In this issue: RE: Today, August 1, 1999, a Cross-Quarter Day RE: Today, August 1, 1999, a Cross-Quarter Day Another bit of Folklore.... Literary Lines Contest Re: Yet Another bit of Folklore.... Speaking of cross-research Re: Yet Another bit of Folklore.... Re: Yet Another bit of Folklore.... Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell Re: Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) Poe Conference in Richmond, VA in October Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell Re: Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell Witches of Burkittsville Today in History-- Aug 03 Re: Today in History-- Aug 03 Re: Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) O/T: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) Re: O/T: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) And talking about movies Re: O/T: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) -----------------------------THE POSTS----------------------------- Date: Sun, 01 Aug 1999 18:30:45 -0400 From: "James E. Kearman" <jkearman(at)iname.com> Subject: RE: Today, August 1, 1999, a Cross-Quarter Day Bob C. speculated: > > So this is the origin, perhaps, of that old expression, "You gotta love > the big Lugh"? And all this time I thought it was simply a bit of > Americanese! Well, I lugged out my dictionary... Webster's Collegiate claims the origin is the ME (with possible Scandanavian origin) word "luggen," referring to ears or something to pull with, and defines it in this context as meaning "blockhead or lout." Nothing very godlike there! Deities have become as perfect beings in our vernacular. It would be amusing to speculate on a culture that worshipped a deity that was a benign bumbler. Something along the lines of "we did a rain dance and Lug sent us a monsoon that washed away the crops and half of the houses, but we love him/her just the same." A deity on the order of the alcoholic uncle who tells fascinating stories and carries a hip flask, and whose noble attempts to do the right thing inevitably end up in disaster. Cheers, Jim
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 09:58:38 +1000
From: Craig Walker <genre(at)tig.com.au>
Subject: RE: Today, August 1, 1999, a Cross-Quarter Day
Carol,
Thank you so much for the brilliant information :)
Regards
Craig
+---------------------------------------+
Craig Walker
Genre Manipulations - Reality Engineers
Ph: Intl +61 2 9550-0815
Fx: Intl +61 2 9564-5689
Mb: Intl +61 419 22-0013
ICQ: 1053193
genre(at)tig.com.au
"Cross a Goldfish with an Elephant
and you get an Elephant ...that
never....erm....something"
+---------------------------------------+
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
> [mailto:owner-gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA]On Behalf Of LoracLegid(at)aol.com
> Sent: Monday, 2 August 1999 01:35
> To: gaslight(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
> Subject: Today, August 1, 1999, a Cross-Quarter Day
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> Today, Sunday, August 1, 1999 is a Celtic cross-quarter day.
>
> The year's has four cross-quarter days. Each cross-quarter
> "day" actually
> represents a collection of dates more or less midway between
> a solstice and
> an
> equinox. February 2 is the year's first cross-quarter day --
> and it's also
> marked by the celebration of Candlemas in the Roman Catholic
> and other
> religions.
>
> In North America, we celebrate February 2 cross quarter day
> as Groundhog
> Day. It is a time for forecasting the weather -- when the legendary
> groundhog looks for his shadow. If he sees it, he's said to
> jump back down
> underground dooming us all to six more weeks of winter. On
> the other hand, a
> cloudy
> Groundhog Day forecasts an early spring.
>
> The second cross-quarter day comes on April 30 -- May Eve --
> or on May Day,
> May 1. The third one comes on August 1 -- it's Lammas, an old
> festival to
> celebrate the first harvest. Lammas was/is also the feast
> of St Peter's
> Chains (Petrus ad Vincula).
>
> Then there's the fourth and final cross-quarter day for the
> year All Hallows,
> November 1. This is the most sinister since it comes at a
> time when there's
> not much daylight in the northern hemisphere. We celebrate it
> by dressing as
> witches and ghosts at Halloween.
>
> The four "quarter days" were near the solstices and
> equinoxes. They were
> Lady Day, March 25th (the beginning of the new year in England before
> 1752); Midsummer Day, June 24th; Michaelmas, Sept. 29th, and
> Christmas,
> December 25th. Lady Day and Michaelmas were the two most
> important for
> setting the terms of leases etc.
>
> http://www.pemberley.com/
> http://www.teleport.com/~dwa/lammas.html
> http://www.earthsky.com/
>
> Carol Digel
> LoracLegid(at)aol.com
> www.focdarley.org
>
===0===
Date: Sun, 01 Aug 1999 20:34:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: GargoyleMG(at)aol.com
Subject: Another bit of Folklore....
I did enjoy the short bit concerning Churchill. I heard it several several
years ago AND I have another short bit of recent American Folklore to add....
Last summer I was listening to an oldies station when the DJ told the
following story before playing the song. Sorry, but I've forgotten a few
names.
....song was inspired by an obituary. A man quietly checked into a
hotel with no luggage, no boxes and what was discovered later a fake name.
The next morning was found dead by the desk clerk. Sometime during the night
this nameless man had killed himself.
His identity was never discovered and he was buried as a John
Doe, at County expense.
The only piece of personal information found on the man's body
before he was buried was a slip of paper with one line written on it. It read:
" I walk alone down a lonely street "
And that one sentence, that short obituary inspired one of the
greatest rock-n-roll songs in music history:
Heartbreak Hotel.
******************
If this isn't a true story, it's a fine piece of fiction and the author
deserves a fat contract with a huge publisher.
Anita
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 02:38:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Literary Lines Contest
Not everyone is interested in entering these contests, but you might find
it fun to go over to this site and see how many of the lines you can
identify. Some are written by authors not altogether unfamiliar to us on
Gaslight.
http://pix.popula.com/items/0224/famelns.html
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things
Philippians 4:8
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 07:41:06 -0700
From: Robert Birchard <bbirchard(at)earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Yet Another bit of Folklore....
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
- --------------C9B03E3DD185062F43B611AA
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
One of the classic urban legends (or is this one a rural legend) is about
the
wild camels in the Utah desert, supposedly remnants of the Cavalry's experiments
with these animals during the Indian wars of the mid 19th century. If anyone is
inclined to believe these tales let me refer them to our old friend Charles E.
Van
Loan in this excerpt from one of his Buck Parvin stories, "Desert Stuff:"
"The mission of the Sunday supplement of a newspaper is not to instruct or
to
entertain, but to astound those weary souls to whom the Sabbath is a day of rest
and mental relaxation. The young men who write the supplement articles are
resourceful as well as clever. They have need to be, for they explain the
inexplicable, invent the impossible, spin mysteries out of cigarette smoke,
outride Rider Haggard and
entrap the reader in a mesh of plausible fiction soberly presented as fact.
"When invention fails and imagination flags, the Sunday Munchausens have
recourse to the stock stories of the trade. These have been written and
rewritten
until they are as threadbare as a schoolmaster's coat, but like the coat they
are
always ready for one more public appearance after the high lights and gray
shadows
have been freshly touched with ink.
"In such a predicament the Sunday supplementeer turns to three old friends.
He may discover the lost Charlie Ross once more, which is safe enough provided
one
locates him far beyond the circulation belt of the paper; he may unravel the
mysteries surrounding the death of the Mad Prince, or he may summon out of thin
air a witness who has seen the wild camels upon the Great American Desert. And
since Charlie Ross and the Mad Prince entail a trip through the files, the odds
are with the wild camels.
"These are without doubt the most reliably unreliable camels of which we
have
any record. They have driven the sea-serpent of the Atlantic coast into
permanent
retirement and caused the all-alive mastodon of Alaska to hide his head for
shame.
No man has ever seen them save with the eye of faith, yet at regular intervals
they gallop through the pages of our Sabbath literature, invariably disappearing
in a cloud of dust, for these camels are swift as well as wild.
"No one knows what fertile brain sired these animals and gave them
sanctuary
upon the western boundary of Utah; it is enough to say that the wild camels,
existing at first in the wilder imagination of some nameless genius of the press
and nurtured by scores of imitators, are now very real to those who believe that
everything in a newspaper is true.
"As a matter of fact, there are no wild camels, never have been wild camels
and never will be wild camels at large upon the Great American Desert, but a
thousand times we have been told how they came there and why they are wild. In
all
probability we shall continue to receive reports of them, for they are to the
Sunday supplement author what rags and virtue are to the melodramatist and the
slapstick is to vaudeville--a sure-fire hit."
- --
Bob Birchard
bbirchard(at)earthlink.net
http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Guest/birchard.htm
- --------------C9B03E3DD185062F43B611AA
Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; name="vcard.vcf"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Description: Card for Bob Birchard
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="vcard.vcf"
begin: vcard
fn: Bob Birchard
n: ;Bob Birchard
email;internet: bbirchard(at)earthlink.net
note: http://mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Guest/birchard.htm
x-mozilla-cpt: ;0
x-mozilla-html: FALSE
version: 2.1
end: vcard
- --------------C9B03E3DD185062F43B611AA--
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 10:14:58 -0500 From: Chris Carlisle <CarlislC(at)psychiatry1.wustl.edu> Subject: Speaking of cross-research I was reading Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot for the first time the other day (don't know why it's taken me so long to get to it!) and was tickled pink to discover a quote from Conan Doyle! At one point, the group of priests breaks into "Whose was it? He who is gone." "The Musgrave Ritual!" I cried in delight, and then giggled to myself at the thought of young Tom Eliot in his bedroom not so far from mine in St. Louis's Central West end, poring over the Holmes canon and storing away that scrap of poetry for future use! Kiwi
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 08:31:38 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Yet Another bit of Folklore.... >"As a matter of fact, there are no wild camels, never have been wild camels >and never will be wild camels at large upon the Great American Desert, There's one big wild camel that turned to stone in the Phoenix valley. We call it Camelback mtn. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 11:44:10 +0000 From: Marta Dawes <smdawes(at)home.com> Subject: Re: Yet Another bit of Folklore.... Anyone remember the Bonanza episode where they though a strange monster had invaded the Ponderosa, because they heard strange bellowing sounds and saw a creature unknown to them, and it turned out to be a camel? Sounds silly now, but when I was 6 or so it was a pretty scary episode. ;-) Marta Deborah McMillion Nering wrote: > > >"As a matter of fact, there are no wild camels, never have been wild camels > >and never will be wild camels at large upon the Great American Desert, > > There's one big wild camel that turned to stone in the Phoenix > valley. We call it Camelback mtn. > > Deborah > > Deborah McMillion > deborah(at)gloaming.com > http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 10:43:57 -0600
From: Jerry Carlson <gmc(at)libra.pvh.org>
Subject: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell
I'm afraid this will be the last "Today in History" I'll be doing, and actually
my last foreseeable contribution of any sort to Gaslight. I've believe I've
been doing this for over a year now, so I figure it's somebody else's turn;
&8-{) and other priorities have kept me from keeping up on the stories, and so
the discussions of them. But when I could keep up, I truly enjoyed being part
of this wonderful group which, as I've said or at least implied before,
combines the savvy of the 20th century with the sensibility of the 19th.
Thanks for the grand times,
Jerry Carlson
1802
Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed "Consul for Life" by the
French Senate as the
result of a plebiscite of the French people.
1832
Troops under General Henry Atkinson massacre Sauk Indian men,
women and
children, followers of Chief Black Hawk, at the Bad Axe River
in Wisconsin. Three
weeks later, Black Hawk himself finally surrenders, ending the
Black Hawk War.
[Personal connections: Black Hawk was born in what is now Rock
Island, Ill., adjacent
to my birthplace of Moline. He has given his name to a park,
a college, a road, and any
number of businesses in the area. Atkinson was probably the
namesake of Atkinson, Ill.,
which we always passed on our way to my grandparents', and I
often send library supply
orders to a company in Fort Atkinson, Wi.]
1847
William A. Leidesdorff launches the first steamboat in San
Francisco Bay.
1862
Union General John Pope captures Orange Court House,
Virginia. [And probably signed
his report, "Headquarters in the saddle". Some said his
headquarters were where his
hindquarters whould be.]
1914
Germany invades Luxembourg.
1918
A British force lands in Archangel, Russia, to support White
Russian troops opposing the
Bolsheviks.
Birthdays
1865
Irving Babbitt, founder of modern humanism
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 11:06:30 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell >I'm afraid this will be the last "Today in History" I'll be doing, >and actually my last foreseeable contribution of any sort to >Gaslight. Thanks so much for your efforts. If we haven't always said so, I am saying it now. The "today in history" posts always managed to keep things connected and going on gaslight even when the stories didn't. Hope you won't disappear altogether and still come around a little? Thanks again, Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 11:33:02 -0700
From: "Jesse F. Knight" <jknight(at)internetcds.com>
Subject: Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell
> >I'm afraid this will be the last "Today in History" I'll be doing,
> >and actually my last foreseeable contribution of any sort to
> >Gaslight.
>
> Thanks so much for your efforts. If we haven't always said so, I am
> saying it now. The "today in history" posts always managed to keep
> things connected and going on gaslight even when the stories didn't.
> Hope you won't disappear altogether and still come around a little?
I too thoroughly enjoyed them, and like many others perhaps didn't say
so enough.
THANKS!
Jesse F. Knight
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 15:47:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell In a message dated 8/2/99 6:11:35 PM, Deborah wrote: <<Thanks so much for your efforts. If we haven't always said so, I am saying it now. The "today in history" posts always managed to keep things connected and going on gaslight even when the stories didn't. Hope you won't disappear altogether and still come around a little?>> Second!!! Cheers, phoebe
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 16:20:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Donna Goldthwaite <dgold(at)javanet.com> Subject: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) Hi all, Well, we had our first 'gotcha' at the library today. A sweet young thing came in looking for historical information on the Blair Witch. I told her, nicely, that it never happened. Wide eyes. "But they said at the beginning it was a true story....." I found an article on the web, containing an interview with one of the film makers where he states that they made it all up -- lots of stuff on urban legends, folklore, etc. Needless to say, we're keeping a copy of the article on-desk, for the next lost soul. Sigh. We should probably find another article on _Fargo_ as well. Donna Goldthwaite dgold(at)javanet.com who finally added a link on the library's Searching the Web page on hoax, myth, fraud, chain letter and anti-spam sites -- http://www.internet-101.com/hoax/ , if you're interested http://www.springfieldlibrary.org
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 16:29:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell Born today, too, the luminous, glamorous Hollywood star Myrna Loy, in 1905... when in doubt about anything, I always ask myself: What would Myrna Loy do? smiling, phoebe
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 17:38:37 -0400 (EDT) From: GargoyleMG(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) I don't know who these people are ( that claim the Blair Witch is real ) but I've got some swamp land I'd like to sell them....and that big orange bridge in California. Anita
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 14:45:41 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com> Subject: Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) > A sweet young thing came in looking for historical information on >the Blair Witch. Probably because the movie gave short shrift to this topic even though it was titled "Blair Witch". More on the supposed mass murderer in the 1940's. Go figure. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 17:22:18 -0700 From: Alan Gullette <alang(at)creative.net> Subject: Poe Conference in Richmond, VA in October News of yet another sesquicentennial Poe Conference this fall -- this time in Richmond, VA in October -- reaches me as follows (pardon the long post): - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Here are just some of the highlights from the scholarly papers that will be delivered at this conference: Kenneth Silverman, New York University, author of the definitive Poe biography, Edgar A. Poe : Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance (1991). Silverman will be leading a panel discussion about Poe?s life. Denise Bethel, former president of the Poe Museum and currently Sotheby?s vice president in the Department of Photography, will chair a panel about Poe and the visual arts. As part of this panel, M. Thomas Inge of Randolph-Macon College will deliver an extensive slide presentation tracing Poe?s presence in comic books. Well-known Mark Twain scholar, Alan Gribben of Auburn University will lead a panel exploring the connections between Poe, Mark Twain, and Henry James. Two other scholars will examine Poe and his contemporary Nathaniel Hawthorne The University of Pennsylvania?s Daniel Hoffman, poet and author of the biography Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe, is one of a number of scholars discussing the continuing role of Poe in literature today. Penn State?s Daniel Walden will present his paper, ?Poe and I. B. Singer: The Mystery, the Grotesque, and the Inspiration?; Edward Shannon of Ramapo College will connect Poe to detective writers, Raymond Chandler and Paul Auster; and Beverly Peterson of Penn State Fayette will present research into Poe?s influence on poet, Richard Wilbur. Nina Baym of the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, author of many scholarly books and articles about early nineteenth-century American literature, and her colleagues will explore the value of teaching Poe in the classroom from college through elderhostels. Heyward Ehrlich of Rutgers University will also address this issue in his paper, ?Electrifying Poe: Using the Internet for Research and Teaching.? Two conference panels will address Poe?s connections to literary women. Mary De Jong of Penn State Altoona will present her research into a newly-discovered poem inspired by Poe and written by Frances Osgood. Noelle Annette Baker of Georgia State University will look into biographical connections to Sarah Helen Whitman with whom Poe carried on a literary romance. Debra J. Seivert of the University of Nebraska and Elsa Nettels of The College of William and Mary will present papers relating to Poe?s influence on Willa Cather. A number of scholars will be addressing the impact of the antebellum American racial climate in Poe?s works, including expressions of racism in his tales, his critique of abolitionist rhetoric and his treatment of fear of a slave revolt. These scholars include Leland Person of the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Paul Christian Jones of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and C. P. Seabrook Wilkinson of the College of Charleston. Sandra Petrulionis of Penn State Altoona College will chair the panel. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Sesquicentennial Poe Conference Haunts Richmond this October - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- University Park, PA?The names Vincent Price and Boris Karloff have become synonymous with grisly organ music, shadowed hallways, menacing black birds, and horror films like The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, and the silent movie, Edgar Allan Poe?s The Bells. But even these actors, who defined horror for generations of moviegoers, rely on the traditions and literary achievements of gothic writers best embodied in the figure of Edgar Allan Poe. According to Dr. Richard Kopley, associate professor of English at Penn State DuBois, the mystique of Poe?s life and works have widespread appeal. ?Everyone knows Poe,? Kopley said. ?And everyone remembers reading Poe in high school. He?s more than the boogie-man of American literature. In many ways, Poe has had a lasting impact on our culture today. Certainly, he perfected the horror genre in literature, but he also invented the detective story in his 1841 ?The Murders in the Rue Morgue.? Poe made contributions to science fiction and to the development of the lyric poem and the short story itself. He also wrote important literary criticism. Today Poe is recognized as an American original?his very name calls to mind the power of the imagination.? Poe was born in Boston in 1809. Just forty years later, the famous author and critic was found unconscious on the streets of Baltimore where he died on October 7, 1849. The intervening years led Poe on a personal voyage through love, alcoholism, tragedy and literary success, carrying him to additional cities, including New York, Philadelphia, and Richmond, and bringing his writings to audiences worldwide. From October 7-10, 1999, on the 150th anniversary of Poe?s death, Poe scholars and enthusiasts from around the globe will commemorate Poe?s achievements and reflect on the author and his work at the International Edgar Allan Poe Conference in Richmond, Virginia. The conference is hosted by the Edgar Allan Poe Museum directed by John Moon and sponsored by the Poe Studies Association under the leadership of President J. Gerald Kennedy. The conference has received additional support from Penn State University?s Commonwealth College, the DuBois campus, the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of English, and Penn State Continuing Education and from the Louisiana State University Office of the Provost and Department of English. Kopley serves as the conference organizer. The conference will feature performances, an afternoon bus tour of Poe?s Richmond, and 120 scholarly presentations concerning diverse aspects of Poe?s life and works. Speakers represent a wide range of nations, including Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and the United States. The guest of honor at the conference will be John Dunning, prize-winning author of the celebrated detective novels Booked to Die and The Bookman?s Wake, the latter a work of fiction set in the antiquarian book world and concerning an exceptionally rare edition of Poe?s ?The Raven.? John Dunning?s most recent book is the 1998 reference volume, On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Relying on his own extensive collection of early radio broadcasts, Dunning will discuss Poe?s presence in radio. Kopley noted, ?Radio treatments of Poe are a neglected area of study and should importantly help to clarify the history of Poe?s popular reputation.? Another special conference attraction will be a performance by Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actor John Astin, most noted for his work as Gomez on television?s The Addams Family. Astin will be playing the role of Poe in the one-person theatrical performance of Edgar Allan Poe?Once Upon a Midnight. With flashes of great humor and a tender, moving account of Poe?s love affair with his wife, Virginia, Astin takes his audience through Poe?s life, revealing both the horror and the beauty of the demons that so profoundly influenced his work. The performance will include excerpts from ?The Raven,? ?Annabel Lee,? ?The Tell-Tale Heart,? ?The Fall of the House of Usher,? and many other Poe classics. ?Astin?s portrayal is enriched by the actor?s extensive knowledge of Poe and deep respect for the writer,? Kopley noted. ?This will be a truly special performance.? Other highlights of the conference will be a poetry reading by noted poets, Phillip Levine, John Irwin, and Dave Smith at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and a reception at the Poe Museum. The museum is home to one of the world?s finest collections of the author?s manuscripts, letters, first editions, and personal belongings and stands only blocks away from the sites of Poe?s first Virginia home and place of employment. To inquire about the content of the program, please contact Dr. Richard Kopley, Penn State DuBois, at 814-237-1755 or 814-865-0007. To register for the conference, please contact Chriss Schultz at 814-863-5100. For more information, please visit the conference Web site at http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/EdgarAllanPoe. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------[End]
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 20:41:00 -0400 (EDT) From: jay473(at)webtv.net (Jay Meyerhoff) Subject: Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell Yes people have the habit of waiting til the ship sails before they appreciate what they had. Thanks very much. I looked forward to your history notes each day. Jay Meyerhoff
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 22:23:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: Re: Today in History - August 2 - and Farewell
Wow, I would sure hate to lose you, Jerry. Your posts, on whatever
topic, are among the ones I always look forward to. Please don't say
that you're giving up the list entirely!
I started posting the "Today in History" messages quite some time ago, and
if it's agreeable will resume the posts.
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things
Philippians 4:8
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
===0===
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 22:53:37 -0400 From: "J.M. Jamieson" <jjamieson(at)odyssey.on.ca> Subject: Witches of Burkittsville At 04:20 PM 02/08/1999 -0400, Donna Goldthwaite wrote: >Hi all, > > Well, we had our first 'gotcha' at the library today. A sweet young >thing came in looking for historical information on the Blair Witch. I told >her, nicely, that it never happened. Wide eyes. "But they said at the >beginning it was a true story....." Well in these times it's nice to know some people actually go to the library and ask such questions; still there are 2 sites that may be of interest to your visitors: http://www.burkittsville.org/ which has the opinions of the real residents of the home of the Blair Witch on the "project". And this site: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/eo/19990802/en/19990802064.html which has an amusing story on Burkittsville: a town of about 200 and whose real horror for the visiting fans of the movie might well be the fact that there are no public washrooms and no convenience store. Best line so far: "In broad daylight, we have kids knocking on doors asking where the haunted house is," says resident Andrea Elwell Cox, "to which, I sometimes reply, 'Which one?'" Mac, - - Copyright ? 1999 J.M. Jamieson ICQ #17834084 RSA & DH/DSS keys at http://pgp.rivertown.net/keyserver/
===0===
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 01:55:58 -0400 (EDT) From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu> Subject: Today in History-- Aug 03 Birthdays on this date: In 1811 Elisha Graves Otis, inventor of the safe elevator In 1867 Stanley, Earl Baldwin (C), British PM (1923-24, 1924-29, 1935-37) In 1887 Rupert Brooke, British WW I poet (1914) In 1900 John T. Scopes, Tennessee teacher convicted of teaching evolution In 1901 John Stennis, Democratic Senator from Mississippi In 1902 Habib Bourguiba, first president of Tunisia In 1905 Dolores Del Rio, Mexican actress (What Price Glory?) Events worth noting: In 1863 Governor Seymour asks Lincoln to suspend the draft in NY. Bob C.
===0===
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 06:46:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Today in History-- Aug 03 I trust Jerry has felt our appreciation. And thanks to Bob for stepping up... Just slightly out of our age, but birthday today of P.D. (Phyllis Dorothy) James, in 1920. best phoebe
===0===
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 08:52:24 -0700 From: North <north(at)spiritmail.zzn.com> Subject: Re: Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) Regardless of what people think about the movie being real or not it is one hell of a movie, don't you think? North ___________________________________________________________ Get your own Web-based E-mail Service at http://www.zzn.com
===0===
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 09:20:40 -0400 From: Laurel <christia(at)tir.com> Subject: Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) _The Blair Witch Project_ would have been more enjoyable for me had three literate actors been hired as the college students. Under pressure and supposedly frightened the usual comment is f... you, f... me, f... it. or f..., f..., f...,. A couple witticisms would have been nice. Next time a film is made with the actors adlibbing their lines I want the actors to be chosen for their ability to act as well as their ability to think and speak. Still it was a clever idea. Laurel
===0===
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 11:04:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Maedhros9(at)aol.com
Subject: Re: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting)
I disagree. I think that the raw element the actors brought into it only
enhanced the level of terror the film manged to reach by making it that much
more believable. If you were to throw in a couple of polished actors who
could toss off a witiscm now and then, the reality would have dropped like a
stone. Plus I think the three actors did a great job in the first place.
Hello all, by the way. Im new to the list, but looking forwards to
contributing. And hell yes, the Blair Witch Project was excellent.
Phil
===0===
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 08:08:51 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com> Subject: O/T: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) >_The Blair Witch Project_ would have been more enjoyable for me had >three literate actors been hired as the college students. It would have been more enjoyable for me if they'd started out with more of the folklore that was backfilled on the website and on the Scifi channel presentation (the so-called prequel) actually IN the movie. And if the three students weren't so annoying from day one (they were filming a documentary--where was that zeal for information?) and you weren't hoping that SOMEONE would just kill them quicker. Clever idea, yes, but first come up with the story instead of filling it in after you realize the movie is going to be a success. Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 12:43:53 -0400 (EDT) From: GargoyleMG(at)aol.com Subject: Re: O/T: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) I couldn't agree with you more Deborah, after the first ten minutes of the " Blair Witch " I wanted that monster on screen and munching and ripping ASAP. To take this back to topic, I think it's like having a demon viloate a little girl, or having another little kid sucked into a void where it's chased by monsters....the author/screenwriter wants you scared and they want to take the shortest route possible to get you to squirm land. And by nature, no one wants to see a child in danger. It's just to darn nerve wracking. Look at Freddy Kruger, did we care when he started to slaughter yuppie teenagers with their big bedrooms in their big houses and their own television sets? Heck no. I guess what I'm saying is a writer has to create a barrier between you and the " monster's dinner ". People aren't going to want to see a movie where characters they think they could care about are dieing. In this movie the characters are such poster children for suburban mall rats (you saw some of them in line for this movie smoking clove cigarettes and wearing clothes from the GAP ) that you can't help but to feel a few less of them in the world would be no great loss. The public demands happy endings....that's why when the college students at the end of the movie die ( and they die BADLY ) YOU DON'T CARE. Heck, anything to shut them up once and for all. In fact, you probably wouldn't mind seeing them shut up two or three more times. Just my two-cents. Anita
===0===
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 09:58:40 -0700
From: "Jesse F. Knight" <jknight(at)internetcds.com>
Subject: And talking about movies
I was gone for a month (looking at great Scandinavian art from the turn
of the century and listening to great Scandinavian music from the same
period), so I'm not sure if this was brought up already.
But last night I had the opportunity to see Wilde's _An Ideal Husband_.
Beautifully done, and fairly faithful to the play. Witty, well acted, and a
delight to see a movie where the pyrotechnician isn't the lead performer.
And besides all that, it actually had a plot that didn't rely on someone
being murdered, chased, or meat-cleavered.
I'm not a movie goer; I've seen perhaps two or three in the last ten
years, so I am hardly qualified to be a critic, but I did thoroughly enjoy
this one. I think that Wilde's *other* plays are sadly overlooked too
often.
Jesse F. Knight
===0===
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 1999 10:12:30 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com> Subject: Re: O/T: Folklore: Blair Witch - one innocent (& counting) > no one wants to see a child in danger. It's just to darn nerve wracking. >The public demands happy endings....that's why when the college students at >the end of the movie die This may be a great way to separate us from caring about these teens (the back fill information telling us they were top of their class film students??) but that's what also separates a good movie from a poor one. You have to care something for it to mean something to you. If I'd liked even one of these kids the movie might have been more compelling. Take an example of a movie that IS scary, the original "The Haunting". Created in 1963 in edgy black and white you do care about the people in this. Theo may be irritating and Luke a tad smug but Eleanor, dear, vulnerable, Eleanor--you do care a great deal for her plight. At least I did. I wanted her to belong some where. Not to die. But to have someone who finally cared. In the end, it's because of caring (and because the suspense was built up) it does become truly frightening. Hardly any 'special' effects and no gore...but a well told story. And NOT a happy ending at all. A director said recently "don't worry about the special effects or the blockbuster actors--just get a good story". I think Blair Witch would have had one if they'd put a little of that back-fill effort into the front-fill in the first place. Instead, it comes out with weak plot devices in the teen type slasher genre which is what I hoped to escape from. In 10 years will there be a website to support this movie? Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html ------------------------------ End of Gaslight Digest V1 #87 *****************************