Calls For Cthulhu

Calls For Cthulhu proudly joins the FarPoint Media network

2007-10-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

It happened officially a few weeks ago, but Calls for Cthulhu has joined FarPoint Media.

What does that mean? Well, it means you can now get all the shows as a vidcast feed!

Here's the RSS link:
FeedBurner Link

and here's the iTunes link:
ITunes Link

Also, we've got a new blog set up at http://www.CallsForCthulhu.com. At that blog, you can download all the old episodes, and it's where all the new episodes will be shown.

In the next few days, we'll have a report of this year's H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, as well as the special episode that was only aired at the FilmFest.

Hope to see you there!

You really don't get how popular this show is, do you?

2007-10-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

So, I'm at the H.P. Lovecraft film festival in Portland Oregon this weekend. I've gotta say, it's been a blast so far. They have a lot of famous Lovecraft-inspired stuff (John Carpenter's "In the Mouth of Madness" and "The Thing"), and they have lots of short films (most of them tense and very well executed), and we even had a chance to see the new movie "Cthulhu" which should be released to theaters soon.

Now, this isn't a full report on the festival (I hope to do that later, with pix and everything), but I wanted to share a great moment with you guys.

Now, I've been very surprised by the reaction I've received from people at the fest. Several people have asked for my autograph, and a couple wanted to take a picture of me with the puppet.

There's a film producer (Edward Martin III, he makes real films, not just hand-puppets) who was really excited to meet me. Turns out he's a fan of the show. I gave him a DVD, and he put it on his DVD player in the merchant section (which was really kind of him). After a few hours, he asked me if I had any other DVDs, because passersby were asking him where they could buy it. I had brought about ten with me, and he was kind enough to make a place on the table to display them.

A couple of hours later, I walked past the table, and saw that my DVDs weren't there any more. I figured he moved them to make space for something else, but then he caught my eye and said, "Hey, you sold out! Way to go!"

He started counting out money for me while I just shook my head in disbelief. Then he smiled at me and said, "You really don't get how popular this show is, do you?"

That was a really cool feeling. Right up there with the girl in the full-body Cthulhu suit saying, "Hey, you're the Calls For Cthulhu guy? I love that show!"

Don't worry, I'll have pix of her as well as a full report as soon as the fest is done and I pull all the images off my camera.

More Cthulhu Pix online

2007-10-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

"My Confined Space" comes through for us again with the Call of Cosplay:

click image for full-size view

Also, there's a beautiful rendering of Cthulhu (also on "My Confined Space")

click image for full-size view

Also, there's a great picture where the artist combines Cthulhu mythos with the art style of "Where the Wild Things Are".

click image for full-size view

This is a great pic, and the artist says he can make T-Shirts for it, so you guys should go check it out.

Book of Legion

2007-09-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

I'm obviously a big fan of horror, so I've read quite a lot of it. Recently, I've started looking for new writers, because their indy-film mentality tends to be a bit more invasive, visceral, and vicious.

Well, a few days ago, someone handed me a copy of "The Book of Legion" by Victor Heck.

I know my way around Biblical angels and demons, so the idea of the demon Legion didn't really surprise me. In fact, just thinking of the character, you can imagine a demon which is slowly amassing souls to the point where he can destroy all of creation. The story practically writes itself.

That's what I love about this book. The writer isn't going in that direction at all. I don't want to give too much away, but in this story, Legion is gathering minions and taking over Earth just as a stepping stone for bringing about an all-out assault on Hell. Just the idea that you could take that character, and use his innate power not as an end, but as a means to something larger, is pretty impressive to me.

Also, the writing itself is very good. Not exactly buckets-of-blood stuff, nor is it all psychological torture (although both elements are in there). The characterization is good, the story is powerful, and I like the pacing.

Anyway, I went looking for it online, and found it here: The Book of Legion. At fifteen bucks for a signed copy, it's well worth the money.

Cutethulhu review

2007-09-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

There's a very well researched article on the Grim Reviews blog, detailing a new wave of humor based on the horror writing of H.P. Lovecraft. Apparently, some people are even using the plush Cthulhu doll to parody Lovecraft's character! Can this be true?!

Cthulhu Pix

2007-09-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share some links to more Cthulhu-based stuff.

If you haven't already seen it, LoLThulhu is a page where people combine pictures of the Eldrich horror with macro cats.

Also, here is a link to a picture of Yarn-Thulhu.

And here is a presidential candidate showing his love for our dark lord.

Cthulhu Jewelry

2007-09-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

A viewer just pointed this website out to me. Badali Jewelry. They have a whole line of jewelry that features our favorite ancient evil cephelopod. There are rings, earrings, necklaces, and even cufflinks with the Great Old One's face on them. They seem to all be available in sterling silver and gold.

Here's the part I thought was really cool. On the back of one of these pendants, they write "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn". Now that's classy.

H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival

2007-09-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

We just received word that "Calls For Cthulhu" will be featured in this years H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. So, if you go out to Portland, Oregon from October 5-7, you'll be able to see C4C on the big screen, with lots of other quality Lovecraftian films.

Here's a link to the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. Hope to see you there!

Format Problems?

2007-09-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

A viewer wrote in to say that the sub-pages (episodes, ringtones, and store) were not working. I can't make it happen on any of my systems/browsers. Is anybody else having this problem? If so, can you list what browser/computer type you're using in the comments? I'd appreciate it.

New Format

2007-09-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

As you've probably noticed, I changed the format for the page. This version should look much cleaner, faster, more streamlined, and without so much ad-clutter on the page. There is now a menu bar that will take you to the ringtones, let you e-mail Cthulhu, let you check out all the episodes, and even visit the Cthulhu store.

If you want to compare it to the old format, I have that -> here <-
So, tell me what you think!

Ringtones

2007-09-04T21:01:00.000-07:00

Recently, a fan wrote in to ask if we could make ringtones from the show. So, always eager to please, we set aside our subtitles and videos for a little while, and put together a series of clips from the show (the intro, a few rants, the Rapid Fire Round, the Cult of Cthulhu message, etc.) and made them all available through this website.

Click here to listen to or download the ringtones. They are all free for download, although I would ask that, if you really like one, you make a donation to the squid-headed lord.

By the way, all of these files are rendered as MP3s. If you need a different file format, just tell me and I'll try to convert to that format.

Also, if there's a sound you were looking for, but didn't see, tell me and I'll be glad to put it up there for you.

Episode 1 - Now with Subtitles!

2007-09-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite writers is Aaron Sorkin. He wrote "A Few Good Men", the TV shows "Sports Night" and "West Wing". He's known for having his characters talk fast and never talk down to the audience.

I mention this because, I think his style is rubbing off on me. Some people tell me we talk too fast on C4C. So, for those people who want to get all the words, you can now read "Calls For Cthulhu"!

I've only put Episode 1 up there so far, but I'm still working with the translators, and I hope to put more of the episodes this week, even in different languages. Tell me what you think. Waste of time? Invaluable resource?

Update: I've just added subtitled versions for German, French, Dutch, and Italian.

Episode 7 is now live!

2007-08-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

This episode is the biggest episode yet. In fact, it was so big YouTube wouldn't let us submit it until we cut three minutes off.

Anyway, here it is:

Episode 6 is now live!

2007-07-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

I know, it took way too long for this episode. I'm sorry about that, but I've been really busy at work.

Anyway, it's all worth it because the latest episode is up, and I think it's the best one yet! Here it is:

BTW, Jane Vincent, the "Sexy Cthulhu" rockstar, can be found here with her band Abiku.

Update and Podcast mention

2007-06-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Those who are fans of the "Wingin' It" Podcast will have noticed that they mentioned "Calls for Cthulhu" and gave us high praise as a kind of Dr. Tran video, and even admonish all their listeners to come view the show.

In other news, It's been almost two months since the last C4C episode, and I apologize for that. I lost an entire week to this weird debilitating flu, and I've spent a lot of time on rendering the head of a new trapped God who will be a guest on the show. However, I think all the renders are in place, the audio has been recorded, I just need to do a whole lot of mixing. Hopefully, we'll have Episode 6 ready by the end of this week.

The DVD is now available!

2007-06-03T15:20:00.001-07:00

Okay, the first few disks have been burned, the cases are filled, and the DVD is ready to ship. We are now taking orders for this forty minute DVD, featuring all of the first four episodes, including the Halloween episode and the "hidden" video that was previously only available to people who cracked the 'Cult of Cthulhu' code.

This is only the English version, but we hope to have an international version available later this month.

The link to order is here.

Another cruel video

2007-05-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

I just found this movie on YouTube. It's not Lovecraftian, but it is frightening, suspenseful, and cruel. It's the story of a man who wakes up in a box, and can't get out. Other people come in and out, they even offer to let him go, but it never works. It's an old concept, but I've never seen it more professionally rendered.

Here's the really cool part. The movie was made by Jim Henson. This was something he did the very first year that Sesame street came on the air.

Anyway, here's the YouTube Link. If I can find out how to buy it, I'll post the instructions here.

Non Euclidean Geometry

2007-05-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

Rodrigo Vilanova asked,

"Please confirm that non-Euclidean geometries are in fact Fractal geometries."

While I have an answer for that, I don't think it's very funny, so I'm not going to put it in the show. However, I thought that you, the enterprising Lovecraft fan, might be interested in my guess at how Non-Euclidean Geometry works. So, here goes:

Well, yes and no. You see, Fractal geometry is an expedient to explain repeating complex patterns in nature by reducing them to simple repeating formulas, and as far as that goes, yeah.

The problem is that non-Euclidean geometry is based on a whole different number system. A basic ruleset for Euclidean geometry is that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Based on that, you can tell the distance between two points, you can define an object as a series of points, and you can map out the world. Unfortunately, in non-Euclidean geometry, there is no shortest distance between two points. Not a straight line, not a Bezier curve, not even a definable parabola.

Imagine that you treated the distance between two points as a four-dimensional value, where it is not only based on the length, depth, and breadth of the points, but also based on where they are at a given time. This assumes that all points move in a constant, but unpredictable manner. Now, despite the fact that distance is a four-dimensional value, it is still a single value (for the undefinable determinant of time).

But it gets worse. Now, instead of a four-dimensional line, you make it an n-dimensional line (where n can be a freaking huge number). There's almost no way of knowing from one moment to the next where a point is going to be, using your static form of math.

Now, add to that the fact that these almost undefinable values are just the simple functions used as a foundation for the more complicated fractal, and you add an order of magnitude more difficult than you had before, just to figure out the distance between two points.

Hope that helps clear up the issue.

Poll Results

2007-04-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well, the free web polling system I found apparently crapped out after a single day (guess you get what you pay for). Still, we had plenty of time to get the results in. 87% favored the old intro to the new one.

So, in short, people like the old intro, and they like the long format. They like the Rapid Fire Round, and they like the rants.

In a way, this is endearing. I guess we were doing the right thing all along.

We'll still experiment occasionally, but we'll keep with the original format in general.

Thanks for your help!

Poll on new Intro

2007-04-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

With Episode 5, we added a new introduction. I liked the new Lovecraftian mood, but some viewers said that they missed the old intro.

So, I put it to you, gentle reader. Which do you prefer?

Help guide the direction of Calls For Cthulhu by voting for your favorite intro (in the upper-right side of this page).

Thanks.

P.S. And yes, I also know the viewers thought the last episode was too short. My goal was to make it more YouTube friendly (most of those videos run 3-5 minutes). I guess I underestimated just how much people wanted more Cthuhlu. :)

Episode 5 is Live!

2007-04-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

Here you go. There's a new intro, and a shorter format, to fit our YouTube community.

Hot Tentacle Action!

2007-04-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

So, have you ever noticed that, when someone mistypes a phone number, it always ends up pointing at phone sex? A political candidate gets one digit off on his campaign number - it's porn. Martha Stewart mispronounces a new advice line - it's porn. The Anti-Pornography Commission puts an ad in the classifieds - and it's porn.

The mistaken numbers never point to some other business, or to somebody's house. . .

Anyway, when we started this show, we announced Cthulhu's phone number as 1-800-SOL-EATR, which was supposed to just be a funny little pun. Of course, it never occurred to us that we should call the number and see what was there. . .

I guess you see where this is going.

For the first time, we checked it out, and found that it goes to a redirect number leading to phone sex. Now, in our defense, we did ask that nobody call in ("Previously recorded. Please do not call.") but we still feel a responsibility to point out that, if you do call, you won't get Cthulhu.

And the ladies that you do get won't swallow your soul. However they will . . . Hmmm . . . probably best that we don't go there.

DVD News

2007-04-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well, we now have one Spanish translator and three Portugese translators, as well as an offer from both German and French speakers. So we should be putting up translated versions soon (a month, I'm guessing, maybe less).

In other news, I just got in the mail our new DVD from the Obelisk group, so all I have to do is finish the design for the cover, and buy some blanks, and I'll be able to start pressing disks. Once I've got that up and running, I'll post something up here, and I'll put up a link to buy the DVDs from.

The DVD has the first four episodes in as high a resolution as we could manage (some of them had to be upsampled, because they were originally mastered in low-res), as well as the extra Halloween message, and the hidden video that was previously only available to people who cracked the Cult of Cthulhu code (from Episode 3).

This first version of the DVD is only going to be available in English, with no subtitles. But once we get the translated versions, I'll make sure that future DVDs have all the subtitles, including English subtitles.

And don't worry, we are still working on Episode 5. It's going to be a shorter show, with a new intro, and more of the ranting that people seem to love so much.

fhtagn!

What we're working on

2007-04-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

Recently, a viewer wrote in to ask if we could get him a high-res version of the show, so that he could make translations into his native language (Spanish) for his sister, because she doesn't speak English very well.

We thought this was a great idea. We made high-res versions of all the episodes, and mailed him a disk, complete with scripts, to ease the project. However, we did it on one condition. When he finishes with the translation, he's going to send us a copy of the Spanish-subtitled version. That way, we can add him to our credits, and publish a Spanish version of C4C.

But then we started thinking about that. Now we have high-res versions of the show, hidden episodes (you knew about those, right?), scripts, and alternate language subtitles. Sounds like we've got enough there for a DVD!

So, in addition to working on Episode 5, we are also putting together a DVD. The first version, which should be available in the next couple of weeks, will only have the English version. However, we're hoping to have alternate languages available soon after that.

This also brought up another idea. Are you multi-lingual, and wish that you could help spread the joy of Cthulhu with your friends and family? If so, write us a note, and we can make arrangements for you to translate C4C to your language, and be added to the credits for the show. We would love to start showing C4C in Spanish, Dutch, Italian, German, Portugese, and as many other languages as we can.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Episode 4 of "Calls For Cthulhu" just released. Why watch the lesser evil?

2007-03-24T21:17:00.001-07:00

If you love "Calls For Cthulhu", let the world know. Digg it up!
Click here -> digg story

C4C Episode 4 is Live!

2007-03-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

Episode 4 is now available on YouTube:

Call of Tutu

2007-03-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like there's a lot of new Lovecraftian stuff coming out recently. Here's another great example:

The Call of Tutu, an absolutely brilliant Lovecraftian short film about a man and his cat.

There are times when good writing can cover for bad acting or directing. There are times when a great actor can make a bad script sound good. There are even times when a good director can, through clever camera work and editing, make a bad actor saying bad lines still sound good.

But every now and then, you run across a group where you can tell everyone is putting their best effort into the work. Call of Tutu is one of those, where you can just tell that everyone involved was serious about making something really great.

Cutethulhu

2007-02-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

The story of two girls who find a plush Cthulhu, and make him suffer all manner of indignities. The animation (oddly anime) is really well done, and the ending is great.

The video is here.

Ryleh

2007-02-16T16:07:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen this yet, it's a great 3D short film called Ryleh made in 2003. It's subtle, vicious, exquisite, and cruel. Very Lovecraftian.

The YouTube link is here.

Gah! Blast!

2007-02-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

I was just informed that the T-Shirt site has some bug in it that's made ordering impossible for the last week.

I've found a way around it, and fixed the link, so if you've been trying to order any merch, it should be working now.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Seven Pop Culture References.

2007-02-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

As the big C mentioned, there are seven (deliberate) pop-culture references in Episode 3. If you want to look for them on your own, go ahead and watch Episode 3 again, and see if you can catch them. If you want to check your answers, I'll be posting my list in the comments for this entry.

Feel free to post others you caught that I may have missed.

-Brand

Sister Project

2007-01-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

If you like Old Time Horror (and really, if you didn't, how could you have correctly spelled Cthulhu's name?) then you may be interested in one of my other projects. It's a podcast/Internet Radio station called "Shivers Radio" and it plays old-time radio Horror and Sci Fi 24/7.

We've got some of the best work from Sci Fi writers like Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury. Also, we have episodes of some horror shows that were so frightening, they were only allowed airtime after midnight.

All the shows we play are in the public domain, and because it's both a Live Shoutcast Stream and a Podcast, you can choose what episode to listen to, or you can tune in to see what's currently on tap.

Hope you like it.

-BrandG

Rapid Fire Round Questions

2007-01-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

It looks like the Rapid Fire Round is catching on, with several people writing in about how much they love the segment. Well, here's your chance to be a part of the next Rapid Fire Round.

In the comments section for this post, put as many short, wierd, off-the-wall questions as you want. They can be simple facts ("what is the fastest land mammal?"), personal queries ("Does he love me?") or completely random ideas ("Why are dogs lips black?").

Also, if you'd prefer to e-mail questions, you can send them to Cthulhu.hotstud1413@gmail.com. This is the same address to use for sending normal questions to the big C.

Minor changes

2007-01-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

I altered the webpage a bit to put all the videos front and center on the page, for easy retrieval. I also moved the swag links (T-shirt, mugs and stuff) over to the side to get it out of the way.

No other news. Episode 4 is coming along.

More stuff to buy

2007-01-18T10:24:00.000-08:00

Now they've got a plush, pop-up, Necronomicon

Link Here.

I'm kinda conflicted on this. I mean, what good is a Necronomicon that isn't written and bound with human flesh?

Episode 3 is live!

2007-01-15T03:37:00.000-08:00

Enjoy

Digg This!

30k!

2007-01-12T08:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, it may be small potatoes for some, but I'm pretty proud to say that we just hit 30 thousand views on YouTube (and I think that number's soft, because a lot of people have it linked to their site, or uploaded to metafilter or IFilm or whatever).

Anyway, I just wanted to write in and let everybody know that Episode 3 is on track, and should be out sometime next week. I had a pretty serious easter egg in there that has delayed the project significantly, but hopefully, it will be worth the wait.

Must get

2007-01-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

Need to add this to my next Christmas list.

Cthulhu Toy Set.

Props

2006-12-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

I should point out that one of the images used in Episode 2 was taken from a website www.CthulhuGame.it. It's an ambitious project where people are trying to build an MMORG for the Cthulhu Mythos! Worth checking out!

Carol of the Old Ones

2006-12-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen THIS yet, it's really good. It's a Christmas Carol for the Old Ones.

Episode 2 is live!

2006-11-17T22:24:00.000-08:00

Cthulhu is back with more advice and abuse.

20k!

2006-11-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo!! We just broke 20,000 views today on YouTube! Let me tell you, for a small-time movie like us, this is phenomenal. The only time you get those kinds of numbers are when you submit a Seinfeld clip, or a Colbert Report, or get an insane stunt featured on Digg, Fark, or Slashdot.

So given that we only have the first episode, given that we've never been featured on any of the super-blogs, and given that it's only been a month and a half, that's pretty freakin' great.

In other news, Episode 2 is coming along. We have the final audio, and just finished filming, so as soon as we're out of post, it'll be out.

Cthulhu fhtagn!!!

Halloween Short

2006-11-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

Calls For Cthulhu - Episode 1

2006-09-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Call For Cthulhu T-Shirts are available

2006-09-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Next Caller!

2006-09-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Greetings puny mortals. It is I, the mightiest of the Old Gods, Cthulhu. I slumber now, lying eternally, until the stars are right, and I return for my ravening delight. Great will be the wailing and powerful the lamentations when . . .

Okay, look. Fact is, I can't sleep. It's nothing serious, I'll probably get back to sleep in a few years or so. But I didn't want to just lie there, counting the holes in the ceiling tiles, and watching reruns of "Mister Ed". So, I figured I'd get up and answer some letters.

So go ahead. If you've got questions for Cthulhu, hit me. I may just be bored enough to answer.

cthulhu.hotstud1413@gmail.com

That Which is Not Dead, Can Eternal Lie, And if He Owes You Money, It's a Certainty He Will.