On this, the 120th birthday of H P Lovecraft, join me in pondering this mystery: How is it that Lovecraft, who claimed to suffer from a condition that made him lose consciousness in cold weather, was so inordinately fond of ice cream?
An enigma for the ages, to which I have no answer. Hey, wait, I have an idea! Let's ask S.T. Joshi! He knows everything! ;-)
I will add, to no particular purpose, that in this most miserably hot of Summers, the worst and most wretched I can ever recall in the Northeast, Lovecraft would have been in raptures, had he lived in our time.
Come now friends, Ice Cream neither increases nor decreases the temperature of the extremities - i have always been astounded that people who hate the weather where they are, don't just move - how often have those along the rivers of Iowa and Ohio been washed away? Yet there they stay - tsk tsk.
Now there's a unique marketing idea: Lovecraftian ice cream! All right, go ahead and laugh, but seriously, the man was mad for frozen custard and would probably consider it an honor to be associated with a quality product (especially if they provided him with a lifetime supply in exchange for the use of his likeness on the packaging).
Why the Waterman Company doesn't offer a special 'HPL' model fountain pen is beyond me.
Shoggoth Sherbet? R'lyeh Ripple? The possibilities are endless!
Ken K. Wrote:
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> Now there's a unique marketing idea: Lovecraftian
> ice cream! All right, go ahead and laugh, but
> seriously, the man was mad for frozen custard and
> would probably consider it an honor to be
> associated with a quality product (especially if
> they provided him with a lifetime supply in
> exchange for the use of his likeness on the
> packaging).
>
> Why the Waterman Company doesn't offer a special
> 'HPL' model fountain pen is beyond me.
>
> Shoggoth Sherbet? R'lyeh Ripple? The
> possibilities are endless!
Superb idea - and they would necessarily be in colors like "ghastly", "ghoulish", "putrescent" etc.
I can picture it now--Shoggoth Sherbet would be a bilious green with black swirls, interspersed with eyeball-shaped-and-colored candy jawbreakers. Instead of a boring grid pattern, the cone would be imprinted with elder race hieroglyphs. Yum, yum!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 30 Aug 10 | 05:29PM by Ken K..
That hydrated methane ice that the energy companies are so interested in is actually a kind of sorbet manufactured by the
inhabitants of Y'ha n'thlei - it doesn't melt underwater and tastes
just like the primal ooze great-grandma P'thyathal'yi used to make.
What's really needed is a Lovecraftian version of Spellcheck. I've lost count of all the times I've had to stop typing, trot upstairs and search through my bookshelves for the relevant Arkham House tome to avoid a Mythos typo. Mistakes in grammer are one thing, but misspelling, say, 'Nyarlathotep'* in a post to this particular forum would be so mortifying I would probably never come back.
*Arggh! Had to run upstairs again!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 22 Sep 10 | 05:45PM by Ken K..
Thanks for catching that typo, Silas! I was going to edit it out, but heck, I think I'll leave it for any possible amusement value it may have.
Here's another bright idea: what about a Lovecraftian cookbook? Granted, his culinary horizons were rather limited. At least he liked blisteringly-hot chili con carne. (Maybe that's why he was so fond of ice cream--had to cool down his tastebuds). The range of recipes could be extended to include the other Weird Tales writers--there must be a few recipes floating around somewhere. I know Robert E. Howard liked Mint Juleps...
When it came to food, HPL was surprisingly sensual. He liked the Heat and the Sweet. Since I throw a Lovecraft b-day party every year, I've ended up compiling quite a list of the Old Man's favorite foods. Besides sweets of all kinds and chili, he was also fond of (non-seafood) New England fare. In addition, highly spiced curry, Italian cuisine and cheeses of all kinds.
Rusty Burke compiled most of REH's quotes about food in an article posted over on the REHupa site. Howard also liked spicy food and was fond of ice cream.
Perhaps someone needs to start a "The Gustatory CAS" thread?
I invite you all to check out my unabridged narration of At the Mountains of Madness. This is a free podcast/download at www.UvulaAudio.com. Six MP3 files running a total of about 5 hours.