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Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3364
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 02:41 pm: | 
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I know this day is important for being our celebration of the great Martin Luther King, Jr. But let me also give a nod to Edgar Allan Poe, as today is the 200th anniversary of his birth. Poe was the first author who I became enamored with. After being assigned in school to memorize and recite "The Raven," I then went on to devour everything he wrote. And the film adaptations of his work are some of my favorite scary movies.
Monday, Jan. 19 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the American master of the macabre, Edgar Allen Poe.
The city of Baltimore, where Poe sometimes lived, is a place full of his haunts, including his house on Amity Street and the tavern where he drank before his death in 1849.
Baltimore is holding a year-long Poe commemoration, and Saturday night actor and Baltimorean John Astin will present an hour of Poe's works at Westminster Hall.
The actor, who is perhaps best known as "Gomez" in The Addams Family, joins host Scott Simon to remember the master.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99514935 |
Ferociouskitty
Veteran Poster
Username: Ferociouskitty
Post Number: 541
Registered: 02-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:03 pm: |
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Favorite Poe poems: "The Raven", "The Bells", and "Annabel Lee."
The latter I have memorized because a girl in my 6th grade class recited it in the school poetry competition, and we contestants rehearsed as a group every day in class. I also memorized "Charge of the Light Brigade" this way. I won the contest, btw, with an original poem, "The Lazy Crew." A few months ago, I re-connected on Facebook with the girl-now-woman who recited "Annabel Lee" who says that she is a professional speaker and trainer today because she was inspired by my courage in reciting an original poem like that for a large crowd. Who knew, LOL???
I wore a full costume and and had a sword made of cardboard covered in tinfoil. Ah, memories... |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 13359
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:20 pm: |
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A Po(e) Blackbird. Obama's inauguration. Coincidence? I think not. Bwhahahahahahahah! |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3366
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:22 pm: |
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F'kitty, I am sure you were fierce in your goth regalia! LOL And look at the enduring mark you have made on your then-peers. "Who knew," indeed! |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3367
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:23 pm: |
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Thanks, Cynique. I knew there was justification somewhere for me posting about Poe on an Af-Am related site! LOLOL |
Kola_boof
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 4879
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:28 pm: |
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Yvette,
My favorite poem by Poe is "The Haunted Palace."
The way it starts so serene and optimistic
and then gradually becomes cloying and sinister
makes it very life-like to me rather than
eerie.
It says: "nothing really matters."
--and it makes the idea of "GOD", this
all seeing power, just as horrific
as Satan.
I like to be "disturbed" and made to
think rather than Gored-out or spooked
and that poem has so much to say.
I think Shirley Jackson's
"The Lottery" (1948) is my
all-time favorite horror story,
but a lot of Poe's stuff rates high
with me as well.
It's a shame that people aren't aware of
his part in "inventing" a lot of today's
popular genres like Sci-Fi and Detective
stories--he wrote a lot more than just
scary books.
I love it that Edgar Allan Poe was a "night"
writer like me. 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDGAR
("the serial killer in the
parked car across the street
as you're reading this is very
misunderstood"--Kola's ass )
Yvette, have you ever read
"The Lottery"? If not, you
absolutely MUST.
Left my bones queasy under
the flesh for a week!
WHAT A STORY
. |
Ferociouskitty
Veteran Poster
Username: Ferociouskitty
Post Number: 543
Registered: 02-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:29 pm: |
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LOL, Yvette I wish I was so trendy as to have been goth. I wore a white pleated skirt, a blue shirt, and a red bandana on my head. This was my mother's idea of nautical attire... I guess I was patriot, too!
Ah, but that tin-foil sword...
Thanks for the heads up about the year-long Poe celebration in Baltimore. I'll have to check it out. |
Carey
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Carey
Post Number: 1551
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:37 pm: |
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Kitty,
I would pay to see you in that costume .
It sounds like a black Wonderwomen. Well, I don't know about the bandana. I am not going to touch that, although it does remind me of a pancake mix. |
Ferociouskitty
Veteran Poster
Username: Ferociouskitty
Post Number: 544
Registered: 02-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:50 pm: |
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I was not Aunt Jemima, Carey-Carey! ;-)
I see how the costume might sound more exciting than it actually was. The skirt was polyester and below my knees; the shirt was Oxford button down, long-sleeved; and the scarf was one of those red-and-white jobs, tied to the side. Think: patriotic pirate en route to Sunday School. |
Carey
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Carey
Post Number: 1552
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 04:02 pm: |
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***snickering :-)***
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. A patriotic pirate with an apron on *lol*. |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 3368
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 05:39 pm: |
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You two go on out of here with your dress-up fantasies. This thread is about Poe.
Kola I looked up that story. It sounds absolutely amazing--exactly my cup of tea. I'll check it out.
OK, how's this for a few extra geek points. (...Whether points given or points taken away, I'll let y'all judge.) One of my favorite theme albums of all time is The Alan Parson's Project "Tales of Mystery and Imagination," based on several Poe works. Talk about some jams! |
Kola_boof
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 4882
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 06:23 pm: |
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OH...MY...LORD!
I love the Alan Parson's Project.
Yvette, you're not a GEEK!
I actually got an email from
Eric Woolfson once (yes, I'm BRAGGING).
He disagreed with me over something
I said on DUBLIN radio station
SPIN 1038 (where his friend
was a host)--I didn't even know
who he was until we'd hung up
the phone.
Don't tell me you love the song
"Nights In White Satin" too.
Pat Matheny?
LOL!
Ok..."TIME" is one of my
all-time favorite songs.
....to the sea; to the sea
Til it's gone forever!
Oh god, I'm BOUT to cry.
Their first CD is a fantastic
work of art!
I love "To One In Paradise"
(and everything on there, really
---is "Don't Let It Show" on
there?)
No that wasn't Poe.
Girl, you are going to love
"The Lottery Ticket".
Actually, I recommend almost
anything by Shirley Jackson.
She's my favorite horror writer,
because she's REALLY SMART.
. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 13366
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 07:14 pm: |
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Poe had a fear of being buried alive. That's what he was always raven about... |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 7683
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 - 10:42 am: |
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Ahh Edgar Allan Poe. A black man to be proud of. |
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