Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks)

Theo Paijmans <th.paijmans.RemoveThis@wxs.nl> wrote in message news:<bss0qa$qia$1@reader10.wxs.nl>...
 > Very nice website!
 >
 > Kind regards,
 >
 > Theo


Gee, thanks a lot. That's awfully nice of you to say that. I'm happy
at last to have a small space of my own on the net, and ABS really
reflects what's nearest to my heart. It's sort of like being giving a
tour of the interior of my mind on any given day, with all the clutter
and antiques scattered about in rows. I should have 500 visitors soon,
which is respectable for a site that's only about 2 months old and
concerning a specialized subject. Much gratitude to everyone who's
linked to it on their own pages...<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks) 

At the risk of becoming a bore, I'd like to ask for feedback for my
new entrance page illustration, if anyone has a minute to kill.

Thanks,

W.

grand_guignol13 RemoveThis @hotmail.com (woolrich) wrote in message news:<2b4c9e85.0312282052.5e45d901 RemoveThis @posting.google.com>...
 > My website, the Amalgamated Brotherhood of Spooks, now has two new
 > updates.
 >
 > First, you'll find the complete text of the 1918 translation of Leonid
 > Andreyev's THE RED LAUGH, a classic apocalyptic horror novel, written
 > during the darkest days of Russia's involvement during "the Great
 > War." Personally, I'd place this one in my "top five" horror novellas
 > list, and it's unjustly obscure.
 >
 > Then, you should see or rather hear an audio adaption of Bram Stoker's
 > "The Judge's House," a particularly over-the-top one that I think's
 > very enjoyable. To quote Jim Rockhill: "[This version of] 'The Judge's
 > House' is pure corn, but a lot of fun. How often do you get a chance
 > to hear someone overact while describing how much he enjoys tea?"
 > For those who asked, I'll be keeping the Oliver Onions file up for at
 > least another 2 weeks.
 >
<font color=purple> > It's all there at: <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.amalgamatedspooks.com/</font" target="_blank">http://www.amalgamatedspooks.com/</font</a>>
 >
 > Good night, folks.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks) 

Jim sez:

"I like it. The woman's expression suggests more irritation than
terror:
"It is much too early for me to accept visitors, and this one arrived
without even presenting a calling card! How very gauche! Simpson!
Simpson,
come here
at once and attend to this . . . this . . . Pardon me, but what
precisely do
you call yourself?"

Jim "

Thank you very much for the comments: that's actually very much what I
wanted to achieve.

[Dowager: *sniffs* "In the future, I hope you'll recall to use the
'seance entrance'--and that would be on Thursdays not Saturday
evenings."]


Actually, although the still's roughly a contemporaneous one(!) from
HILDE WARREN UND der TODD (1917--and actually one of Fritz Lang's
first writing and co-directing projects), the overall feel's much more
silent comedy than ghostly. It took me some looking to find a copy of
this one, but I finally did. It scans in much better when you have the
original versus a pixillated copy from some film book. *s*
 >> Stay informed about: Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks) 

I like it. The woman's expression suggests more irritation than terror:
"It is much too early for me to accept visitors, and this one arrived
without even presenting a calling card! How very gauche! Simpson! Simpson,
come here
at once and attend to this . . . this . . . Pardon me, but what precisely do
you call yourself?"

Jim

"woolrich" <grand_guignol13 DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2b4c9e85.0401031636.1b4753e3@posting.google.com...
 > At the risk of becoming a bore, I'd like to ask for feedback for my
 > new entrance page illustration, if anyone has a minute to kill.
 >
 > Thanks,
 >
 > W.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks) 

"woolrich" <grand_guignol13 DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2b4c9e85.0401031636.1b4753e3@posting.google.com...
 > At the risk of becoming a bore, I'd like to ask for feedback for my
 > new entrance page illustration, if anyone has a minute to kill.

Great picture, guaranteed to give nightmares to those of a more sensitive
disposition. Where's it from? Enquiring minds want to know. . . .

The site looks great; easy to navigate, elegant to look at, and informative.
One of these days I'll find time to listen to a radio broadcast!

Barbara<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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In article <jKednRCuqNHk7WqiRVn-uQ.TakeThisOut@locallink.net>,
"Jim Rockhill" <jrock.TakeThisOut@locallink.net> wrote:

 > I like it. The woman's expression suggests more irritation than terror:
 > "It is much too early for me to accept visitors, and this one arrived
 > without even presenting a calling card! How very gauche! Simpson! Simpson,
 > come here
 > at once and attend to this . . . this . . . Pardon me, but what precisely do
 > you call yourself?"
 >
 > Jim

I like it too, a lot, but I read it differently. The woman's expression
suggests that she knows who has entered the room, that she is irritated
by their entrance, and that she is about to face them and tell them so.
But when she turns around, she is going to get the shock of her life,
because the figure is not the one she was expecting.

Paul M.

 >
 > "woolrich" <grand_guignol13.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote in message
 > news:2b4c9e85.0401031636.1b4753e3@posting.google.com...
  > > At the risk of becoming a bore, I'd like to ask for feedback for my
  > > new entrance page illustration, if anyone has a minute to kill.
  > >
  > > Thanks,
  > >
  > > W.
 >
 >
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks) 

On 3 Jan 2004 16:36:18 -0800, grand_guignol13 DeleteThis @hotmail.com (woolrich)
wrote:

 >At the risk of becoming a bore, I'd like to ask for feedback for my
 >new entrance page illustration, if anyone has a minute to kill.
 >
 >Thanks,
 >
 >W.

I like it. At first glance I thought the expression on the woman's
post inappropriate for the situation as it seems a look of pique
rather than fear. Then I realized she hasn't fully turned to see the
source of interruption... Won't she be surprised!

Nice site, I spend far too much time there poking around when I should
be writing.


Cheers,

John<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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I have posted the url in some newsgroups I'm in; hopefully more people
will take the time to visit your highly interesting site.

Kind regards,

Theo

woolrich wrote:

 >My website, the Amalgamated Brotherhood of Spooks, now has two new
 >updates.
 >
 >First, you'll find the complete text of the 1918 translation of Leonid
 >Andreyev's THE RED LAUGH, a classic apocalyptic horror novel, written
 >during the darkest days of Russia's involvement during "the Great
 >War." Personally, I'd place this one in my "top five" horror novellas
 >list, and it's unjustly obscure.
 >
 >Then, you should see or rather hear an audio adaption of Bram Stoker's
 >"The Judge's House," a particularly over-the-top one that I think's
 >very enjoyable. To quote Jim Rockhill: "[This version of] 'The Judge's
 >House' is pure corn, but a lot of fun. How often do you get a chance
 >to hear someone overact while describing how much he enjoys tea?"
 >For those who asked, I'll be keeping the Oliver Onions file up for at
 >least another 2 weeks.
 >
<font color=purple> >It's all there at: <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.amalgamatedspooks.com/</font" target="_blank">http://www.amalgamatedspooks.com/</font</a>>
 >
 >Good night, folks.
 >
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks) 

I love it - Chris
 >> Stay informed about: Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks) 

"Barbara Roden" <nebuly DeleteThis @telus.net> wrote in message news:<7gKJb.37742$Dm.23228@edtnps89>...
 > "woolrich" <grand_guignol13 DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
 > news:2b4c9e85.0401031636.1b4753e3@posting.google.com...
  > > At the risk of becoming a bore, I'd like to ask for feedback for my
  > > new entrance page illustration, if anyone has a minute to kill.
 >
 > Great picture, guaranteed to give nightmares to those of a more sensitive
 > disposition. Where's it from? Enquiring minds want to know. . . .
 >
 > The site looks great; easy to navigate, elegant to look at, and informative.
 > One of these days I'll find time to listen to a radio broadcast!
 >
 > Barbara

It's actually a contemporaneous still from a 1917 film entitled HILDE
WARREN UND der TOD, which apparently was one of director Fritz Lang's
first writing and co-directing credits. The dowager in front is Mia
May, and, believe it or not, Fritz Lang himself is listed as "Death"
in the credits!!

I have no idea whether the film's still extant, but that's one
evocative still.
At first, as I was discussing earlier, it sort of has a silent comedy
feel, but, I agree with some of the rest of the comments here, there's
also something secondarily and immediately disturbing about the Death
figure--androgynous, gaunt, more than a bit creepy. I couldn't have
found a better entrance illustration for the exact effect I intended.
*s*

Oh, and thank you very much for the nice compliments about my web
site. It's been a slow project of the past several months, but it has
begun to show a little promise.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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John Pelan <jpelan DeleteThis @cnw.com> wrote in message news:<ilngvv8t4gnd7fi1v7j128l06fpop5nv0m DeleteThis @4ax.com>...
 > On 3 Jan 2004 16:36:18 -0800, grand_guignol13 DeleteThis @hotmail.com (woolrich)
 > wrote:
 >
  > >At the risk of becoming a bore, I'd like to ask for feedback for my
  > >new entrance page illustration, if anyone has a minute to kill.
  > >
  > >Thanks,
  > >
  > >W.
 >
 > I like it. At first glance I thought the expression on the woman's
 > post inappropriate for the situation as it seems a look of pique
 > rather than fear. Then I realized she hasn't fully turned to see the
 > source of interruption... Won't she be surprised!
 >
 > Nice site, I spend far too much time there poking around when I should
 > be writing.


....And thank you also. I can't believe that the Death figure's
actually Fritz Lang, but that's what my reference says.
 >
 >
 > Cheers,
 >
 > John<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks) 

 >
 > I like it too, a lot, but I read it differently. The woman's expression
 > suggests that she knows who has entered the room, that she is irritated
 > by their entrance, and that she is about to face them and tell them so.
 > But when she turns around, she is going to get the shock of her life,
 > because the figure is not the one she was expecting.
 >
 > Paul M.

....But not half the shock I received once I realized that the Death
figure apparently was Fritz Lang in a dress. I find that just as
disturbing and it just adds to the whole lunatic effect, in my
estimation. *s*<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Updates for My Website (AB-Spooks) 

grand_guignol13 RemoveThis @hotmail.com (woolrich) wrote in message news:<2b4c9e85.0312282052.5e45d901 RemoveThis @posting.google.com>...
 > My website, the Amalgamated Brotherhood of Spooks, now has two new
 > updates.
 >
 > First, you'll find the complete text of the 1918 translation of Leonid
 > Andreyev's THE RED LAUGH, a classic apocalyptic horror novel, written
 > during the darkest days of Russia's involvement during "the Great
 > War." Personally, I'd place this one in my "top five" horror novellas
 > list, and it's unjustly obscure.
 >
 > Then, you should see or rather hear an audio adaption of Bram Stoker's
 > "The Judge's House," a particularly over-the-top one that I think's
 > very enjoyable. To quote Jim Rockhill: "[This version of] 'The Judge's
 > House' is pure corn, but a lot of fun. How often do you get a chance
 > to hear someone overact while describing how much he enjoys tea?"
 > For those who asked, I'll be keeping the Oliver Onions file up for at
 > least another 2 weeks.
 >
<font color=purple> > It's all there at: <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.amalgamatedspooks.com/</font" target="_blank">http://www.amalgamatedspooks.com/</font</a>>
 >
 > Good night, folks.

I meant to say this when your site first went live awhile back, but I
can't remember whether I ever did, so I'll say it now: I love it.
Both aesthetically and content-wise, it's a fun and rewarding place to
visit. You have my compliments.

Best wishes,
Matt Cardin<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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