Besides reading, what is your hobby/hobbies?

[bendk]

A few disjointed comments.

eldritchoo,
Thanks for directing me to your blog, it was interesting. I am, indeed, a fan of Kafka's work.

I think some of TL's stories would make fine radio plays. I have read more than a few old radio show scripts and find them enjoyable. To bring something like that to fruition is beyond me. I think that is Dr. Locrian's area of expertise.

I would definitely look forward to reading your essay on Woolrich and Ligotti. I need to brush up on my Woolrich though.

I agree with you on your description of the idealistic 50s. The 50s noirs may be darker on the whole, but I can't think of a darker scene than a giggling Richard Widmark shoving an old lady in a wheel-chair down a flight of stairs in KISS OF DEATH 1947 (almost 1950s)

The only thing I ever read of Jim Thompson was THE KILLER INSIDE ME. I liked it. I always wanted to read Stephen King's introduction to the limited slipcase edition put out 1989. I like reading King's nonfiction, although I don't always agree with him. He is a very knowledgable individual and usually has something insightful to say.
"The Killer Inside Me is an American classic, no less, a novel which deserves space on the same shelf with Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, The Sun Also Rises, and As I Lay Dying."---Stephen King.

I've never read anything by Charles Willeford but I do have an old copy of WOMAN CHASER hiding somewhere in my apartment. I bought it after watching the hilarious 'noir farce' of the same name released in 2000. It stars Patrick Warburton (Puddy, from Seinfeld). I love this movie. I bet I've watched it half a dozen times.

[G. S. Carnivals]

bendk,
The majority of Charles Willeford's novels are darkly humorous. The Woman Chaser is a good place to start. Willeford's title was The Director; you'll see why. Other gems include The Black Mass of Brother Springer (aka Honey Gal), Pick-Up, and The Burnt Orange Heresy(!). Cockfighter and Miami Blues have been filmed. Mr. Willeford is in Cockfighter, which stars Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton (recommendation enough). His short fiction was collected in The Machine in Ward Eleven and Everybody's Metamorphosis. He wrote poetry and non-fiction, too. Somebody I'd like to have quaffed a few beers with while smoking Kools!
Phil

[eldritch00]

Regarding Willeford: Pick-Up is the only one I have from that LOA anthology. I've yet to read it, but it didn't seem very humorous to me, at least based on the blurb used on the book jacket to describe it. I think I may have seen a secondhand paperback of Miami Blues, but sadly, that was quite some time ago.

bendk:

If there was some easier way for a radio play collaboration among all of us adapting Ligotti's works, I'd love to be a part of that as well. It's the language, I think, that would come across really really well. But then, the practicalities might be a bit too much trouble.

Can you imagine what we could do with the collective first-person voice used in "The Shadow at the Bottom of the World"? All of us speaking in unison...that would sound rightfully eerie, I imagine. And the opening conversation of "The Tsalal," each of us speaking one line...

Matt's given me the go-signal for the essay, so I hope I get it written soon. Just don't expect it any time, but of course, you'll all be the first to read it when it's finally done.

The first thing I read of Thompson was The Grifters, which was pretty good (I enjoyed the film and that's what made me seek the book out). But The Killer Inside Me was just incredible. For some reason, I put off reading it, but when I finally got to it, good Lord. It was terrifying, and I'm not sure if it was the story itself or the way I was rooting for the main character.

(Cheers by the way to Stephen King's non-fiction as well. I generally think that too many people write him off just for being a commercial success, but he can still deliver something killer every so often, I think.)

I'm going to keep an eye out for that Patrick Warburton film. He's hilarious, even in those series of advertisements with Jerry Seinfeld where he voiced an animated Superman. American Express or Visa...I can't quite recall, but they were available for viewing online.

[G. S. Carnivals]

Eldritch00,
The Pick-Up, The Burnt Orange Heresy, Cockfighter, and The Difference (an existential western) are quite serious works by Willeford. The Pick-Up is no pick-me-up. The sly humor creeps into some of his other works such as The Woman Chaser, High Priest of California, The Black Mass of Brother Springer, and the four Hoke Moseley novels, of which Miami Blues was the first.

bendk,
Would you not agree that the gibbering, maniacal Widmark was the original Jack Nicholson? See 1948's Road House for further evidence. Check out his cackle!

Knifeless in the Black Thread,
Phil

[symbolique]

nil

[N/A]

Interesting to see some talk about noir here, I haven't read Woolrich, but his work has been recommended to me. As has stuff by Gil Brewer. For anyone w/an interest, there's a good site called Crime Culture, run by a woman named Lee Horsley, who wrote a very good book on noir called "The Noir Thriller". The site has a bit of an academic slant, but is very accessible and it covers a wide range of noir/crime literature and film:
http://www.crimeculture.com/

Also, at the risk of slipping into crass self-promotion I recently guest-edited a "weird noir" issue of a 'zine called Hardluck Stories:
http://www.hardluckstories.com/
-----
As for hobbies - art and photography - every now and then I'll go on a picture taking spree, mess around w/some graphic design or throw some paint at a canvas. I'm not very good at any of it, but that's never stopped me.

[eldritch00]

symbiotique: Nice to see someone who's turned a hobby into a way of living, even if you do have to deal with the stodgy old corporate world, which I take from your "tone" (such as it were) isn't exactly very pleasant. The two interests of yours that I'm most fascinated in are:

Quote Originally Posted by symbolique";p=&quot

Egyptology, though more in the sense of it's indigenous roots these days helping Egyptologist, Moustafa Gadalla and the Tehuti Research Foundation break the academic patriarchal dominance that Abrahamic religions wield over the Baladi. ... Lastly I collect canes, preferably the older the better.

The latter is simply something I find charming in a nicely antiquarian way; how much would those old canes cost in comparison with new ones? You should post some pictures as I'd love to see them.

The former, however, I don't quite understand. It's my girlfriend who's into Egyptology, and I'd want to tell her about the kind of work you do here.


N/A: Neddal, is it? Thanks for the link to Crime Culture: that's exactly the kind of site I'm looking for, scholarly articles and all that.

(Although I have to confess that I did lapse a bit into some unwarranted sillyness when I read the name Lee Horsley and thought of that actor who played Matt Houston on 80s television:



Anyway, thanks too for reminding me about that "weird noir" issue you edited for Hardluck. You mentioned this somewhere, either Weirdmonger or Horrabin Hall, but it slipped my mind, so your "self-promotion" isn't crass at all and is very much welcome. (Besides, you were promoting the authors who submitted!)

Cheers, and thanks once again!

[The Silent One]

Quote Originally Posted by symbolique";p=&quot

I was fortunate that what started out as a hobby many years ago turned into a profession, art/graphic design - though it has led into doing work that you definitely would not want to do as a hobby, being the corporate side of it, though I'm still involved in a lot of dark creative projects. Collecting comics not the superhero stuff, Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, Ashely Wood, Humanoids Publishing, Grendel and thousands more. Books, like Unknown far too many and piled around my house due to constant lack of shelving, mostly artbooks, horror, graphic novels. An unhealthy obsession of collecting the rare and extremely expensive music releases (beautifully constructed artwork and boxed packaging - Absinthe actually contained a real spoon for absinthe) from the french noise/ambient act Les Joyaux de la Princesse. Egyptology, though more in the sense of it's indigenous roots these days helping Egyptologist, Moustafa Gadalla and the Tehuti Research Foundation break the academic patriarchal dominance that Abrahamic religions wield over the Baladi. Tramping as many preserves around New Zealand as my wife and I are able. Music, collecting it (thousands of CDs of dark folk, dark ambient, noise, weird rock, jazz) and I am a reviewer of dark ambient & folk for a magazine) and practising the guitar, and recording one's own music in my studio. Cooking, I absolutely love experimenting with new foods, New Zealand has only really opened up to the vast foodstuffs the world has had access to in the last 5-8 years. Up until then it was very 'meat + 3 vege'. Lastly I collect canes, preferably the older the better.

Morrison, eh? Twisted.
I love bizzare and rare music, although the prices are a downer.....

[The New Nonsense]

It's wonderful hearing everyone's various interests. Like many of you I have many hobbies (when I'm not curled up in a dim attic corner devouring a Ligottian tome with my eyes). One of my main hobbies (I call it a hobby because one can't really make honest money from it) is investigating the paranormal. I've been part of a team of paranormal investigators for some time now (way before the Ghost Hunters show on the Sci-Fi channel). Mostly we do cases of alleged hauntings, but we also investigate things like crop circles, cryptozoological sightings, and psychical claims. Two weeks ago my team was filmed conducting an investigation for a show called "World's Scariest Places". It will air on Oct 22nd on the ABC Family channel.
Some of my other hobbies inlcude growing carnivorous jungle plants and rare orchids, painting & wood carving, collecting rare books, and home brewing. I also opperate a private tiki bar (The Headhunter's Hideaway) which I would classify as a hobby (it includes collecting fine rums). In short, I'm always chasing "spirits" in one form or another.

[The Silent One]

Quote Originally Posted by The New Nonsense";p=&quot

...One of my main hobbies (I call it a hobby because one can't really make honest money from it) is investigating the paranormal. I've been part of a team of paranormal investigators for some time now (way before the Ghost Hunters show on the Sci-Fi channel). Mostly we do cases of alleged hauntings, but we also investigate things like crop circles, cryptozoological sightings, and psychical claims. Two weeks ago my team was filmed conducting an investigation for a show called "World's Scariest Places". It will air on Oct 22nd on the ABC Family channel...

Oh, where, spirit hunter ;)?