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Post by marksamuels on Nov 25, 2010 17:46:15 GMT
James
ARRRGHGHGH!
I didn't see that coming: hurricane Siddle.
More shocking than KP's moustache...
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Nov 25, 2010 0:43:55 GMT
Well, I must confess that having hauled the old carcass back from the pub last orders tonight, in order to camp in front of TMS on R4 overnight, I was hoping that "Aussie Horror" would refer to the Ashes, but at 27-1 early doors I'm not sure...
Long, looooooong way to go of course.
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Nov 15, 2010 18:22:42 GMT
I've never read the book but I remember watching the film years ago. The ending was one of the most chilling I've ever seen. It would be interesting to see how this compares to the effect of the book. Me too, David! It's fantastic. Who'd have thought it, Rock Hudson: Horror Star? It's the best film about the male mid-life crisis ever made. He was also in a horror duffer called Embryo, which is pretty dire except for the trained Rottweiller. Apparently it was inspired by Ewers's Alraune. Dem... I've had the same lurgy. My chest is full of green gunk. Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Nov 9, 2010 0:26:57 GMT
Happily I don't know what a kindle is Craig, my friend, they're KINDLING. Let's pour petrol on them all ... Viva los libros, ahora y para siempre. In proper good old fashioned books we trust. Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Nov 5, 2010 14:05:51 GMT
Hi, Did anyone else have problems with loading the web page over the last couple days? Working fine now, but it was freezing for me before. ( david R, working now please ignore my email if you got it) - chris I've not had that problem, but have encountered something similar. Jojo's recent posts appear as gibberish. (Only joshing, JJ) Btw, I understand Ligotti might not be an Aickman fan; there's something to that effect in the Tibet foreword to the Tartarus RA 2 volume edition. No accounting for taste. Me? I love 'em both. Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Nov 2, 2010 23:57:03 GMT
And on other news. I will be the newest editor of the Pan Book of Horror Stories series. The official press release will be coming soon, so bloggers please refrain from posting this about till then. But yes, a good day for Horror indeed and I am very very proud to be carrying on the tradition started by Bertie and carried on by Clarence, Stephen and David. I hope I'll do the series and its readers justice. And the slush pile will be opening soon, and submissions will be accepted. Never was really in doubt! Well done Jonno. The boy done good. Sorry to have missed you btw, due to my late arrival, but it was great to see everyone who was still there when I finally turned up. Except for Dem, who keeps banging on about his flat belly... (I love him really) Gutlords unite! Ahem. Meanwhile, me and Mr Ford had a marvellous time boozing until around 6pm, what with his legendary tales of Karl Edward Wagner. We were truly the last to leave! Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Nov 1, 2010 1:51:01 GMT
As a separate question, would you put Thomas Ligotti's work in the 'intellectual' or 'non-intellectual' camp? I put it in a third category, one which I call "pretentious garbage." Ligotti's "pretentious garbage", as you put it, Jojo, will be remembered long after you're forgotten. Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Oct 30, 2010 12:53:11 GMT
Not recent of course, but Machen was given a civil list pension, which was seen as something similar:
The official description is that it is an appointment and high honour akin to Order of Merit or Companion of Honour given for distinguished service to Great Britain in the arts, literature and science. It is paid at the discretion of the Queen and voted in by Parliament.
Can't think of any other gongs to horror writers. Hang on: wasn't MR James a Companion of Honour?
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Oct 29, 2010 21:41:40 GMT
After spending hours in the dusty piles of the Samuels book-garret, searching out the Mike Ashley biography, I see that Blackwood was awarded the CBE in 1949. I can't (right now) find the exact reference, but I believe (like JH) he had a similarly impish remark to make upon official recognition: "Funny to be made a commander of an empire the bestowers of the award have done their best to destroy" (something like that, anyway) Mark S. Always wanted to be in a position to say something like that - of course only if you did manage to say something like that in that position. Quite so, Craig. I recall the remark Hilaire Belloc made when he refused to accept an offered papal medal: "But what would they say if I changed my mind?" Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Oct 29, 2010 19:57:07 GMT
After spending hours in the dusty piles of the Samuels book-garret, searching out the Mike Ashley biography, I see that Blackwood was awarded the CBE in 1949.
I can't (right now) find the exact reference, but I believe (like JH) he had a similarly impish remark to make upon official recognition:
"Funny to be made a commander of an empire the bestowers of the award have done their best to destroy"
(something like that, anyway)
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Oct 29, 2010 17:50:24 GMT
Blimey!
Wasn't the last one (i.e. a horror author) Algernon Blackwood (or was he an MBE) ??
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Oct 29, 2010 17:47:21 GMT
I think actually the first sequence on the stairs, when you only have the camera flashes, and don't have those subliminal frames of the ghost himself, are especially creepy. The one thing I think could have been done differently is the appearance of Hobbes on the photographs. He's TOO prominient, you couldn't have missed him if he had been there and nor could the husband. I think he should have been more in the background, like a Peeping Tom. And definitely Fish era, though I do like some of the H stuff, Seasons End and Brave especially :-) Ah, for me, that part was a good prelude; the flashes of the spectre actually appearing spooked me, especially as it was only the body and the hand on the stair rail that were seen and not his face. You're quite right about Hobbes being seen too much of elsewhere though, esp. in the photos. I grew up with the Fish-era (bought the 2nd album when it came out) and my fav of all is probably Clutching at Straws. I also, though, like the H albums you mention, with Marbles added to the list. Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Oct 29, 2010 7:14:02 GMT
Funnily enough I was posting on another forum about this today. I really like a lot of things about this, especially the sequences of the ghost on the stairs. The cameras going off is exceptionally subtle and chilling. It should be pointed out that it got extremely good reviews at the time, enough for it to be one of the few episodes preserved and also repeated. When i watched this again last night with my gf, who at 21 I thought would be outraged at the attitudes on display, I actually took this time a rather different view of it. Despite Dr Filamore's line about Eric being too soft on the wife, I don't think the story is actually saying she enjoyed what happened to her or is inviting a repeat of it. Note the terror she has at the end. I think instead the idea is that Hobbes's ghost has been influencing her behaviour and attitudes SPECIFICALLY so that he can get her alone by driving the husband away, and then when she is alone, he relaxes his mental hold on her so that he can menace her as a totally terrified innocent again. Hence why she suddenly becomes a petrified child again at the start. That's maybe an apologist reading but I think it's an interesting one. Great series though and superb opening titles. I love the episode Welcome Home especially. I hadn't thought of it along those lines MB, and it's an intelligent appraisal as to a possible explanation. Yes, the sequence towards the end with the ghost coming up the stairs, captured by flash photography, is uber-creepy. Really effective. Wasn't the chap in Welcome Home one of the Masters in Dr Who? By the way, are you a Fish or H era Marillion boy? Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Oct 26, 2010 22:39:00 GMT
I haven't seen a single episode of "Lost". But, having looked him up, I do recall the chap who plays John Locke from a film called The Stepfather.
Anyway... Wetherspoons or ... what?
The last time (1989) someone suggested to me "cake" was better than booze was in Holland. That ended in a 24 hour drug-crazed bad trip---courtesy of the Baloo Bar, darkest Amsterdam ...
Mark S.
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Post by marksamuels on Oct 26, 2010 13:14:37 GMT
I'll try and get to Zardoz, not sure about the cake though.
I'd rather go to that Wetherspoons pub nearby afterwards.
Mark S.
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