Ross E. Lockhart's Blog, page 48

My tweets

Tue, 18:14 : First day back to work after the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and the @nightshadebooks office is abandoned. Did I miss an ailen plague? Tue, 18:18 : RT @robertlfleck: Defenestration is not an effective means of killing when you're in a single-story structure.

My tweets

Mon, 16:43 : Headed home from the #HPLFF. Exhausted, yet invigorated. So many awesome movies; so many amazing conversations. Ready to conquer the world. Mon, 20:15 : Have you been touched by His Noodly Appendage? Thanks Portland and the HPLFF for an amazing weekend! http://t.co/Sjf4RGBr Mon, 23:11 : Charlie says "welcome back" through the fence. http://t.co/ZBgQBtIt

My tweets

Sun, 16:54 : A few thoughts on Barbarian Days http://t.co/qTy8Gj4v Sun, 17:07 : RT @HPLHS: Looking forward to day three of the HPL Film Festival in Portland. Thanks to all the members who have visited us at the booth! Sun, 18:45 : Have you seen the mellow yellow sign? Sun, 19:00 : Don't tell anybody, but I plan on revealing all the arcane secrets of publishing today at my 4pm panel at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Sun, 19:29 : You're projecting. http://t.co/p71ET2UO Sun, 21:45 : Horror Express and a Tree Hugger Porter: a damn fine pairing. Sun, 22:17 : RT @canon_alberic: @lossrockhart @mythosfox Have you seen #TheYellowSign? http://t.co/GaJd456F #SpreadTheFear Sun, 22:28 : "This land is our land..." @andrewsfuller reads at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival. http://t.co/kn7aABcR Mon, 00:32 : Having a War Elephant IPA at Columbia River Brewing, Floral nose, slightly bitter on the tongue, Earl Grey tea finish. http://t.co/aDd4xOlo Mon, 05:10 : Very happy to see Doctor Glamour win an award at the HPL Film Festival. "Sometimes I'm too funky for my own self."

A few thoughts on Barbarian Days

Last night at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, I caught a screening of Barbarian Days, a documentary exploring the fine line between fandom and scholarship regarding Robert E. Howard, the Texas-born weird fiction author and poet best known for creating Conan the Barbarian. The film takes us to the tiny town of Cross Plains, Texas, where Howard lived most of his short life, for the 2008 Howard Days convention, and follows four of the best known scholars of Howard’s work, Indy Cavalier, Rusty Burke, Mark Finn, and Chris Gruber.



This is a heartfelt, evocative, unflinching, and often uncomfortable film, a “talking head”-style documentary intercut with sparse Texas landscapes, fantasy illustrations, and clips from the two Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan films and the 1996 Renée Zellweger/Vincent D’Onofrio biographical film, The Whole Wide World.

The film engages its audience well, painting its four principles as good-ole-boy warrior/poets, united by a common fandom, family men prone to bombastic braggadocio, raconteurs of the road who often feel like the smartest—or toughest—guy in the room. The interviews are often shot extremely tight, so close that you can see stubble and sweat on the faces of the men as they wax on in the Texas heat. This is an excellent strategy, endearing the audience to Cavalier, Burke, Finn, and Gruber, allowing us access to a typically guarded emotional landscape, and is the foundation upon which the film’s emotional core rests.



There are a few missteps and omissions. A 2007 confrontation between Chris Gruber and Leo Grin, a fellow Howard scholar who does not appear in the film, is depicted through a semi-animated series of comic book panels, and comes across one-sided, heavy-handed, and a little bit goofy. Like Grin, Don Herron, editor of the indispensable REH critical anthologies The Dark Barbarian and The Barbaric Triumph, is referenced, but does not appear in the film

A scene of the scholars describing childhood traumas of broken families and parental loss as impetus to their discovering Howard’s work is intercut with the scene of Conan’s mother’s decapitation from 1982’s Conan the Barbarian, and should hold emotional resonance, but provoked me to uncomfortable laughter. (To be fair, half of my reaction had to with memories of the Schwarzenegger/Milius DVD commentary track to Conan the Barbarian and Schwarzenegger’s crude comments about actress Nadiuska, who played Conan’s mother. The other half was the shock of, “I can’t believe they went there.”)

But overall, Barbarian Days is a smart, satisfying film, which I recommend highly.

My tweets

Sat, 13:42 : One of the highlights of the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival: the campy, bombastic rock opera Doctor Glamour. http://t.co/RTDKffzf Sat, 13:56 : Ruckus PDX. And the horse they rode in on. http://t.co/Pd5UvseY Sat, 14:09 : Graffiti Dance! Graffiti Dance! Everybody's doin' the Graffiti Dance! http://t.co/5vCBo1U3 Sat, 15:14 : RT @wnwagner: My brain woke me at 5:45 chanting: HPLFF HPLFF HPLFF HPLFF!! Sat, 17:16 : RT @inspiringcraft: #Podcast for #writers by #author of The Winds of Khalakovo, one of the most beautiful #fantasy #books. http://t.co/1 ... Sat, 18:15 : Morning, Portland. I'm ready for another day of coffee, beer, books, & scary movies with tentacles. Question is, are you ready for me? Sat, 18:15 : RT @jdiddyesquire: Giving away a copy of ALEXANDER OUTLAND by GJ Koch from @nightshadebooks http://t.co/I9EhybSE I review it too. In sho ... Sat, 18:15 : RT @k28dalton: Last chance to enter author Gini Koch Interview + giveaway! http://t.co/iyyFhAZc Sat, 19:06 : RT @Ceruleankiss: @GiniKoch why do I read you books over and over again, my work and social life suffers, oh well pick your battles buwh ... Sat, 19:06 : RT @JMMcDermott: Alas, there are no more free eBooks, folks. But, one could always go to http://t.co/Slwldjfx and read a short story col ... Sat, 20:50 : Lagunitas IPA and theater popcorn: breakfast of champions. Sat, 22:07 : Live from the Women in Lovecraftian Fiction panel w/ Scott Connors, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Molly Tanzer, & Bob Price. http://t.co/RAX02YGh Sun, 01:58 : Double Mountain Vaporizer at Blossoming Lotus. Crisp and light American pale, refreshing with a slightly bitter back. http://t.co/qkA16kYE

My tweets

Fri, 16:32 : Good morning Portland. Let's get this tentacle party started. http://t.co/lga6B8eI Fri, 17:17 : Think I should pick up a smoking jacket to wear to the HPL Film Festival. Something Sax Rohmer might have worn. Suggestions? Fri, 18:11 : RT @wnwagner: Life, PDX-style: "The unrelenting terror of a vast, indifferent, carnivorous cosmos...with microbrews &coffee." Thanks ... Fri, 18:16 : RT @andrewsfuller: @lossrockhart @wnwagner how could I forget the coffee? That darkest ichor of some ancient shadowed cephalopodic mind- ... Fri, 19:38 : Rambling about suburban Portland w/ @reverendelvis and @ECthetwit, Zombina and the Skeletones on the stereo, headed to http://t.co/g5AzrXDp Fri, 21:27 : 2010 Sang Noir from Cascade Brewing. Cherries and bourbon on the nose; tart cherries against the palate. Refreshing. http://t.co/spArIqfr Fri, 22:30 : Boneyard RPM IPA at Green Dragon: Spicy, floral nose, promise of hoppy bite; tongue-tickling, understated bitterness. http://t.co/N5xQq3lm Fri, 22:34 : At first, I thought this read "Jesus was Dagon." http://t.co/1C8Ii04V Fri, 23:38 : Three, count 'em, THREE John W. Campbell Memorial Award finalists from @nightshadebooks http://t.co/Z8V3GREV Fri, 23:39 : By Sunday night, expect Portland to be a smoking ruin: http://t.co/1JdJYWTl http://t.co/DKZnvun4 Fri, 23:48 : Batman was here. http://t.co/B3Wx6hXn Fri, 23:55 : "Anger is a gift." But let me tell you, it's a bitch and a half to wrap. http://t.co/EmQXoNJe Sat, 00:43 : Having staked out a row at the Hollywood Theatre, @reverendelvis is pacing the aisles, lamenting the fact that @Ed_Kurtz_Bleeds isn't here. Sat, 01:00 : RT @HPLHS: Doors just opened here at the Hollywood Theater in Portland. The HP Lovecraft Film Festival has commenced! Join us! Sat, 01:17 : RT @bibliotropic: So engrossed in @JeffSalyards's "Scourge of the Betrayer." It's been a while since I've felt so hooked on a new novel. Sat, 03:14 : And here we go... The H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival & Cthulhucon has officially kicked the shoggoth into gear. http://t.co/0BJe0iUA

My tweets

Thu, 18:28 : Officially on my way to the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, OR. Gonna be a busy, busy weekend. Thu, 18:30 : Feline interloper who wandered by to say "Mrow" when I stopped by @iffer23's laboratory on my way to the airport. http://t.co/JW58Kehz Thu, 18:35 : One tall IPA. Killing time before my flight in the Pyramid Taproom of the Oakland Airport. Hoppy, bitter, & bright. http://t.co/ZACYOxEl Thu, 18:45 : Lori at TeeFury alerted me to Creepyseb's God of Cosmic Horror T-shirt. This one is Book of Cthulhu approved: http://t.co/nEb9Fq5g Thu, 19:11 : I really should insist on traveling by dirigible, as @reverendelvis suggests. It's the only way to fly. Thu, 22:23 : Hello Portland! Thu, 23:21 : Calikitteh, AKA Woof, an exceedingly pregnant feline interloper who likes to visit @reverendelvis' kitchen. http://t.co/p5u0rcSC Fri, 04:11 : Watching Battlefield Basebal with @reverendelvis and @ECthetwit -- http://t.co/SasZPWdU

My tweets

Wed, 14:29 : RT @CarrieCuinn: A completely appropriate fact that will surprise no one: @lossrockhart is my 666th follower. Hi Ross! #nightshade #cthulhu Wed, 21:16 : RT @LOLGOP: The President is just trying to deflect from the sudden decline in gas prices. Wed, 21:22 : RT @TheAuthorGuy: POTUS says Sasha and Malia's outlook changed his view on Gay Marriage. Related: Justin Bieber appointed secretary of D ... Wed, 22:11 : My neighborhood is crawling with painters and their easels today. This one is blocking @iffer23's parking space. http://t.co/cwFhn55H Wed, 22:13 : On the canvas, a watercolor of her thumb. http://t.co/p9em8mX3 Thu, 01:56 : Tall Randall. http://t.co/AsdIKCT6 Thu, 02:29 : Walking to Velasco's this evening we ran into Schatzi and his rat. http://t.co/ZqJ7Xw2F Thu, 03:05 : Doggie in the Window (at Roe & Company, Kentucky St, Petaluma). http://t.co/hlpA5qPr#snapseed http://t.co/8Wplt3JH Thu, 05:21 : Locked out. http://t.co/s7gbSEfn

My tweets

Wed, 02:00 : RT @revtristy: RT @dmataconis last time NC put an Amendment regarding marriage in their Constitution was 1875 when they banned interraci ...

My tweets

Tue, 03:19 : Stoplight self-portrait. http://t.co/ppba9sBy