My Own Private NecronomiCon, Part 3 (Another NecronomiCon Review and Travelogue)
KAYVEN
I should point out two glaring omissions from my travelogue.
First of all, I forgot to mention that both Daniel Harms and I were verbally
attacked by C.J. Henderson while we approached the Marriott hotel for the first
time. Mr. Harms had made the glaring mistake of wearing a Miskatonic
University T-shirt and thus alerted the diabolical C.J. Henderson that here
were two victims for his evil plans. As we walked through the parking lot we
found ourselves cut off from the front door of the hotel by an enormous sport
utility vehicle which skidded to a stop before us, rolled the passenger window
down and then a voice roared from its darkened interior, "Hey! We don't want
you conventioneers here! Go back home were your kind belong!"
Thankfully, Mr. Harms stayed my hand before it could reach for the gutting
knife hidden in my boot and C.J. Henderson eventually tired of our silence and
drove off. I only mention the incident because I feel it to be my obligation
to warn others of C.J. Henderson's manic personality.
Secondly, Robert M. Price gave forth an interesting theory during the
"Lovecraft as a Fictional Character" panel on the noticeable lack of females in
the Mythos arena. One of the aspects to Lovecraft's appearances in fiction is
to act as a symbol for the dislike of change and a hope for the preservation of
the future. It was after this observation that Price articulated the idea that
men had a natural tendency towards preserving the past through tradition and
order. Women, on the other hand, tend to look forwards towards the future due
to their role as childbearers and educators. So when the typically
Lovecraftian or Mythosian story has as its premises that an ancient evil, once
safely kept locked up or asleep, begins to emerge and cause death and
destruction, it tends to play upon men in a different way than it does for
women. For the man, the horror results from the uprooted values and falsified
preconceptions that come as a result of the story's main incident. However,
this horrific appeal to the male psyche doesn't effect the female psyche in the
same way.
There is plenty of criticism that could be leveled at this view, and to be
fair, Price didn't suggest it as anything more than an interesting way of
looking at the gender difference phenomena. Though it does make me wonder
what, if one wants to take this theory as being a valid explanation, a
female-centered Mythos story would look like in terms of its plot. If the
male-centered format has change as its catalyst for horror, then it stands to
reason that a female-centered format would have stagnation and permanence as
its catalyst. Thus a F-Mythos Story would not learn of the eminent release of
an ancient monstrosity, but instead would be the knowledge that the natural
order of life (the seasons, the cycle of birth and death, etc) is itself
detrimental to humanity and the crux of the horror would be found in the fact
that this natural order could never change, but would continue on for
generations feeding upon our children as surely as it has fed upon our
ancestors. It would be important, I suspect, for the narrator to not have one
of those infamous moments where they realize the "Truth," but instead would
merely consist of the narrator acknowledging their role and accepting it as
inevitable. The horror would not occur to the narrator, but instead would be
left up to the reader to evoke the response themselves. An almost perfect
example of this would be Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"
where the 'normal' practice of being bedridden after giving birth becomes a
permanent situation wherein the narrator accepts her status and it is only the
narrator that sees the madness evolving.
And that's all I'll say on that topic.
Saturday, August 21, 1999
Saturday is the biggest day of the Con. From 9 am to 10 pm, something
somewhere is going on related to Lovecraft, the Mythos or both. For our group,
however, exhaustion from our late night festivities basically eliminated
everything before noon. This isn't to say that there wasn't anything scheduled
that we wouldn't have enjoyed attending. And there was a short moment where we
all woke up stared at the ceiling for a few moments and then decided that
sleeping enough to be capable of distinguishing colors was more important than
attending a panel.
From what Steven Kaye told us later, he himself had been capable of movement
in the wee hours that day and had been able to attend the Gaming panel
conducted by our newsgroup's own D. Hammann. While I had not been there, Kaye
seemed to have nothing but praise for the way the panel had been conducted.
I'm not only sorry to have missed it, but to have missed sitting down with Mr.
Hammann for an hour or some such length of time.
Eventually, however, we did wake up and make our way to the Marriott. We
stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts (an establishment which seems to have slowly taken
over the New England area) and had, what we thought at the time, an attack by
an anti-Semite. As we got into our car after ordering & receiving our donuts,
a strange man began shouting at our car with what sounded, through the medium
of windshield glass, like "Are you an original Jew?" The look of fear and
confusion that must have played on our faces probably confused him as well
since after he gave up on us, an employee came running out to give us the
bottle of orange juice we had forgotten. It was then that we realized the man
had been shouting "You forgot your orange juice." It certainly explained the
hand gestures the man had been making.
When we arrived at the Con just before noon, Daniel and Monika went their own
direction while my wife and I went another. Our destination was....
"Mathematics and the Mythos"
by Jody Trout
Supurb! It was like taking a college class on the mathematical references of
Lovecraft's works. Heck, what am I saying, it WAS a college class on the
subject! Computer animation, music by the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets,
direct quotes from "Dreams in the Witch-House," "Dream Quest of Unknown
Kadath," and "Call of Cthulhu," all added up to a wonderful presentation by a
well informed and experienced speaker. His explanation of the phrase "the
angles were wrong" and the implications of such angels appearing in our world
was worth the entire drive to Providence. If anyone here on the newsgroup is
lurking and attending Dartmouth College, I urge you to make Mr. Trout's
aquaintence.
Then it was lunch time. Daniel, being the perfectionist he is, decided to
stick around the hotel and do some further research into the tour he was
leading later that day. My wife and I took Steven Kaye over to Friendly's to
have our lunch. It was then that I learned the awful truth that Chaosium
wasn't going to be there.
SMH: "But Steven! Surely you lie!"
SKaye: "Nay, tis the truth right enough. The good people of Chaosium have
neglected and, I fear, have abandoned the Convention to its own devices."
SMH: "Zounds!"
SKaye: "Aye."
Why we were talking like complete fools, I cannot remember, but the message was
clear enough and vastly disappointing.
When we returned to the hotel, we took a trip through the Dealer's room and
then joined the Lovecraft tour with Daniel Harms.
Apparently very few people journey through Providence in groups of six or more
people since the entire time we found ourselves being asked, "Who are you
guys?" As if the mere suggestion that people might be interested in looking at
old houses is a suspicious one. One man actually stopped his car next to the
group and asked "What are you guys doing?" to which we wittily replied,
"Walking!" But by the end of the tortuous journey, we found ourselves forced
due to construction work to head back to the hotel via an apartment complex and
some of us felt a certain responsibility to explain why an enormous group of
people had decided on that day to go past their sliding glass doors. "Who are
you guys?" "We're a tour group from the NecronomiCon over at the Marriott."
"What's the NecronomiCon?" "Its a convention based around H.P Lovecraft."
"Who's H.P. Lovecraft?" "Umm, we have to go."
It was during this tour that Monika (Daniel's personal assistant) learned
that with a black and yellow umbrella, one can control traffic without much
effort. I also happened to see Aaron Vanek go up to the Shunned House, touch
the doors to its dreaded basement and fall to the ground in a swoon.
Andrew E. Harrison was also along for the trip, but kept mostly to himself
(when he wasn't conversing with Aaron) and catching a few puffs from a
cigarette when time permitted.
Daniel did a wonderful job considering the circumstances of an unforgiving
misty rain and uncaring city road construction. Though with the amount of work
he put into it, it shouldn't be surprising.
We arrived back at the hotel for the 4 o'clock panels and I headed for...
"If Lovecraft had Lived: The Writings"
by Cannon, Dziemianowicz, Murray & Price (sounds like a law firm)
An interesting speculative panel that came up with the following thoughts--
If Lovecraft had lived, the next year would have seen the appearance of such
pulps as Strange Stories that were interested in printing Weird Fiction and
reprints while actually giving the writers money! It would have been perfect
for Lovecraft would could have had his earlier stories reprinted and have a
paying publisher for his newer work. Though the life of the pulp was short, it
would have certainly acted as an impetus for Lovecraft to continue writing and
expanding his horizons. During the 40s, the pulps died and Lovecraft would
have found himself without a ready outlet, but given that Lovecraft's works had
been gradually increasing in size over his life, it stood to reason that by the
40s arrived, Lovecraft would be writing full length novels. And this would
work right into what his friend Donald Wollheim was doing, publishing Ace
paperbacks. With such a connection, is seems reasonable that Lovecraft would
have had his novels published. During the mid-50s, there was a boom in sci-fi
and a mild boom in fantasy which would have rewarded Lovecraft if he had been
able to stick in there.
Peter Cannon made the interesting observation that most writers, once they have
developed a style, rarely change that style throughout their lives. So while
it is apparent that Lovecraft would have change his themes (which he did do
over his life time), he still would have been constricted by his style and the
genres where his style would have been acceptable.
The next panel to go to was:
"HPL & Y2K"
by Eckhardt, Ganley, Knox, Trout
I didn't expect much from the panel, as it pretty much admitted to being
something of a joke. But I was curious as to how a topicless panel would be
handled. It actually wasn't too bad. There was some annoying silliness from
the audience when the panel foolishly opened the floor to comments. But the
gist of the panel should have been the following -- For centuries, humanity has
been obsessed with the idea of the end of the world. Whether through the
Christian perspective of the return of Christ or even just the extreme
apocalyptic vision of the Y2K bug, people have held on to beliefs that
destruction and chaos lie right around the temporal corner. Lovecraft himself
uses this motif in his classic "Call of Cthulhu" where ancient prophecy begins
to come true. Yet what is it about these beliefs that make them so readily
accepted by people? To place the blame on "millennial fever" or to claim some
conspiracy of manipulative corporations or religious institutions is
intellectual laziness. The more interesting aspect to this phenomena is the
fact that such beliefs do not appear to contain an element of self-interest.
Or do they? In fact, they do. What is it about "Call of Cthulhu" to make us
actually secretly hope that the events described really happened? Why do
people secretly hope for riots and lack of food and/or money after Y2K hits
knowing full well
that such a world would be dangerous and unwished for? The only answer that
seems possible is that apocalyptic events provide tangible proof for faith-held
beliefs. Tangible and extreme. To claim that the world will end or disease
will run rampant and then be proven right (regardless of the result to oneself)
to deal with metaphysical truths in a down-to-earth physical form. It is
interesting to suggest that Lovecraft knew about this psychological aspect of
people and played the concept for his own fictional benefit.
This isn't actually the direction the panel went. In fact, the conclusions
of the panel was that if Lovecraft were alive today, he'd have a web page on
astronomy being maintained by a dropout freshman from Brown on a lime green
IMac.
Then it was dinner.
We drove over to Subway, after getting lost. Can I say something about the
streets in Providence? I realize that the city is built upon the structures and
rationales of an earlier time. But what possible advantage could there be in
the designing of roads that initially head west only to, at some bizarre point,
branch off towards the South and then gradually shift back to the East?
Throughout our time in Providence I continually found myself accused of "having
the directional sense of a blind and dead sheep." But my directional sense
wasn't the problem, it was those blasted roads! I'd know that our destination
was on the eastern or northern side of town, but getting there proved difficult
since every road seemed to conspire against me. That is my excuse, anyhow.
Daniel and Monika wanted to go to the film competition so we came back early
(at least as early as the mall traffic allowed us to be) and camped out in
Steven Kaye's room. Apparently, during the day, an RPG booth had been hastily
set up and were selling Beyond the Mountains of Madness like mad. Even Mr.
Kaye had bought up a copy and I quickly devoured as much of this massive tome
as time allowed.
When 8 pm rolled around, Steven Kaye and I made our way down to the readings by
Robert Price and Fred Chappell (who had added an extra 'l' to his name since I
had last seen him). Price read Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann" and
Chappell read his unpublished "In the rue D'auseil". Chappell's story was very
good and the added resonance of Chappell's voice gave the narration a tone I
shall never forget. For those interested in the Mythos Lore presented in
Chappell's story (which I hope Price will get published somewhere) you will
find it interesting that Chappell explains the inability of the map searcher
for Lovecraft's favorite Parisian street. Apparently, during the restoration
of the monarchy after Napoleon, streets were given new street signs and the
workers on the sign for the Rue Douleur misunderstood the name as being
D'auseil and wrote the street sign that way. So that even though the correct
spelling was on the map, on the ground the road's name had been changed.
Eventually, the mistake was caught and the corrected name exists on both the
map and the street signs today. Secondly, the great Zann was never buried but
instead his skin was sealed in wax and his playing of his instrument continues
to this day.
After this, we then found ourselves attending Daniel Harms' "The Necronomicon"
panel. I'm partial to the man, so my saying that the panel was a smashing
success will strike some as a biased view. So be it! All questions answered
and all hoaxes exposed made the panel an excellent example of how such things
should be done.
Thanks to the fact that Daniel's panel was the last one of the day, its
post-panel time was composed of various luminaries socializing with the
audience. For example, I myself finally came face to face with E.P. Berglund.
I found myself intimidated by the man given my debt to him (more than likely,
aside from a few others, he's responsible for keeping the Cthulhu Mythos active
and growing) and also given that I owed him several long-overdue essays for his
e-zine Nightscapes. Aside from my initial fear, Berglund calmed me easily with
a southern charm and down to earth manner. I don't know how he feels about me,
but after speaking with him that night, I felt as if this was the kind of guy
I'd like to meet again and again with ever increasing expensive gifts at each
visit. A reaction I'm sure that Mr. Berglund supports wholeheartedly.
Afterwards, the gang of Steven Kaye, Daniel Harms, Monika, my wife and I
removed ourselves to Steven Kaye's room. Along in tow was the indomitable Dan
Clore who seemed to be considering a career change from Brian McNaughton to
Fred Chappell's shill. (It was during this visit to the hotel room that I
discovered a Book of Mormon along side the Bible in the bedside night table. I
pleaded with Steven Kaye to let me have the book given the increasing amount of
Mythos/Mormon connectivity over the past few years. Thanks mainly to Robert M.
Price. Steven Kaye, I'm glad to say, took said book and gave it to me the next
day. It was a generous gesture since I'm sure the moment it left the hotel
room, its magnetic strip in the binding caused a small red light to flash in an
underground military complex in Utah. "Sir, the Other Testament of Jesus
Christ has just been removed from room 217 at the Providence Marriott."
"Name?" "Steven Kaye of New Jersey." "Excellent. Consult the genealogical
division and send out a missionary team. We've got a live one.")
The group then decided to head down to the Blue Fin. We needed some form of
artificial socializing to give us the chance to contrast ourselves from others.
The live band was too loud and seemed to never need any breaks. The waitress
gave us all a look as if she'd been stung by a scorpion hiding down her
brassier when we ordered hot tea and coffee instead of some alcoholic beverage.
I can only blame Brian McNaughton for setting up this kind of expectation. We
talked Steven Kaye into visiting the rest of New England's Lovecraft country
with us (even though we honestly didn't have the room to fit everybody, but
heck, friends are friends!) and we spoke on everything from male-female
relations to the unequal amount of coffee vs tea given to patrons. Blast it
all, I want one of those coffee pots filled with hot water! Eventually we
broke up the get together with Dan Clore advising us to keep off the streets
after 1 am since he felt the tugging of the moon that night. Whatever the hell
that means!
But the excitement of the night was not over. When we arrived back at the
motel, we discovered a message that had been left there by some nameless
individual. The message read: "Call your mother." Panic set as each of us
tried to arrive at which mother had called through the use of deductive
reasoning. No doubt we all were speculating at the tragedy that had occurred
to cause such a message to be left for us. Eventually we learned that Monika's
mother had called and for a rather benign purpose. This final stress of the
day was enough to knock us out and we fell asleep looking forward to the next
day.
Aside from a nightmare of Dan Clore scraping inhuman claws across our bedroom
window, that was the end of Saturday.
---- Steven Marc Harris
p.s. this travelogue is actually taking me longer than I thought it would, so
bear with me for the next two installments.
MarkRainey
Fred Chappell's "In the Rue d'Ausseil" will be appearing in Chaosium's SONG OF
CTHULHU, which I edited, probably at the end of this year or early next. I
understand that it's currently in production.
--Damned Tyger
<a href="members.aol.com/markrainey/index.htm">Stephen Mark Rainey</a>
Steven Kaye
(KAYVEN) wrote:
> From what Steven Kaye told us later, he himself had been capable of movement
> in the wee hours that day and had been able to attend the Gaming panel
> conducted by our newsgroup's own D. Hammann. While I had not been there, Kaye
> seemed to have nothing but praise for the way the panel had been conducted.
> I'm not only sorry to have missed it, but to have missed sitting down with Mr.
> Hammann for an hour or some such length of time.
Damn straight. I wish I'd been able to add more to the discussion, which
was very much an informal idea swap/"Let me tell you about the campaign I
was in" session. Topics included different ways creatures had been played
in CoC (aside from generic monsters to be slaughtered), how to make combat
survivable, the proper role of magic in campaigns, and other wholesome
fare.
>It was then that I learned the awful truth that Chaosium
> wasn't going to be there.
>
> SMH: "But Steven! Surely you lie!"
> SKaye: "Nay, tis the truth right enough. The good people of Chaosium have
> neglected and, I fear, have abandoned the Convention to its own devices."
> SMH: "Zounds!"
> SKaye: "Aye."
I'm not sure what sort of pharmaceuticals Mr. Harris is indulging in while
posting this. I remember a discussion about whether Pagan would show up,
and if so in what manifestation. Bastards were probably high on tree
fungus in some benighted corner of the Northwest or something.
> Apparently very few people journey through Providence in groups of six or more
> people since the entire time we found ourselves being asked, "Who are you
> guys?" As if the mere suggestion that people might be interested in
looking >at old houses is a suspicious one.
I think in all likelihood, given Providence's aversion to providing
traffic signals for pedestrians, they were awestruck at our foolhardiness.
> Andrew E. Harrison was also along for the trip, but kept mostly to himself
> (when he wasn't conversing with Aaron) and catching a few puffs from a
> cigarette when time permitted.
He also looks frighteningly like Shaggy from the Scooby Doo cartoons.
> Then it was dinner.
> We drove over to Subway, after getting lost. Can I say something about the
> streets in Providence? I realize that the city is built upon the
structures >and rationales of an earlier time. But what possible
advantage could there be >in the designing of roads that initially head
west only to, at some bizarre point, branch off towards the South and then
gradually shift back to the East?
It's a New England syndrome, designed to weed out tourists and natives of
less-than-true-Anglo-Saxon stock.
>For those interested in the Mythos Lore presented in
> Chappell's story (which I hope Price will get published somewhere) you will
> find it interesting that Chappell explains the inability of the map searcher
> for Lovecraft's favorite Parisian street. Apparently, during the restoration
> of the monarchy after Napoleon, streets were given new street signs and the
> workers on the sign for the Rue Douleur misunderstood the name as being
> D'auseil and wrote the street sign that way. So that even though the correct
> spelling was on the map, on the ground the road's name had been changed.
> Eventually, the mistake was caught and the corrected name exists on both the
> map and the street signs today. Secondly, the great Zann was never buried but
> instead his skin was sealed in wax and his playing of his instrument continues
> to this day.
This doesn't do justice to the marvelous controlled voice of the narrator
in the story, or the surprising about-face of the ending. Harris, you
Philistine.
> Thanks to the fact that Daniel's panel was the last one of the day, its
> post-panel time was composed of various luminaries socializing with the
> audience. For example, I myself finally came face to face with E.P. Berglund.
> I found myself intimidated by the man given my debt to him (more than likely,
> aside from a few others, he's responsible for keeping the Cthulhu Mythos
active
> and growing) and also given that I owed him several long-overdue essays
for his
> e-zine Nightscapes. Aside from my initial fear, Berglund calmed me
easily with
> a southern charm and down to earth manner. I don't know how he feels
about me,
> but after speaking with him that night, I felt as if this was the kind of guy
> I'd like to meet again and again with ever increasing expensive gifts at each
> visit. A reaction I'm sure that Mr. Berglund supports wholeheartedly.
I, too, would welcome Mr. Harris giving Mr. Berglund expensive gifts. And
the essays are coming any day now.
> Afterwards, the gang of Steven Kaye, Daniel Harms, Monika, my wife and I
> removed ourselves to Steven Kaye's room. Along in tow was the indomitable Dan
> Clore who seemed to be considering a career change from Brian McNaughton to
> Fred Chappell's shill. (It was during this visit to the hotel room that I
> discovered a Book of Mormon along side the Bible in the bedside night
table. >I pleaded with Steven Kaye to let me have the book given the
increasing amount >of Mythos/Mormon connectivity over the past few years.
Thanks mainly to Robert >M. Price.
Specifically, his story "The Shunpike," in Triad's RETURN TO LOVECRAFT
COUNTRY. Scott, hit 'em with the ordering details.
>Steven Kaye, I'm glad to say, took said book and gave it to me the next
> day. It was a generous gesture since I'm sure the moment it left the hotel
> room, its magnetic strip in the binding caused a small red light to
flash in >an underground military complex in Utah. "Sir, the Other
Testament of Jesus
> Christ has just been removed from room 217 at the Providence Marriott."
> "Name?" "Steven Kaye of New Jersey." "Excellent. Consult the genealogical
> division and send out a missionary team. We've got a live one.")
Incidentally, Mark Twain's mocking of the prose of the Book of Mormon is
if anything overly generous.
> The group then decided to head down to the Blue Fin. We needed some form of
> artificial socializing to give us the chance to contrast ourselves from
others. The live band was too loud and seemed to never need any breaks.
Cf. "The Music of Erich Zann," with a hideous Vonda Shepard-like spin.
> I can only blame Brian McNaughton for setting up this kind of expectation. We
> talked Steven Kaye into visiting the rest of New England's Lovecraft country
> with us (even though we honestly didn't have the room to fit everybody, but
> heck, friends are friends!)
I blame the espresso, and constant repetition by Monika of the "Hello
Kitty" song.
Steven
--
Steven Kaye
box_...@ix.NOSPAM.netcom.com
DHammann
in the wee hours that day and had been able to attend the Gaming panel
conducted by our newsgroup's own D. Hammann. While I had not been there, Kaye
seemed to have nothing but praise for the way the panel had been conducted.
I'm not only sorry to have missed it, but to have missed sitting down with Mr.
Hammann for an hour or some such length of time.>>
I think he enjoyed the humorous novelty of watching me babble like a fool for
an hour. Two years ago I suggested this idea for the 2nd to latest
NecronomiCon as a change of pace from the usual panel where the high & mighty
Lovecraftian experts talked down to the merely mortal rabble of fans. I wanted
a swap session where players and CoC keepers could exchange ideas to improve
each others campaigns. That first session was scheduled in the middle of the
day and 20 CoC players showed up and within a few minutes brilliant ideas
bounced back and forth. Unfortunatey this year it was scheduled for 10Am and
only 6 very tired and very shy CoC players showed up, and to my mystified
horror I had to do most of the talking! (and I am very shy myself and very
tired that morning) What made it so terrifying was that I hardly play CoC any
more - usually on Halloween and a few times during the summer - so I had to
wrack my brains for all the finest points of every great scenario of CoC I ever
ran or played in years past, while simultaneously keeping my mouth moving and
appearing somewhat intelligent and in control!
I only remember a few couples in their early twenties and an older gentleman,
which one was Steven?
alt.horror.cthulhu
Steven Kaye
dham...@aol.com (DHammann) wrote:
> I think he enjoyed the humorous novelty of watching me babble like a fool for
> an hour.
Nonsense, I've watched Mr. Harris babble on for much longer! Ask anyone!
> Unfortunatey this year it was scheduled for 10Am and
> only 6 very tired and very shy CoC players showed up, and to my mystified
> horror I had to do most of the talking! (and I am very shy myself and very
> tired that morning) What made it so terrifying was that I hardly play CoC any
> more - usually on Halloween and a few times during the summer - so I had to
> wrack my brains for all the finest points of every great scenario of CoC
I >ever ran or played in years past, while simultaneously keeping my mouth
moving >and appearing somewhat intelligent and in control!
You weren't alone in this - much of my CoC gaming recently had been
running a scenario at one GenCon and assorted one-shots, rather than
extended campaigns. You kept things moving along, and the Star-Spawn
anecdote alone was worth the price of admission. I look forward to 2001 -
maybe I'll get to be in one of Allen's 1890's games.
> I only remember a few couples in their early twenties and an older gentleman,
> which one was Steven?
I was the one suggesting taking bits from the insanity rules in NO MAN'S
LAND and adapting them for general use in campaigns.
Hoping that he's not condemned to the life of an older gentleman at the
tender age of 30,
Steven Kaye
--
Steven Kaye
box_...@ix.NOSPAM.netcom.com
Christophe Thill
>Steven,
>
>Fred Chappell's "In the Rue d'Ausseil" will be appearing in Chaosium's SONG OF
>CTHULHU, which I edited, probably at the end of this year or early next. I
>understand that it's currently in production.
Please, let me dwell on one tiny point. It's "Auseil", and should be
prononced something like "ow-zayyy", not "ow-sill" as I have heard
sometimes.
And Mr Blandot's name sounds something like "blan-dow". Don't ask me
which syllable is stressed: French dosn't have stress (not as a
distinctive marker, that is; which means that stressing is only used
for expressive purposes and applies to whole words).
OK, OK, I know it's all imaginary, and the street doesn't even exist
(and couldn't), but well, there's this verisimilitude thing...
Christophe Thill - Paris, France (c_t...@worldnet.fr)
ArKa/D/ia! Homepage: http://www.worldnet.fr/~c_thill/
HP Lovecraft page: http://www.worldnet.fr/~c_thill/hpl/
"The King in Yellow": http://www.worldnet.fr/~c_thill/chambers/
DAIKAIJU! Les monstres japonais: http://www.worldnet.fr/~c_thill/kaiju/
MarkRainey
prononced something like "ow-zayyy", not "ow-sill" as I have heard sometimes.>>
Christophe,
LOL, and thanks for the correction. It was a mere typo; I'm sure I should have
been more careful in typing.
Many years ago, I was fairly fluent in French, though I haven't practiced it in
so long I'm rusty, rusty, rusty....
Rhymes with "soleil," n'est-ce pas? ;>
florinaldo
----------
Dans l'article <37cabfa7...@news.worldnet.net>, c_t...@worldnet.fr
(Christophe Thill) a écrit :
(snip).
>
> Please, let me dwell on one tiny point. It's "Auseil", and should be
> prononced something like "ow-zayyy", not "ow-sill" as I have heard
> sometimes.
(snip)
I have sometimes wondered (when I really don't have anything at all better
to do) if Lovecraft knew the name for his imaginary street is a homonym for
"oseille", colloquial French for money. Considering his constant problems
on that front, it is an ironic coincidence.
--
Florinaldo
Steven Howard
>Then it was dinner.
>We drove over to Subway, after getting lost. Can I say something about
>the streets in Providence? I realize that the city is built upon the
>structures and rationales of an earlier time. But what possible
>advantage could there be in the designing of roads that initially head
>west only to, at some bizarre point, branch off towards the South and
>then gradually shift back to the East? Throughout our time in Providence
>I continually found myself accused of "having the directional sense of a
>blind and dead sheep." But my directional sense wasn't the problem, it
>was those blasted roads! I'd know that our destination was on the
>eastern or northern side of town, but getting there proved difficult
>since every road seemed to conspire against me. That is my excuse,
>anyhow.
It was worse for me -- I really have no sense of direction and probably
owe my life to the fact that I grew up and have lived most of my adult
life in relatively modern cities in the American West, where the streets
are more or less on a grid. Had I learned to drive in, say, Providence,
I'd have roamed the streets for years until I ran out of gas and
eventually starved to death.
My all-time favorite was the street - I forget which one, but it's on
College Hill, near Thayer - that's a one-way street heading south, then
for ONE block it's a two-way street, and then it becomes a one-way street
heading NORTH. I still don't know what they were thinking of.
And then we went to Newport, where by law the streets must be exactly the
width of one car.
We had a great time, once we learned to schedule plenty of time to get
good and lost the first time we tried to go anywhere.
========
Steven Howard
bl...@ibm.net
http://www.geocities.com/~blore
"Do you have a goal that you focus all your energies on?"
"You mean other than getting myself dressed for work and
staying there until 5:00?"
Brian McNaughton
their poets a tremendous edge.
--Brian McNaughton
On 30 Aug 1999 21:49:46 GMT, markr...@aol.com (MarkRainey) wrote:
>>>Please, let me dwell on one tiny point. It's "Auseil", and should be
>prononced something like "ow-zayyy", not "ow-sill" as I have heard sometimes.>>
>