"the raven" doth approach!

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The 2012 mystery/thriller film The Raven will be released in theaters Friday, April 27.  It was originally set to be released in March, but as often happens with movies the release date was bumped.  Unfortunately I shall not be able to attend a viewing until after the Steampunk Empire Symposium this weekend.

This sort of film is something for a neo-Victorian freak like myself to be stoked about for several reasons, as I have enjoyed a good Poe story for many a year now.  Despite the seemingly slasher aspects of this story, it will be a pleasure to go through the darkness and horrors of some of Poe's better-known stories in a film setting.  Thus, my boyfriend (who is a huge John Cusack fan) and myself shall be seeing The Raven sometime in the near future.

A featurette of the film for your viewing pleasure:



I am currently laboring through reading aloud Poe's short stories to my boyfriend, and I have noticed that this 19th century writer, although prolific, is rather hit or miss with the execution of his ideas.  They're either bloody brilliant or they leave one with a "So what was the point of writing that?" sort of feeling.

What I was not aware was some of Poe's writings are rather more humorous than dark at times- such as the "Four Beasts in One- The Homo-Cameleopard."  Also, "The Unparalleled Adventures of one Hans Pfall"   is an interesting study on something that it appears the people of his time were very concerned about- how one could possibly travel to the moon.  It's quite a descriptive, imaginative, and well researched account that is created into a true work of science fiction- something that could plausibly occur based on the knowledge and speculation of the time.

So I also highly recommend that one try to read even some of Poe's lesser-known works, as many of them are rather entertaining, and give one much to consider in the ways of technology, the minds of men, and the logic of madness.