CthulhuCon and Zombie Lovecraft

Earrings

The annual horror convention known as CthulhuCon was this previous weekend, and it was a wonderful time. Or I guess I should say that half of it was last weekend, since the film festival part of it won't happen for another few months. But that doesn't change that it was a great time.

There was an art competition, during which I discovered that it can be quite fascinating to watch artists at their work. That actually surprised me. I'm not familiar with all of the artists in the photo below, but on the far right is Liv Rainy-Smith, who I wrote about a couple years ago when I first discovered her wood cuttings. I am still in love with her stuff. I have one of her pieces of a sea serpent (I always think it looks like a dragon) next to my bed.

Artists hard at work.

Speaking of art, I found one particular painting I so wanted to buy. It shows a tentacle reaching up out of the ocean grasping the TARDIS, and the 11th Doctor is sitting on top of that blue box fishing. I love it so much because I could definitely see that scene happening if there was an episode of the Doctor versus Cthulhu. It was a piece done by Lee Moyer, an artist new to me, and I was able to track it down online here.

There were also author readings, panels on subjects related to horror, cool merchandise...I may have gotten a little excitable about earrings, I admit. As evidence, please reference the first photograph showing four different pairs of mostly horror themed earrings which came home with me.

We also had a visit from the H.P. Lovecraft himself, back from the dead. (Ok, it's an actor named Leeman Kessler, but I'm going to pretend that he's a zombie Lovecraft.) In his new life he has had to rethink his means of living, and now specializes in offering advice and making YouTube videos. He's so entertaining that I set out to find a video of his to share.



It was definitely a great weekend. :)

Random acts of kindness

I went to the Portland Highland Games last weekend. They were a lot of fun, and I'm thinking I can turn the day into a couple of blog posts. I normally haven't done that in the past, and I don't think I've even written about all the Games I've attended. But the Portland Games were the only ones I could attend this year, so I may as well savor them.

One of the cool things about the Games is that there's too much to see and do. This can be a bit frustrating, since it's impossible to be everywhere you want to be at once. But it's also awesome to be able to choose between athletic competitions, pipe bands, Highland dancing, non-pipe bands, sheep dog trial demonstrations....oh, and vendors. The vendors are fun to browse.

I think it was at the Highland Games that I discovered the art of Jen Delyth. There's usually a booth of hers at them, and she does amazing Celtic artwork. If I had a ton of money to blow on just one vendor at the Games, it would be on her stuff.

The Lugh window sticker at my old home, during a thunderstorm

You can also see it here

Last week I started my day at the Portland Games by wandering around the vendors briefly before getting some food. (I'd had coffee, but no food yet. Priorities, you know.) I wasn't ready to buy, but was definitely browsing, and taking note of places to revisit later. When I got to Jen Delyth's booth I decided that I would have to buy a replacement for the Lugh -- or Lleu, as they spell it -- window sticker I had up in my old apartment. It didn't survive my taking it down, which was unsurprising but a little saddening.

One of the guys working the booth started a conversation with me. I learned a few random things about Scottish type stuff from him, including that his clan's tartan has a hideous bright shade of orange in it when modern dyes are used. I guess it's not always a good idea to make colors as bright as possible, just because you can. After a few minutes of talking to him my hunger convinced me that I needed to go in search of food, but I said I'd be back later.

When I returned that afternoon I went straight for the Lugh window sticker, and it was the same guy I'd talked to that morning who took my money. Or rather...he tried to take my money.

There's a bit of a problem with my debit card, which is that the magnetic strip is temperamental. It's no problem if someone can (and is willing to) enter the number on the card manually, but with the iPad he was using that wasn't an option. And I didn't have any cash on me.

I was disappointed, but after he'd been swiping my card for more than a minute I finally told him not to worry about it. I said I would probably get money from someone later and come back then. That's when he surprised me by telling me to just take the $5 window sticker and that I could come back later if I got the money.

Um, wow. I didn't know people actually did nice things like that.

Fortunately I was eventually able to get cash from mom, and I returned to pay. The kindness I'd been shown encouraged me to also spend a bit more than I'd really wanted to on a nice shirt I'd been drooling over. It has Danu on it and is quite lovely. I figure if the people there will be so nice to customers, and that since the artwork there is so lovely, I may as well spend a bit extra on Jen Delyth's stuff, especially if I'm going to insist on indulging myself occasionally.

Cthulhu Con: Loot

After getting distracted by recent events in my life, I would like to resume posting about Cthulhu Con. And specifically in this post, about the loot I brought home.

I spent a bit more money than I meant to, but less than I might have. I think that I was pretty responsible with my money. Mostly. Overall. I think...

Book!

First, I got a book. I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but it's definitely eye catching, and was pleading with me to liberate it from the book seller. It's Screaming Science Fiction: Horrors From Out of Space by Brian Lumley. Between its covers is a collection of short stories that look pretty neat.

A ring...

Yes, I know the info thingy says Nenya. But if you'll look at the photo, you'll see it's not really Nenya.

The vendor was really selling Nenya, though, and the ring I got was from Lord of the Rings as well. So I guess they decided to give me the info for Nenya. Anyways, I liked the three leaves on the ring I got, and kept going back to drool over it until I finally gave in and bought it.

Stickers

Someone was handing out stickers. An awesome one that simply says "Word Horde" and shows some angry vikings ready for a fight. (Seems like a good sticker for any writer to have.) The other seems to be an advertisement for a website.

Another book!

Someone actually just gave this to me, because he had too many books to take home already. It's A Cthulhu Mythos by Chris Jarocha-Ernst. It's basically a good cross reference for someone who is learning about, or wants to looks up details about, Lovecraft's world.

Artsy business card

And finally, the last (non food) thing I bought was a piece of art. Due to copyright I don't know that it's ok for me to share a photo of it here without the artist's permission, but I can certainly share her business card. I can also share a link to what I bought, as well as another link to what I really wanted to buy, and couldn't because it was too darned expensive.

Don't ask me to explain why I want the second one, since I'm scared of spiders. I just like it. And it would have cost a bit more than all the souvenirs I did buy added together. *sigh*

One thing's for sure. The artist Liv Rainey-Smith picked up at least one new fan at the Con. Her stuff is amazing.