# Happy 85th birthday, Cthulhu



## moderan (Feb 1, 2013)

The Call of Cthulhu was first published 85 years ago this month. Many happy returns, if the stars are right. 
[h=1]ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. IA![/h]


----------



## alanmt (Feb 1, 2013)

Oh my gosh, I will wear my tentacle shirt to celebrate!


----------



## moderan (Feb 1, 2013)

Indeed. That would be the least thing you could do.


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)




----------



## Leyline (Feb 5, 2013)

"The Little Feller" -- *Samual Potter (Pencil/Digital Ink & Color)*


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

[video=youtube;jvnJWYaSuDs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvnJWYaSuDs[/video]


----------



## WhitakerRStanton (Feb 5, 2013)

~


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

It's a Nick name.


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 5, 2013)

Isn't he the guy that the movie "Cloverfield," was based off of?


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

I doubt it. 
From the wiki:





> J. J. Abrams thought up a new monster after he and his son visited a toy store in Japan while promoting _Mission: Impossible III_. He explained, "We saw all these Godzilla toys, and I thought, we need our own American monster, and not like King Kong.  I love King Kong. King Kong is adorable. And Godzilla is a charming  monster. We love Godzilla. But I wanted something that was just insane,  and intense."[SUP][7][/SUP][SUP][8][/SUP] There are three still frames in "pre-recorded" sequences, one from the movie _Them!_ one from _The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms_ and one from _King Kong_ - these three movies are also cited in the credits.


JJ Abrams is a dolt. Shoulda used Cthulhu. Woulda been better off. Cthulhu IS an American monster.


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 5, 2013)

moderan said:


> I doubt it.
> From the wiki:
> JJ Abrams is a dolt. Shoulda used Cthulhu. Woulda been better off. Cthulhu IS an American monster.



I remember reading the same thing, but then his son found a toy of Cthulhu and he decided to incorporate it into his story.  Let me see if I can find it.

Here is a link where they talk about some of it.

http://www.barbelith.com/topic/27480


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

From the looks of the creature and the movie, that stuff was left on the cutting-room floor. I like the movie but there's very little that is distinctly Lovecraftian in the released version...other than the creature being extraterrestrial (supposedly).


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 5, 2013)

I can't wait for the new movie "Pacific Rim," where the giant creatures are alien also.

[video=youtube;K-ZcqwvQbas]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ZcqwvQbas[/video]


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

I would much rather see a del Toro production (either one) than a JJ Abrams production. Though that movie sounds silly. Giant robots and alien invasion, really. I can wait.


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 5, 2013)

moderan said:


> I would much rather see a del Toro production (either one) than a JJ Abrams production. Though that movie sounds silly. Giant robots and alien invasion, really. I can wait.



How else do you expect humans to defeat giant aliens?  I'm not a conspiracy theory kind of guy, but I know that the government, or the major governments of the world have some kind of plan they have been working on for years just in case something hits the fan.


----------



## Bruno Spatola (Feb 5, 2013)

The Hellboy movies have a very sharp Lovecraftian edge to them. He was working on an _At the Mountains of Madness_ movie, but it was cancelled. He's working on a videogame called Insane, which is a horror title, so I can only expect H.P's work to become more apparent.

I think Pan's Labyrinth is an exceptionally original movie, though. Alice in Wonderland is obviously the main source of inspiration, but other than that. . .


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

Lewdog said:


> How else do you expect humans to defeat giant aliens?  I'm not a conspiracy theory kind of guy, but I know that the government, or the major governments of the world have some kind of plan they have been working on for years just in case something hits the fan.


I don't. In my things, humans usually lose. We're collectively not that bright.


Bruno Spatola said:


> The Hellboy movies have a very sharp Lovecraftian edge to them. He was working on an _At the Mountains of Madness_  movie, but it was cancelled. He's working on a videogame called Insane,  which is a horror title, so I can only expect H.P's work to become more  apparent.
> 
> I think Pan's Labyrinth is an exceptionally original movie, though.  Alice and Wonderland is obviously the main source of inspiration, but  other than that. . .



I agree, in both cases. The Lovecraftian edge comes from Mignola's original work, though. He's slipped HPL references into Hellboy and some of his other things, much like Ditko used to do.
del Toro says he'll try again...though Carpenter's "Thing" is pretty much the end-all of that. Campbell's original reads very much like ATMOM. I'd advice Guillermo to get rid of Tom Cruise right away if he wants any credibility beyond the moneylenders.


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 5, 2013)

moderan said:


> I don't. In my things, humans usually lose. We're collectively not that bright.



We may not be bright, but we are resilient.  The Bubonic Plague killed 30-60% of the European population in the 14th century and it didn't stop civilization.  Smallpox pretty much decimated Native Americans of North and South America but they still have decedents that live on today.


----------



## Bruno Spatola (Feb 5, 2013)

Yeah but no-one actually knows _why_ the plague stopped killing us, do they? That's not resilience, that's luck. We've always been good at having it off, so that was never an issue. We are resilient though, I agree.

You're right about _The Thing_, Moderan, but an _At the Mountains_ movie would still be incredible if handled well.


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

If we had giant robots, they'd be wandering around already. Where do you think we keep them, Area 51? Pfaugh. My belief doesn't wear suspenders that large.
Cthulhu could and would kill everyone, by accident, without even thinking about it. His bigger badder brudders could snuff the solar system, by accident. That's the whole point of Lovecraftianism. Resilience and all that doesn't matter. It's a matter of scale. We're not ants, we're smaller than that. We're not even big enough to count as parasites.
That such creatures could be invoked by candelabra or chanting is just hilarious. It's just coincidence.


Bruno Spatola said:


> Yeah but no-one actually knows _why_  the plague stopped killing us, do they? That's not resilience, that's  luck. We've always been good at having it off, so that was never an  issue. We are resilient though, I agree.
> 
> You're right about The Thing, Moderan, but an At the Mountains movie would still be incredible if handled well.


It's that last part I'm concerned about. Very few of the Lovecraft  movies handle his concepts well at all. The best was maybe the Masters of  Horror adaptation of Dreams in the Witch-House.


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

...


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 5, 2013)

I never really knew about Lovecraft until I saw him mentioned during an episode of "Supernatural."  It just wasn't my type of genre.  I have become more open-minded in recent years.


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

I read his work first when I was seven. Been a fan since.


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 5, 2013)

Who wins a fight between Galactus and Cthulhu?


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

Cthulhu, according to a discussion at alt.horror.cthulhu about fifteen years ago. But I imagine if there was an alt.comics.galactus that the opposite would be true.


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 5, 2013)

moderan said:


> Cthulhu, according to a discussion at alt.horror.cthulhu about fifteen years ago. But I imagine if there was an alt.comics.galactus that the opposite would be true.




Lol I just read:



> "Galactus>motorboat>Cthulhu "



:rofl:


----------



## moderan (Feb 5, 2013)

I fail to see the humor.




Me too




I win!


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 6, 2013)

If running a motorboat into Cthulhu can kill him, Galactus can most certainly take out a boat, therefore Galactus can easily defeat Cthulhu.  Besides as others noted in the thread I read, even if Cthulhu can't be killed, Galactus is omnipotent when at full power and could easily imprison Cthulhu for eternity thus winning the battle.


----------



## moderan (Feb 6, 2013)

Where did running a motorboat into Cthulhu kill him? Oh, comicvine. That's a misinterpretation. Cthulhu was not killed...the sailors were able to escape by distracting him momentarily. Galactus is not omnipotent, otherwise the Silver Surfer wouldn't have been able to beat him back in FF #48. Galactus would be distracted by a motorboat too. The Thing threw a car at him. Get real. At least read the source material instead of parroting something from a teengeek site.


----------



## moderan (Feb 6, 2013)

[video=youtube_share;cGTEOrX_I08]http://youtu.be/cGTEOrX_I08[/video]


----------



## Ariel (Feb 6, 2013)

Mod, try the short video "The Cat with Hands." I believe it's still on YouTube.  I think you'll like it.

And Happy Birthday Cthulu.


----------



## moderan (Feb 6, 2013)

It's good-I've seen it. But I have four cats and I don't want them getting ideas. They already follow me down the stairs and look funny at the Zoogs when I try to sleep.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 6, 2013)

It's nicely creepy.  I've seen some amazing things come from the Internet.


----------



## moderan (Feb 6, 2013)

I'd rather they come from the 'net than up the bathtub drain or in the front door.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 6, 2013)

Very true.  Or barfed up by my cat.  I had a balloon floating in my ceiling for four months last year because the first thing she did when I brought it home is bite through the string-which she promptly ate.

I think she's a follower of Cthulu.  Miss calls her Evil Kitty and nothing else.  She keeps asking me if I can get her a nice kitty.


----------



## Nemesis (Feb 6, 2013)

I remember the first time I read an H.P. Lovecraft tale ^^ I was given an anthology book of his best work and I couldn't put it down. Before that sci-fi had never been all that scary to me, but he was amazing at making you feel so small in his stories, so dwarfed by these massive, ancient beings. Really nailed the fear of the unknown.


----------



## moderan (Feb 6, 2013)

Or he could come in the driveway, unannounced. Great pic by Todd Shearer.


----------



## Bruno Spatola (Feb 6, 2013)

I need to read Dunwich Horror again, and AtMoM, and Call of Cthulhu. 'sbeen about two years.


----------



## moderan (Feb 6, 2013)

Now's as good a time as any


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 6, 2013)

moderan said:


> Where did running a motorboat into Cthulhu kill him? Oh, comicvine. That's a misinterpretation. Cthulhu was not killed...the sailors were able to escape by distracting him momentarily. Galactus is not omnipotent, otherwise the Silver Surfer wouldn't have been able to beat him back in FF #48. Galactus would be distracted by a motorboat too. The Thing threw a car at him. Get real. At least read the source material instead of parroting something from a teengeek site.




There's no reason to get all mad about a story.  If Cthulhu is so powerful that it is a devourer of worlds, should a motorboat really 'distract' it?  

As for parroting?  I said I read it, and I quoted it because I thought it was funny.  You didn't, c'est la vie.


----------



## moderan (Feb 6, 2013)

Who's mad? Cthulhu can change his size. When smaller, he is denser. Larger, more ephemeral. His power remains the same. He is a telepath, and a powerful one. He probably wouldn't engage in fisticuffs (Galactus probably wouldn't either-he'd blast you with the Power Cosmic or just send Terrax). Instead you'd have a battle of mental forces, big bad ugly dudes standing still while lines of force ripple around them and they get all frowny.
Galactus would look like one of the people in Scanners at the end. Big C would probably have Big G's ship up his rectum, assuming he has a rectum.


----------



## Nemesis (Feb 6, 2013)

That fight description gave me a chuckle, nice job summing it up Mod ^^


----------



## moderan (Feb 6, 2013)

Thanks!
Galactus is kind of a Lovecraftian creation, if you think about it. Kirby did a lot of that sort of mythopoeia-what about the New Gods, of New Genesis? And Darkseid, of Apokolips? Not to mention Ditko...Shuma-Gorath! The Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth! The Eye of Agamotto!
Dormammu take you if you dare disagree


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 8, 2013)

Ok Cthulhu and Bender in a drinking contest who wins?


----------



## moderan (Feb 8, 2013)

Who's Bender?


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 8, 2013)

moderan said:


> Who's Bender?



Give me your man card.


----------



## moderan (Feb 8, 2013)

No. I played hockey til I was 39. I don't watch commercial tv. Give me yours.


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 8, 2013)

moderan said:


> No. I played hockey til I was 39. I don't watch commercial tv. Give me yours.



Futurama isn't commercial tv, it's more cult tv than anything else.


----------



## moderan (Feb 8, 2013)

Is that where that name is from? It started on Fox. Poor little faux-satire couldn't even make in Simpsonland.


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 8, 2013)

moderan said:


> Is that where that name is from? It started on Fox. Poor little faux-satire couldn't even make in Simpsonland.



I know where it started, it was co-created by one of the "Simpsons'" creators.  If you remember correctly "Family Guy," didn't originally make it on Fox either.


----------



## moderan (Feb 8, 2013)

And for good reason. It's crappy.


----------



## Pluralized (Feb 11, 2013)

In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. 

If there's an example of a more perfect sentence in fiction, I don't wish to read it. 

Also, The Unnamable is superb. But you already knew that. Happy Birthday, Cthulhu (belated).


----------



## moderan (Feb 12, 2013)

Cthulhu's here all month. He especially enjoyed the thing with the Giant Squid and may stay longer


----------



## moderan (Feb 14, 2013)




----------



## moderan (Feb 18, 2013)




----------



## Ariel (Feb 18, 2013)

I like incorporating Lovecraftian events into my d&d campaign.  It adds a touch of horror and mystery to a Victorian political game.


----------



## moderan (Feb 18, 2013)

My first book (almost thirty years out of print) was a collection of short stories masquerading as Call of Cthulhu campaigns. One of the pieces included invading other RPGs. Life IS Art 
D&D is way pre-Victorian, though. Arthurian was always my best guess. Not that dragons ever existed, at least not in that form, though Gordon Dickson makes a pretty good case for asbestos-like esophagi and a lubricating system based on the soles of firewalkers' feet.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 18, 2013)

I mean d&d as in I use that system and rule-set with some tweaks.  It's easier than saying "my homebrew campaign using d20 modern and d&d 3.5 rule sets with such and such modifications."


----------



## moderan (Feb 18, 2013)

D&D Steampunk?
Sorry.
*holds nose*
*ducks*
I never knew enough people that wanted to play it, when I did, and now, I'm not interested in playing with the people I know that do. They aren't particularly good at conversing about anything other than that interest, tend to refer to themselves in the third person, and are immature. Not a single one of them has or has had a relationship of any length, ever.
*goes back to arguing with total strangers about the validity of top ten lists"


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 18, 2013)

Lewdog knows Bo.


----------



## moderan (Feb 18, 2013)

I really _do_ know Bo. He used to get his car washed at a shop I managed. He was great with kids. Good tipper-liked a lot of ArmorAll on his dashboard.


----------



## Kevin (Feb 18, 2013)

Having never read any Lovecraft, I just figured out where I'd seen these images before: _Den- Rich Corben. _


----------



## moderan (Feb 18, 2013)

Yep. Corben was very influenced by Lovecraft. In October 1979, there was a Lovecraft special issue of Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant. Corben wasn't in it, and fans were ticked.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 18, 2013)

moderan said:


> D&D Steampunk?
> Sorry.
> *holds nose*
> *ducks*
> ...


No, not Steampunk.  There's very little steam to it and I wouldn't allow that frivolity into my game.  I've done some fairly odd and in-depth research for it and the more I do the more contempt I hold for steampunk.  Mostly I'm using the period to draw references to our own time period while the characters wear cool clothes.  

The people I play with are fairly mature adults.  Most of them have diverse interests outside of the game.  For at least one it is the only social event he has each week outside of work.

Considering that my parents were together for thirty years and my grandparents for forty I tend to think _most_ people don't have relationships of length.

You must have quite the collection of ducks.



My ex introduced me to Lovecraft though I'd known, more or less, about Cthulu for years.  Lovecraft's work is some of the most terrifying I've read and now that I have read it I can see his influence everywhere.  The interesting thing about the Cthulu mythos is that insanity is the worst thing that happens to everyone and everyone goes insane.  It is so horrifying because it explores the idea that we are _nothing_ and mean less than that.


----------



## Lewdog (Feb 18, 2013)

I like the idea of going back to using steam as a main source for energy.  If there was only a better way to create steam without using fossil fuels then it would be ok.  You could always use a concentrated sun's rays onto a pull of water in order to create steam to turn turbines, but then that is only good when the sun is out, and it isn't exactly a way that would workon the move.


----------



## Pluralized (Feb 18, 2013)

I'm just finding Lovecraft, and everything I've read so far is genius, especially given the era in which it was composed. In fact, I keep running across passages in his work that have me stopping, dumbfounded and totally impressed. Dude was no joke.

Cthu-who?


----------



## moderan (Feb 18, 2013)

He really wasn't. People love to get on him about the purple prose and the wooden characters, and they're absolutely right, but the ideas embodied in the man's work are tremendous, and as amsawtell noted above, everywhere. Hollywood and popculture love the cheapness of just calling a thing Cthulhuesque and putting tentacles on it but that isn't the principle. Insanity is just where it starts. Considering the state of science in his day, he was way ahead of the curve. His later work is sf, his earlier stuff fantasy, and the body of work is a whole new genre.


----------



## Lewdog (Jun 14, 2013)




----------

