A Night with Edgar Allan Poe

With tomorrow being Halloween, it was nice to see the rain from the weekend clear and allow us to get out. Not knowing what tomorrow will hold, i was able to get tickets to see to something different: ANight with Edgar Allan Poe.

Tonight I had a chance to sit back and watch a tremendous performance by literary historian Rob Velella. During this hour and a half show at Fort Necessity Nation Battlefield, he was able to channel his energy and take us into the life and words of Edgar Allan Poe with a combination of well-known and lesser-known works including Shadow A Parable, The Oblong Box and of course, The Raven. 

This special evening program was held at the Visitor Center at Fort Necessity National Battlefield and the amazing performance drew a packed house. For me, as a huge Poe fan it was nice to see such such a diverse group on hand to learn about the works of one of the greatest authors of all time. Especially in a performance that was both entertaining and informative. 

Velella, who is an independent literary historian and playwright specializing in American literature of the 19th century, created the perfect character and seemed to flow through the material effortlessly. I would highly recommend checking out a performance if you get a chance.

Seven Below (2012)

With Halloween just two days away, I decided to kick back and relax and see what I could find on Netflix. There are some flicks that I have passed over in the past, but could slide in this week. Before I get to my review for 7 Below, I would be remiss if I did not mention the passing of former Velvet Underground front man, and punk poet Lou Reed. Reed was an inspiration for me, and his CD, The Raven, is a perfect soundtrack for Halloween. Here is a sample.

Plot/ a group of strangers are trapped in a time warp house where a terrible event transpired exactly 100 years prior.

Now I know why I had bypassed this flick for so long. This one was not really worth the time I invested in watching it. A thriller, this one suffers from some head scratching flaws. From poor scripting and dialogue, to terrible sound quality, to uneven performances, this one scuttles the small creativeness allowed for in the storyline before it can get started. More importantly, as a ghost story, it truly falls flat and produces nothing more than a slowly paced and boring thriller. If you are reading this stay away… Stay far away.

Zombie Items Created for the 2013 Fayette County Fair

Every year the County Fair comes around and it is always an awesome treat to enter some items to be judged in the different categories. This year was a special treat, as the Fayette County Fair where we live has an extensive Halloween Section. With that being my favorite holiday, I decided to try my hand at a battery of zombie themed items for this year. Here are some pictures of the items I submitted in the different Halloween categories. 

Halloween Centerpiece

Halloween Decorative Item

Halloween Statue

Functional Halloween Item

I also created a Halloween themed wreath out of tree branches and a stuffed Raven, for the Halloween category but failed to take a picture of it before submission. We will be there tomorrow to see how the items fared, and I cannot wait. Hopefully, my zombie ideas were not too much for this small rural county. 

The Raven (2012)

 

 

As any reader of the blog will know, I am a huge Edgar Allan Poe fan. I have collected his writings, movies based on his material and even dressed like him. Honestly, his works have inspired much of who I am. With that in mind, I could not wait to sit down and watch The Raven in the comforts of my living room. Yes, I understand these movies are often a sketchy proposition, but as a fan, you have to watch.

 

 

Plot/ When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's works, a young Baltimore detective joins forces with Poe to stop him from making his stories a reality.

 

 

When I saw that this movie was being filmed, I was really not looking forward to it. Do not get me wrong, I love everything Poe, but I feared that this one would fall into the category of Poe inspired films that fell short. Fortunately, my fears were wrong. This movie is much better than I could have imagined and was an interesting take of the last days of the literary genius. What I really liked was the dark and graphic way they combined different parts of Poe classics. These ideas within this layered story worked well with the solid acting, characterizations, and effects. More importantly, it portrayed Poe as a human and author, and did not try to create something more than he was. In the end, this was one of the better Poe themed movies that I have seen and one that should be seen. If you have not watched it, check it out.

The Raven (1963)

After a long day, I decided to turn to something reliable to put a smile on my face. What is that? The combination of Roger Corman, Vincent Price and Edgar Allan Poe, in 1963s The Raven.

Plot/ A magician who has been turned into a raven turns to a former sorcerer for help in this film loosely based on the Edgar Allen Poe poem.

While this Roger Corman adaptation of Poe’s The Raven is far from a horror flick, it is definitely a must see for horror fans. Yes, there is not much linking the film to Poe other than the title, but what Richard Matheson’s scripting created is one of the best Corman trips into the world of Poe. Littered with comedy, the fusing of Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff (with a young Jack Nicholson), really works within the confines of this often overlooked Corman masterpiece. The special effects are decent (especially on the budget), the sets are tremendous and the script is amazing. Yes, there are flaws (as there are in all of Corman’s low-budget flicks), but they are easily overlooked. Check this out, you will not be disappointed.