Lovecrafted

In today's post, I just wanted to call attention to my latest publication, "e-ldritch," which appears in the brand new issue of Star*Line.  As might be guessed from the titular adjective, my short poem pays homage to a certain weird-tale scribe from Providence, Rhode Island.  E-njoy!

Bad: The Good and The Ugly

In honor of the premiere of the new season of AMC's Breaking Bad, here are clips from two of the show's most gloriously grotesque scenes to date.

1.Free-falling offal:




2.Turtle-shelled:

Universal Monsters in Our (Cinematic) Midst

...As evidenced by this wonderfully retro trailer for Frankenweenie.

The animation style of Corpse Bride meets the American Gothic vibe of Edward Scissorhands--all the while paying homage to the classic Universal Monster movies.  I cannot wait to see Tim Burton's latest dark fantasy effort.  Yet one more reason to look forward to October.

Deadbugs (poem)

Deadbugs

Teddy awakens
To the peanut-shell crackle of cockroach carapaces beneath him
And the sight of now-ill-named flies littering his pillow.
Even as he sits upright, disgusted,
He senses a mosquito alight on his naked shoulder.
There’s a quick sizzle at the point of contact
As the would-be bloodsucker is zapped inanimate.
Next a wispy spider—pinhead body, six sewing-thread legs—
Scales the bedside, brushes against a sparking fingertip,
And falls flat and static as an asterisk.
Squiggling silverfish, a kamikaze bumblebee, a convoy of carpenter ants:
Teddy proves a lethal beacon to them all.
He feels like a Kafkaesque X-Man, can’t explain his overnight mutation,
Yet has no problem imagining the entrepreneurial opportunities.
He could rent himself out, become the Pied Piper of pest control.
But as the bugs keep vacating the bedroom’s woodwork,
Swarming undaunted past their crispened predecessors toward him,
He slowly realizes his own entrapment by his exterminating epidermis.
Here on out he’ll be forced to live in constant dread,
Of the sudden failure of his newfound power
And a terrible, impromptu turning, from Mr. Insecticide
Into Teddy Infested.

Apocalypse in Black and White

I was skeptical that AMC's airing of the pilot episode of The Walking Dead in black and white would prove little more than a gimmick to draw summertime viewers, but I still felt compelled to tune in last night.  And today I have to say that I found the uncolored edition of "Days Gone Bye" to be a worthwhile endeavor.  Inevitably a zombie apocalypse in black and white invokes comparisons to Night of the Living Dead, and the episode's opening scene when the "Little Girl" zombie stalks toward Rick formed a haunting visual echo of Karen Cooper attacking her mom in the Romero film.  The black and white scheme also gave a quasi-nostalgic feel to the scenery, which made the devastation soon portrayed that much more shocking (Mayberry gives way to modern-day mayhem).  Lack of color did nothing to undercut the show's graphic nature, as the flies buzzing around prone, rotting corpses actually proved more distinct (and disgusting).  I would even go so far as to offer that the black and white was thematically apropos, since Rick's relationship with Morgan comprised the central portion of the unfolding storyline.

All that being said, The Walking Dead could be presented in purple and green and still qualify as must-see TV.  The show's greatness is defined by its tense drama and complex characters, not by any stylistic device.
Watching last night, I was simply reminded that there's another reason to look forward to the month of October besides the arrival of Halloween season.