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Ok I give up what the hell is a cthulhu? [spelling corrected by admin out of fear] (1 Viewer)

Holadem

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Never read HP, I am intrigued by this creature. Is it OK to start with Call of the Cthulhu or is there a prerequisite?

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Holadem
 

Julie K

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Is it OK to start with Call of the Cthulhu or is there a prerequisite?
That's a fine place to start. The opening paragraph pretty much sums up the theme of Lovecraft's fiction:


"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."

This is what HPL meant to scare readers with, not with the mere appearance of any entity, regardless of how powerful it may be. But Joe is right, if you don't "get it" from the stories then no one can really explain it to you.
 

Julie K

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In case anyone's interested - Dennis reading The Cats of Ulthar to his cats reminded me - there's a "graphic novel" (isn't this really just a comic book?) coming out in October with various HPL illustrations, including a Cats of Ulthar one. I think that should be quite cute.
Here's the book, and I think Max should enjoy the cover illustration...
 

Sam Posten

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Quick, run for your lives, it's Hello Cthulhu!!!!

Anyone have a complete list of movies that 'claim' to be Lovecraft inspired? Would you classify Evil Dead as Lovecraft inspired or not?
Sam
 

Julie K

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My eyes! My eyes!!!
Although, to be honest, I'm not sure which is more sanity threatening - Hello Cthulhu or the plush "Summer Fun Cthulhu"
There are just some things that man was not meant to see...
[But of course, I am compelled to buy it...]
Link Removed has a pretty good list of Lovecraft inspired films, but they, like other lists I've seen, have not yet included Dagon. This film should be seen by all Lovecraft fans (but it's really more Shadow Over Innsmouth than Dagon). I really enjoyed it.
I wouldn't really classify the Evil Dead movies as Lovecraft inspired. There are Lovecraft elements (in this case the Necronomicon, of course), but there are those elements in other films as well. If we're just counting up references then The Attic Expeditions comes out ahead with two references: a mention of Azathoth and another to the Old Ones.
(Max, take another look at that illustration and see just who is selling that seafood...)
 

Max Leung

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Ah! Very clever. Delightfully twisted. I'll blame the low resolution of that scan for my missing it! ;)
Although, I am somewhat disappointed that the server wasn't J.R. "Bob" Dobbs.
Slack!
 

Dennis Nicholls

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Now I'm really confused. The reward for being in the cult of Cthulhu is that you reputedly get eaten last. But what about those 6 guys on the ship? They were a 'stand in' for cult members, weren't they? And when they poked around on the 'door' and woke Cthulhu up, he responded by eating 3 of them! :eek: Sounds like Cthulhu doesn't keep his end of the bargain.....
 

Julie K

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Sounds like Cthulhu doesn't keep his end of the bargain.....
This could well (and most likely) be true. All we really know of Cthulhu is what has been passed down through a hidden cult that was given no doubt very carefully crafted dreams that may or may not reflect the Great Old One's true intentions...
 
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For those who read the Charles Stross story Julie linked to (great to read it again--I read it originally in Gardner Dozois's Best SF #18), here is an "Anomalocaris", just in case the name sounded like a joke. There is also really a "Hallucigenia". The Anomalocaris at two feet long was the biggest thing alive then and you can see how Stross might have found it a good candidate for a Cthulhuian entity. Their favorite snack was apparently Trilobite as they seem to be the source of once-mysterious teeth marks on lots of Trilobite fossils.
In a weird coincidence, just before reading this thread and re-reading that story, I was watching a National Geographic program on PBS called "Shape of Life" all about the "Cambrian Explosion" where the simple Pre-Cambrian forms of life were joined by uncountable new forms that laid down the foundations of all modern animal body plans and lots of additional body plans that didn't make it past the Cambrian. If that program hadn't spent a lot of time on the Anomalocaris I would assumed the creatures mentioned in the story were the made-up animals they sounded like.
(Don't miss the animation page at the Anomalocaris site.)
Edit: Here's an animation I had to add of an even more Cthulhuian thingie: "Link Removed". It is thought to be a close relative of the Anomalocaris, but count its eyes. That's right, there are five eyes. This is a little teenie thing though, about two inches long.
-Robert
 

Max Leung

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I think Cambrian creatures are the coolest creatures ever. Nowadays, animals all look just like each other. Just look at the well-respected zoological journal, Playboy Magazine, and you'll see the creatures studied in its pages as complete clones of each other. Boring. And the maintenance of these creatures, as described in their textual descriptions is absolutely ghastly. It would take years to house-train these pets, and then you have to take them skydiving, mountain-biking, hiking, shopping (shudder), and fly them to different kennels all over the country (the Hollywood kennel seems to be the most popular).
And if you don't keep them happy, they'll go off and find themselves another owner! No loyalty, I tell ya!
Cambrian lifeforms don't have any of these problems. I want one! Are they as easy to raise as Sea Monkeys? How big of a tank will I need? Can Cthlulhu babies survive in fresh tap water with wide-temperature variations? Do they glow in the dark from bio-luminescence? I hope they are not a PITA to raise like brine shrimp...
 

Julie K

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Thanks for the links Robert - those animations are pretty cool. I would like to see that PBS show and hope it will be broadcast again. I'm fascinated by those wonderfully weird critters of the Cambrian. Maybe I'm a bit strange, but I think it's almost tragic that there are no more trilobites or anomalocarids around today. (Opabinia is pretty nice too...)
There's another Charles Stross novel coming out some time called The Atrocity Archive. It's Lovecraftian, but apparently lighter in tone than A Colder War. I'm looking forward to it.
There's another giant squid washed up on the beach. I think these are your 'Cthulhu babies' Max - hope you have a large tank! ;)
 

Holadem

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If we stir the pot enough, will JulieK make an appearance?
She had dissapeared for like a month, a couple of weeks ago. It seems she has dissapeared again...
btw, I couldn't find Lovecraft at the local library :confused:. Isn't he from Rhode Island, which is next door?
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Holadem
 

Max Leung

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I'm guessing that Julie won't be back. :frowning:
Oh well, I'm sure there is a zombie/Cthulhu fan site awaiting her attention somewhere in the digital universe...
Henry: Haha! Funny! Hmmm, will corn work with boiled squid? Interesting idea...
 

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