29 May 2008

Last night we watched THIS FILTHY WORLD on Showtime, 90 minutes of John Waters being John Waters.  It is a filmed version of his one-man stage show. http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/product_page.do?episodeid=132377&seriesid=0 I can't say I've always liked Waters.  After seeing PINK FLAMINGOS back in the 1970's I was so repulsed that I never saw anything by him again until HAIRSPRAY came out.  HAIRSPRAY made me a convert and I've learned to appreciate his *oddball* sense of humor even in his older gross-out films.  He gave a talk here at the Free Library a number of years ago, and he was an amusing and entertaining speaker.  My wife, who is from the Maryland area is a devoted fan, and even recognized bits in last night's film that we had heard during his live appearance.  She once knew Edie the Egg Lady, back when Edie had a thrift shop in Fells Point.  One thing we both particularly liked was his admonition to single folks not to date anyone who doesn't own books. It was also interesting hearing his comments on his own films, which he runs through chronologically.  I can say that Waters in person is as entertaining as the films he makes.

Balticon is usually a good regional con and this years seemed better than many.  Connie Willis, Peter Beagle, and Naomi Novik were among the major guests in attendence, and they are all fascinating people to talk to.  Art GOH John Palencar  had some fascinating Mutter museum-inspired paintings in the art show (he went to art school here in Philly) and scientist Dave Kratz gave an impromptu telescopic tour of the solar system and beyond with his backyard telescope in the hotel's courtyard. 

  There were a few parties in the evening, notably the party put on by the Philly crowd to promote Philcon, our regional, which comes up in November.

  From what I've heard, there were close to 2000 people in attendence.

One of the hightlights of Balticon, for me, was the late night panel on The Night Land (1912) by William Hope Hodgson.  This has always been one of my favorite books of all time.  It was my entry point into the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.  It depicts an earth so far in the future that the sun has burned out and the remnants of humanity live in a gigantic metal pyramid, drawing energy from beneath the earth. The pyramid is surrounded by strange and dangerous beings.  The hero sets out from the pyramid, across the Boschian landscape, to rescue his lady love from a second pyramid whose power is failing.

 It is a unique and intense book, like no other I have ever read, although many of the elements presage Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.

  The book has one great flaw -- it is written in a pseudo-archaic style that many people find difficult to read. But once one is adjusted to it, it is like viewing the landscape through a distorting lens that magnifies the sheer eerieness of it.

  My wife was on a panel with, among others,  John C. Wright, who has written some stories set in Hodgson's universe, and Darrell Schweitzer, who is one of those to whom the prose style is impenetrable.

  David Louis Edelman, mentioned  in his blog  yesterday, the conversation between him, my wife, and a mutual friend about the book., and considered it a highlight of the weekend.  I'm sorry I missed it, but very glad I sat in on the panel discussion. It drew an audience of about 10; not bad for a late night panel about an 86 year old book.