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The weekend in review
October seems to be getting away from me. I haven't yet gotten out my harvest spice candle that I always burn this time of year. We haven't bought our pumpkins yet. I've only made two pies, and one batch of pumpkin bread (and that was from a mix), and no Halloween cookies yet. It's been uncommonly warm (to this Mid-Westerner) for this time of year. And I have no idea what I'm going to wear to the Halloween party next week.
Friday, though, since Geo and I both had the day off, we took a drive up to Shenandoah National Park and stopped at several of the look-outs on Skyline Drive. The colors are just starting to turn, and it must be amazing when they start turning in earnest. We bought a season pass to the park, which, you go twice and it's paid for itself. We ate lunch at one of the lodge restaurants. The butternut squash soup was delish. And wouldn't it be great to rent a cabin for a weekend.
This is the kind of outing that makes me miss having little ones. This is the kind of excursion my family used to take.
At one of the gift shops, I bought a children's book of campfire ghost stories. Stories that can be read or easily re-told. The first story in the book was Edgar Allan Poe's "The Telltale Heart." Of course it was. More on that in a moment. The book also had a couple of stories that take place in Ohio (of course), and a story called "Wendigo" (which was the final selling point. Urban legends and lore? In an easy-to-read pocket book? Sold!) which bore no resemblance to the wendiog legend as presented on SPN and my other research. But, whatever. There's other good stuff in the book.
Now, about "The Telltale Heart." This story was my very first introduction to Edgar Allan Poe. I was in the 4th grade, and my teacher had us close all the curtains to the classroom to make it as dark as possible (which was more shadowy than dark), and put on a record of the story being read. It was creepy and freaky and a lot of fun. Now I find "Telltale Heart" in a children's book of ghost stories. I think it's really interesting that such a story, which is really quite disturbing from an adult perspective, seems to be a standard introduction to Edgar Allan Poe and horror for children. I just . . . it's interesting. And amusing.
Saturday night, Geo and I settled in to watch The Frighteners, an excellent horror/adventure movie directed by Peter Jackson and starring Michael J. Fox. It didn't get the audience that it probably should have, due to having it's release date moved from an October release date to a July release date. It's got a really good cast, and makes for a rather fun evening. (There is one scene that I totally understand why it was cut out of the theatrical release version, but I won't spoil it here. If you're interested, feel free to ask.)
Anyway, I recommend.
I had to work a donor reception for the Foundation yesterday. Geo also volunteered. The weather was beautiful. It was held at a beautiful historic (original house dates back to 1836) farm house. I'm hoping the event garnered some interested donors, as I really want our theater to get built.
Oh! And we got the DVD to How to Train Your Dragon. If you have not seen this movie yet, I highly recommend you do so. It's a lot of fun, and very heartwarming, and just a great, fun ride. (In fact, the flying scenes in Avatar brought to my mind how much better HtTYD was, and how I would rather have been watching that again on the big screen in 3D.)
So, that's my weekend round-up.
Friday, though, since Geo and I both had the day off, we took a drive up to Shenandoah National Park and stopped at several of the look-outs on Skyline Drive. The colors are just starting to turn, and it must be amazing when they start turning in earnest. We bought a season pass to the park, which, you go twice and it's paid for itself. We ate lunch at one of the lodge restaurants. The butternut squash soup was delish. And wouldn't it be great to rent a cabin for a weekend.
This is the kind of outing that makes me miss having little ones. This is the kind of excursion my family used to take.
At one of the gift shops, I bought a children's book of campfire ghost stories. Stories that can be read or easily re-told. The first story in the book was Edgar Allan Poe's "The Telltale Heart." Of course it was. More on that in a moment. The book also had a couple of stories that take place in Ohio (of course), and a story called "Wendigo" (which was the final selling point. Urban legends and lore? In an easy-to-read pocket book? Sold!) which bore no resemblance to the wendiog legend as presented on SPN and my other research. But, whatever. There's other good stuff in the book.
Now, about "The Telltale Heart." This story was my very first introduction to Edgar Allan Poe. I was in the 4th grade, and my teacher had us close all the curtains to the classroom to make it as dark as possible (which was more shadowy than dark), and put on a record of the story being read. It was creepy and freaky and a lot of fun. Now I find "Telltale Heart" in a children's book of ghost stories. I think it's really interesting that such a story, which is really quite disturbing from an adult perspective, seems to be a standard introduction to Edgar Allan Poe and horror for children. I just . . . it's interesting. And amusing.
Saturday night, Geo and I settled in to watch The Frighteners, an excellent horror/adventure movie directed by Peter Jackson and starring Michael J. Fox. It didn't get the audience that it probably should have, due to having it's release date moved from an October release date to a July release date. It's got a really good cast, and makes for a rather fun evening. (There is one scene that I totally understand why it was cut out of the theatrical release version, but I won't spoil it here. If you're interested, feel free to ask.)
Anyway, I recommend.
I had to work a donor reception for the Foundation yesterday. Geo also volunteered. The weather was beautiful. It was held at a beautiful historic (original house dates back to 1836) farm house. I'm hoping the event garnered some interested donors, as I really want our theater to get built.
Oh! And we got the DVD to How to Train Your Dragon. If you have not seen this movie yet, I highly recommend you do so. It's a lot of fun, and very heartwarming, and just a great, fun ride. (In fact, the flying scenes in Avatar brought to my mind how much better HtTYD was, and how I would rather have been watching that again on the big screen in 3D.)
So, that's my weekend round-up.
no subject
And Tell Tale heart- yeppers. When I was a youngin' doing community youth theater the younger group did the Tell Tale heart and I was bummed because I love that story. It's so delightfully gruesome. For me though, it was all about the Black Cat! That monsterous yowling behind the bricked up wall! Poe rocks, ya know!
I yammered on about my own weekend on my journal, but forgot to mention that after friends had left I kicked back and indulged in some "Poe Pictures" (usually featuring Vincent Price) and in some reading from my big gilt edged book of the Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe-
Masque of the Red Death- that's the one that always makes me wanna hide under the covers. Tell Tale and Black Cat- those folks got what was coming to them. Red Death? Those poor folks just wanted to party. *shudder*
Anyway, glad you had a good weekend Cous! :-)!
no subject
If they've discontinued it, you might still look around and see if they've just renamed it. They did that to the Sugared Plum (my FAVORITE Christmas fragrance). They changed the color (it was a mauve color; now it's red) and renamed it Christmas Eve, I think. It's one of those things that I immediately recognized it when I smelled this new fragrance. (I've hoarded Sugared Plum for a few years, so I've still got plenty, but I'm hoping they'll bring it back in its proper color.)
One of my college film projects (that sadly never was completed) was a Poe film from a short story that was like an abbreviated "Masque." "Shadow--A Parable" I think was the name of it. And in high school, I did a reading of "The Oval Portrait" for one of my speech classes. I still remember most of the opening paragraph:
The chateau into which my valet ventured to make forceable entrance, rather than permit me, in my desperately wounded condition, to spend a night in the open air, was one of those piles of co-mingled gloom and grandeur that has so long frown among the Apennines, [not less than in the fancy of Mrs. Ratcliffe].
I'm not sure of that last part, but the rest of it? I'll probably remember it to my dying day.
*Toddles off to check accuracy* Wow. Yeah. Except for my spellings and my use of "spent" rather than the proper "pass," (and "that has so long . . . " should have been "which have so long . . . "). Wow. I'm impressed with myself.
Anywho . . .
And yes, Geo remembers the "Black Cat" as well.
One of my favorite high school memories was when we went to the theater in Columbus to see three Poe stories presented as short plays. They did "The Black Cat," and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"--with the main character being cast as a woman rather than a man--and . . . another one that I don't remember which one it was.
Will toddle over to your LJ and check out your weekend. After a nap, I think. Morning came too early today.
no subject
I very much enjoyed HtTYD, but for the flying scenes, I think Avatar beat it--both made me feel like I was flying, but only Avatar (in the first flying-creature scene) made my stomach flop and sent my endorphins into overdrive. :)
Ooo, you might like Legend of the Guardians.