then I told him about the game.  Then I tried to explain how Cthulhu has become an internet meme for some reason, but I’m not sure how, so I found myself saying stuff like, “He’s an underwater god from the Lovcraftian universe, but people online make fun of him by making him out to be emo or adorable.”  Which makes no sense of course, but it’s an internet meme, so all it has to do is entertain in the void to be a success.

how do I even begin to explain Cthulhu Spock...?

Cthulhu really is the perfect internet meme, now that I think about it.  He’s an obscure reference to a piece of literature at the root of sci-fi/fantasy nerd country that few people have actually read, but somehow everyone knows and loves enough to poke fun of and ironically turn into plushies.  He devours souls, people.  And now he’s a knitted baby toy.

YOU WIN, INTERNET.

I made this

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goodness, nerd

I love you, Hellboy

I’m such a huge fan of Hellboy. From the first time I saw the art, I was completely hooked. Mike Mignola’s style is so distinctive, so grounded, so deceptively simple; there’s always something new to discover from each frame. Hellboy is so damaged, so doomed, and so funny. He kinda reminds me of my uncles. I wish he was my uncle.
I found this desktop art on the Dark Horse website. I like to imagine he’s thinking about some task he’s not looking forward to much. It’s classic Hellboy; he’s all fucked up, there’s some ancient history in the background, and we never really get the full story of the evil he’s trying to stop before he kills it, because frankly, he’s tired of that shit, he’s heard it all and no matter what it’s about to say, he just doesn’t give a damn. He’s thinking, “Just die already, you bastard.”
I would love, and you can quote me on that, LOVE, to get the rest of the library editions of the Hellboy series. *sigh* Someday…

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