Platypus of Truth

Two more pictures from this particular shoot inspired by Aeschylus' Oresteia .

A brief experiment in Surrealism. I call it "The Elusive Moment".

H.P. Lovecraft was noted for his racist antipathy for the Quebecois, Irish, and Italian immigrants that flooded into a depopulated New England in the early 20th century. These people, my great-grandparents, form a constant backdrop to the anglo-patrician Lovecraft's tales of horror and degeneration. In one of his final stories, however, as the author slowly succumbed to untreated colon cancer in his mid-forties, he seems to have attempted a final rapprochement with my ancestors who would inherit his beloved New England. The Haunter of the Dark  presents the New England Patrician Robert Harrison Blake as powerless in the face of an avatar of the dreaded Nyarlathotep. It is the Irish and Italian immigrants who in the end have both the courage and the knowledge to restrain the creature. In the final scene of the tale, they surround the desecrated church where the Haunter in Darkness lurks with a wall of candles that can be seen clear across town as the anglo Blake dies in horror. For ...

I recently finished Grevel Lindop's landmark biography of Charles Williams, Charles Williams: The Third Inkling . It's one of the those books that can only be written when enough people have died. If that doesn't pique your interest, we can go on to "did you knows". Did you know that actor Christopher Lee met and corresponded with Williams during World War II? Did you know that Charles Williams was mainly responsible for the books picked to form the Oxford World Classics series, thus shaping the literary tastes of students across the anglo-phonic world? Did you know that the line "at the still point of the turning world" from the Four Quartets is a reference to Charles' Williams' The Greater Trumps ? Did you know that Charles Williams played a major role in promoting the poetic works of Gerard Manley Hopkins? If not, don't be surprised. Williams himself lived with the fear that he would always be a mere footnote to his friends and associated ...

Oh no! After too many games of Arkham Horror, Crochet Cthulhu appeared crushing everything in sight beneath his colossal tread. Before he could call to the Outer Gods whole dwell in the darkness between the stars with the help of his Evil Mayo, our investigators rallied to the cause. Assisted by the noble Platypus, they were able to force the Abomination back through the gate and seal it with the Elder Sign.

My wife and I picked up Fantasy Flight's Cthulhu Mythos game, Arkham Horror , over the break. We've been playing Eldritch Horror and Elder Sign: Omens for about a year now and we were eager to see the legendary game that started it all. In some ways, Arkham Horror feels like a less refined version of Eldrich Horror. There is less flavor text and the game mechanics are less stream-lined. After playing through two and a half games, however, I see the attraction. Arkham Horror is more flexible and more focused than Eldrich Horror. With the setting limited to a single town rather than the whole earth, the art and tone of the game are more focused. The less stream-lined mechanics also allow for a greater amount of control over the investigators (player characters), and thus a more intense game. And the game is much more intense than either Eldrich Horror or Elder Signs: Omens. Monster movement each turn creates all kinds of problems for the investigators. The frequency with wh...

2015 was a year of difficulties. I spent most of November to July ill. There were several surgeries and a cross-town move. All of those were overcome, however, and on the last day of the year we're still alive and kicking. Not surprisingly, this ended up being the year of tomb stones, art therapy and H.P. Lovecraft. I'm not sure what 2016 will bring. As Counting Crows says "it's been one long December, and there's reason to believe maybe next year will be better than the last..." Whatever befalls, we will keep you up to date here at the Platypus of Truth.