Comments

  4. CitizenVA says

    Nice! Cthulhulives.org belongs to the HP Lovecraft Historical Society. They created TWO CDs of Solstice music! “A Very Scary Solstice” and “An Even Scarier Solstice”. Their version of “Oh Cthulhu” is just fantastic! :)

    CVA

  5. says

    As we are on the HPLHS, PZ you may be very entertained by Shoggoth on the Roof. “A big monster like that on such a pointed roof, you may ask ‘How does it stay up there if it’s so difficult?’. That I can tell you in one word, Tentacles!”

  14. David Marjanović, OM says

    The humor of a physicist… I’ll never understand it.

    Physicist?

    But you will understand it, if you know what a Chick Tract is, and if you furthermore have some idea what H. P. Lovecraft wrote (in case you don’t, Wikipedia is your friend): just go here and kindly ignore the fact they can’t spell Iä.

    http://sciencedefeated.wordpress.com/

    If you use reason to argue against reason, you contradict yourself. If you don’t use reason to argue against reason, you’re unreasonable.

    (And that’s not even original. It’s at least 800 years old, off the top of my head.)

  16. David Marjanović, OM says

    The HPLHS is awesome, and The Carol of the Old Ones may be the pinnacle of their awesomeness.

    And the subliminal messages in there! You may hear some of the deep voices singing “bringing certain doooooom”, but that’s not all of it!!! Full text and notes so you can learn to sing it yourself. :-)

  17. David Marjanović, OM says

    I can’t wait till they release “The Whisper in Darkness”:

    Bah. They can’t even pronounce Iä. What do they think those dots are for? Contrast that to the Carol of the Old Ones, which is so beautifully sung…

  18. Riman Butterbur says


    Ignorant fools, mankind now rules
    Where they ruled then: it’s theirs again

    Is this a spoof on Zionism?

  21. says

    Watching Mississippi HS playoffs on the TV (Meridian vrs. South Panola). South Panola has an 89 game win streak on the line.

    Bad Science or Bad Politics? I am not an economist but I have had to balance a checkbook in my life…and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express a time or two…..

    Economics and Banking are not Rocket Science
    http://thetimchannel.com/?p=288

    Enjoy.

  22. Julie K says

    I love these songs. It’s the only thing that gets me through the maddening barrage of Xmas music this time of year.

    And Lovecraft fans should definitely check out the other HPLHS productions. Their radio adaptation of At The Mountains of Madness is the best Lovecraft adaptation I’ve ever heard/seen.

  23. Longtime Lurker says

    What part of “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” don’t you understand?

    That is not dead which can eternally lie…

    Heheh… Ray Comfort, not dead.

    Substitute any fundie’s name.

  25. IST says

    Nice! I hadn’t seen many Lovecraft references until I started reading this blog (apart from the ones Pratchett makes), and I love it.

  29. says

    “Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”

    My shift has ended. It is time for the next spirit.

  30. HP says

    Their radio adaptation of At The Mountains of Madness is the best Lovecraft adaptation I’ve ever heard/seen.

    Don’t get me wrong; I love the HPLHS, and the Mountains of Madness was very good for an amateur production. Their silent film adaptation of Call of Cthulhu is a joy.

    But consider: It is November 1st, 1945. The day after Halloween. The bomb has been dropped, shocking the world, and apocalyptic terror leaves forever the bounds of fiction. And yet, the reputation of H.P. Lovecraft is perhaps at its lowest point — dead and forgotten, or dismissed as pulp drivel.

    It is at this point that CBS’s Suspense, their highest-rated, long-running anthology radio series, with the biggest budget for talent and audio SFX, decides to feature for its Halloween broadcast a special presentation of The Dunwich Horror. It stars Ronald Colman (Lost Horizon) as Professor Armitage, William Conrad* (Bullwinkle, Cannon) as Wilbur Whateley, and (unless I’m very much mistaken) an uncredited Howard McNear (Floyd the Barber) as Wizard Whately.

    You can download it in MP3 format from the Internet Archive here.

    NBC’s audio SFX studio was the best in the world at the time, and wouldn’t be eclipsed by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for many years. If the sound of the whippoorwills doesn’t invade your nightmares, I don’t want to know you. For that matter, there is something transcendentally beautiful about ’30s screen idol Ronald Colman screaming “Yog Sothoth!” at the top of his lungs, over and over.

    It’s not perfect — Lovecraft’s tale suffers from being compressed to a half hour format — but the combination of world-class talent and respect for the source material makes this the best Lovecraft adaptation I’ve ever heard, especially considering that it is within a decade of being contemporaneous with the man himself.

    —-
    * Listen to William Conrad. Go back and re-read Lovecraft, who spends several paragraphs describing Wilbur’s speech patterns. Listen to William Conrad again. Amazing.

  31. antaresrichard says

    What’s with actor Cameron Mitchell? Is he trying to put the whammy on us or are his hands arthritic??

  32. Tulse says

    Wow — thanks for the fantastic tip, HP! I hadn’t run across the NBC radioplay before, and so far it sounds outstanding.

  35. Julie K says

    Thanks HP – I was unaware of this. I was thinking of more recent productions, like those from the Atlantic Radio Theater Company.

    I hadn’t seen many Lovecraft references until I started reading this blog

    It goes with the cephalopods, you know.

    You know, I thought of a slogan for Pharyngula:

    “Pharyngula: Come for science, stay for the Cephalopods!”

  36. Julie K says

    Urgh…too early, not enough caffeine. Should read

    “Pharyngula: Come for the science, stay for the Cephalopods!”

  37. Sclerophanax says

    Does this mean that instead of “happy holidays” or “season’s greetings” it’s preferrable to say “Iä! Cthulhu!” instead?

    Oh, and somebody should write the lyrics to “Great Old One is Coming to Town”…

  38. Sclerophanax says

    Damn, I just now checked the website and noticed they already had a song “Great Old Ones Are Coming to Town”. I should have guessed.

  42. Shaden Freud says

    #4 CitizenVA wrote:

    Their version of “Oh Cthulhu” is just fantastic! :)

    Agreed! A Chthulu version of “Handel’s Messiah?” Just to attempt that takes some guts; to pull it off so well takes real talent.

    Ph’nglui wgah’nagl fhtagn!

  44. Angel Kaida says

    I have a serious weakness for Freddy the Red-Brained Mi-Go and The Shoggoth Song. Away in a Madhouse is nice too, if only because it’d be kind of fun to misuse.