Showing posts with label fear for thought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fear for thought. Show all posts

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Rumors of my death...

...have been greatly exaggerated.

Well, not so greatly. I mean, I'm not dead, this is certain.

But for a moment there I sure felt pretty gone.


Oh dear S&Pbrains, I am okay, I have been merely struggling with something I am sure many of you have also experienced from time to time.

Depression.

It's one thing to love the image, another to feel like that image all the time.

The causes and cures are my own, and certainly none of your problem (or business, really), but I will say that it takes me out of my life for a time, every time. 

And I am heartily sorry for this ridiculous span of Skull&Pumpkin-less down time. 

I feel guilty for having followers, almost. I am afraid my own fears and folly will bring you all to breaking down the door of this li'l pub, chanting for my aching head, the lot of you a seething, swimming mass of monster-madness...


Now, don't worry, if you cared enough to worry. I am alright -- my incredible wife and family are always supportive and uplifting, and I am coming back.

Just kind of taking some alone time in a cold, sad Winter.


 I am also finding my Hallowe'en love slowly pulling me back into sanity, back to myself...


And I must come back, I must.

Not just for my own sanity... but because there's something wonderful coming in a little over a month...



... and I've got monsters to build.

Thank you for being patient, and for understanding.

Send me some good ol' fashioned Hallowe'en Loving vibes, would you?

I'll be back.

EDIT:
In honor of my first post in quite some time, and just to shake off the dust of Christmas, I have removed all the Christmas songs from the jukebox and replaced them with a few pieces I felt I needed to hear in my process of returning to life.
First, because I miss my friend Andy Williams, I felt the need for a little Days of Wine & Roses, this version by two other musical legends, Bill Evans and Toots Theilmanns -- if you have to ask who's playing what, you don't listen to jazz nearly enough.
Second, because I miss the sunny, windswept Fall, guitarist Will Ackerman's Shape of the Land lays in quite nicely.
Third, because I miss my childhood, the theme to Dusty's Treehouse. It was only on L.A. TV in the '70s, but was then picked up nationally on Nick in the '80s.
And finally, because I miss Disneyland and my favorite ride of all time, I give you the entire 22 minute audio bed for the Haunted Mansion -- every scream, rattle, clank and cackle. It's what you would hear if your Doombuggy paused at every scene in the ride until all the audio was played.

Enjoy some new tracks.

Again... I'll be back.

DDSProcess

Saturday, January 26, 2013

It's all up in the air.

Well, dear ol' friends, I realize things have been decidedly quiet around this old homely humble house of Hallowe'en hoopla, but keeping busy does have its merits. And visiting family is always worth whatever one may miss in the meantime.

Still, I am not feeling very happy about not posting anything at all since last month -- last year, actually.

But I felt right now would be a good time to post a little 'hello', since I am currently flying over the southwestern United States at 30,000 feet.

So here it is, an S&P first, loyal patrons -- a post from WAY up high.

They really know my tastes, this airline...


"This is your captain speaking. You are now free to move about the pub..."


But in all seriousness, let me tell you -- I wish you could all see how beautiful our world is from up here.


Oops, the seatbelt sign is on again. 

Aw, you know what? Screw it, we have to move our legs -- how about a little...?


Honestly, it is a very cool thing to have blogged from 30,000 feet. I hope the minor novelty of of such a post can go some way toward making up for my lack of posts thus far.

I'll be back soon.

DDSPleaseforgivetheabsence!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Hallowe'en.

It happened again.

God bless it, the day is here.

I think what I wrote last year is so apt that it bears repeating. And since Hallowe'en is a day that takes place outside of time, I feel like every Hallowe'en is part of the same long, wondrous day and night, like we're just picking up from where we left off the year before.

Friends, family, all Autumn People... this is for us.

Always...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

It is here.


Our day, and most thrillingly, our Night.

It is the New Year celebration of an ancient world, and an ancient celebration of what has come and gone, what may lie ahead, and what our place will be in whatever comes.

It is the birthday of childhood fears, but the anniversary of casting those fears away, all at once.

Even as it changes with time and tide, it has never disappointed.

It calls us to come out and play again, to talk and laugh and scream and chase and run as the children we still are, will always be, no matter how we try to hide it.

It sets the sun a pumpkin orange, carries leaves on a woodsmoke wind to tap our windows, scratch our memories, to tickle and reawaken our love -- our need -- for the Tall Tale, the Scary Story, the Fright.

It is yours, and it is mine, and it connects us across miles.

It does not teach us to fear -- we already know fear quite well. It doesn't say 'See? Here are horrors you wouldn't know but for Me.'

No. Like all Fantasy, which is itself a child of our darkest primal nights, it does not teach children that there are dragons. They already know that.

                                             It just shows us all that dragons can be slain.

It is our secret satisfaction at the puzzle unsolved, our continuous joy at the Great Mystery, for it is the stating and confronting of our most primal fear... and because it is the facing of our own death, it boldly and blessedly reminds us to live while we are alive.

                                                                It is Hallowe'en.


It is today, and tonight. God, what a gift.

The Skull & Pumpkin wishes all of you a meaningful, magical, and mystical Hallowe'en, wherever you may be.

A toast, raise them up high now:

DUMDUMSHREKPOP!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Your cheatin' blog...

... is gonna tell on you.

Actually, they ain't no cheatin' goin' on -- and why am I using redneck talk?

I just wanted everyone to take a gander over at ShellHawk's Nest, and be sure to follow her October-long guest blogger series, Favorite Urban Legends.

Currently, my own humble contribution (thanks for the invite, Shell!) has just been posted there, but since I haven't posted here in a little while, I thought perhaps some of you might think I'm cheatin' on the S&P with ShellHawk's Nest.

Nope. We're just good friends.

But if you want to follow this fun guest blogger series and read up on The Hook Killer of Lovers Lane, now's a good time.

Go on. I'll see you back here when you're done.

You're still my true love, you ol' Skull & Pumpkin.


DDSPromise!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Farewell, Ray.

Oh, fellow S&Pers.

Today is a joyously sad, weepingly happy day.

Today, we say our final goodbye to one of the world's most inventive, emotive and evocative wordsmiths.

Today, we say our final goodbye to not only one of Hallowe'en's most ardent champions, but, for fantasy readers of a certain few generations, one of the purest and most inspiring creators of Hallowe'en itself.

Raise your glasses high...

Ray Bradbury
(1920 -- 2012)

He was very fond of telling the story of his meeting an old sideshow magician called Mr. Electrico who, after one especially sparkly performance, tapped his sword on the shoulder of a very young Ray, and commanded the boy to "Live forever!"

He couldn't, of course. Not physically.

But you can be damned sure he will live forever in his marvelous works.

In case -- and I mean 'in case' like 'there can't possibly be a chance' -- there are some of you who haven't read him, or really know what he created over more than seventy years, I can only refer you to his own website.

And maybe this list:

Novels

Collections

Short stories

An uncomplete listing, since the man wrote over 400 short stories...

Plays

Kid's Books
Non-Fiction
This list does not include untold numbers of television and radio adaptations of his works; nor does it include the numerous audio books narrated by famous actors and by Bradbury himself, or anthologies of others' work Bradbury compiled and edited over the years.

This was a great, great man.

He had his faults and foibles and indiscretions and vices, like we all do. But he wrote his way through, around and out of them all during his long, magical life.

And in his final decades, he was an inspiring and outspoken advocate for taking hold of your life and making it yours, of choosing your future -- of choosing to be happy, damnit!


And oh! fellow Autumn People, the Hallowe'ens, and dusty whispers of Hallowe'ens, he constantly gave us!




Dear Ray.

Beloved Ray.

I want to think he's finally at rest, though something tells me he's bounding and exploring and not sitting still now, as he wanders through the very October Country he loved while alive.


For you now, Ray, Hallowe'en is -- at long last -- forever.

Thank you for everything.

Every single thing.

Every shadow, every grin, every mystery and marvel.

Some of my personal Bradbury treasures...


And my most treasured page...

Signed. Sigh.

From the deepest part of that which makes me who I am, I thank you, Ray Bradbury, for your gifts of fantasy, metaphor and ultimately, pure love.


So, our traditional toast... come on now, everyone, raise 'em high --

DUMDUMSHREKPOP!

And rest well, old friend, knowing that you will indeed live forever.


EDIT: Can't imagine that anyone could possibly guess what this year's Hallowe'en theme is going to be... 

DDSP.