DarkObserver, 9. Oktober 2002 um 23:56:15 MESZ

Guess, who has a weblog (also back from the dead, originally posted August 18th 2002)

Neil Gaiman. If you don't know who Neil Gaiman is, you've really missed something. He is a writer whose insight into the dark side of the soul runs very deep. He is probably best known for his famed comic book series for adults "The Sandman". This epic -combining mythology, horror, drama and humor, among other things- has been collected in ten volumes and I own them all. For some reason he was never as popular in Germany as he is in the U. K. and the U. S. but I couldn't care less.

Along other topics relating to his work, he writes an online journal here:

www.neilgaiman.com

DarkObserver, 9. Oktober 2002 um 23:53:04 MESZ

View of the USA (originally posted June 16th 2002)

America, the U.S. of A. My view of it has always been an ambiguous one: Great achievements in science, technology, space exploration, popular music (the latter mostly based on the talent and innovative spirit of African-Americans as in Jazz and Blues which spawned Rock'n Roll asf) but also loads of bullshit like racism, bigotry, christian fundamentalism, merciless capitalism asf.

Nowadays, after "Dubya" Bush became President and after Sept. 11 the United States are pulling out of international agreements (like the Tokyo Accord on Climate control), try to hinder the initiation of the International Criminal Court in La Hague and wage a "war" on terrorism that can't be won. Duh.

Judging from all sources available to me, like CNN (I don't trust them anymore and see their reporting now as the "official" and probably biased version), BBC World (really neutral and uncensored), all sorts of online and offline magazines and of course the Net, there ARE still critical voices to be heard in the U.S. They are upholding truly democratic views and sane politics, but the majority of the population seems still in a state of shock that has the ends justify the means, all means, even horrible ones like killing civilians in Afghanistan or executing suspected terrorists without a trial. There's even some evidence of U.S.-tolerated massacres committed by Afghan forces allied with the West. Sounds familiar? Remember Vietnam? Americans should wake up!

DarkObserver, 9. Oktober 2002 um 23:38:22 MESZ

H. P. Lovecraft (old article, back from Nirvana)

I've always been a fan of fantastic genres like Science Fiction and Horror, and in the course of this interest I eventually came across the name of H. P. Lovecraft, an American writer from New England. Although he never published a single book in his lifetime, his work has influenced numerous authors, screenwriters and artists and is now being rediscovered -and re-evaluated- by literary scholars and others.

What I really have some trouble with is the fact, that he was a racist who lived in fear and hate of all folks not fitting into his puritanistic WASP (White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant) scheme of things. Nonetheless I decided against throwing him out of the window completely, because in his later years he seems to have reformed his views somewhat and the impact of his work as a whole simply can't be dismissed.

Judge for yourself:

You can read almost all of his works online

A biography

While researching the reality of his racist attitudes on the Web I realized another odd thing: How easy one is led from Lovecraft to all sorts of occult websites, mixing his inventions into their demonology or magic recipes. I read some lengthy articles about spellcasting...maybe I will give it a try ;-)

If you like weird over-the-top horror movies for people with strong stomachs and a quirky sense of humor, get a hold of Re-Animator and its sequel "Bride of Re-Animator", both loosely based on a short story by Lovecraft and featuring the great actor Jeffrey Combs -mostly known to fans of B-horror movies but maybe also to Star Trek fans, because he has appeared regularly -wearing heavy makeup- in episodes of almost every series, most recently as an Andorian and a Ferengi in the latest incarnation of Trek "Enterprise".

Update 10/9/02: I've read that there's a third installment in the making called "Beyond Re-Animator".