One of the pleasures of running Propnomicon is the opportunity to highlight sculpture and artwork I enjoy. Anytime I can throw some attention towards a deserving artist creating fantastic art, in every sense of the word "fantastic", I'm happy to do so. That said, I also have rather particular tastes. Because Propnomicon focuses on occult artifacts in general, and the Cthulhu Mythos in particular, I'm just not interested in works outside of those general parameters.
Why do I bring this up?
Because, apparently, I'm not giving enough exposure to truly deserving artists.
There have been a few incidents over the past year where artists or their advocates have become upset that I'm not interested in their work or, heaven forbid, "not giving it the attention it deserves". Normally I don't let that kind of thing get under my skin, but it's recently escalated to the point of aggravation and it has to stop.
So, to prevent any further problems, I'd like to make everyone aware that I have no interest whatsoever in knit Cthulhu hats, chibi Cthulhu, plush Cthulhu, felt Cthulhu, cartoon-style Cthulhu, or anime Cthulhu. Feel free to substitute the name of any other Mythos entity for "Cthulhu" in all of the above and rest assured that I couldn't care less about them either. That doesn't mean your work isn't wonderful. I'm sure it is. It's just not something I want to cover here.
If, on the other hand, you've created a cool grimoire, sculpted a nasty critter, reproduced an interesting historical document, discovered a cool historical resource, or have a helpful tutorial related to propmaking I'd love to hear from you. 'Cause, you know, that's what my blog is about. All I ask is that you take a few minutes to browse around and get a feel for what I think is nifty before emailing me. Believe me, I love when someone emails me something cool, but I'm just not into the "cute" Mtyhos stuff.
Yikes! And here I'd just proposed cute & fuzzy "Tickle Me Elmo" -- being tickled by William Nezme Zardain's "Fezto"....
ReplyDeleteBut, believe me, I have never doubted that this is *your* blog, edited & published & absolutely owned by *you*, and meant to reflect *your* tastes, and that anyone who wants a blog otherwise run is welcome to go elsewhere or to start one of their own.
So I hope poor Elmo's fate in Fezto's clutches did not contribute to this recent mess.
--Raven.
"I have no interest whatsoever in knit Cthulhu hats, chibi Cthulhu, plush Cthulhu, felt Cthulhu, cartoon-style Cthulhu, or anime Cthulhu."
ReplyDeleteThank the gods. Keep up the good work.
He has... particular... tastes....
ReplyDeleteI'm continuously amazed by what some people expect from a personal blog, that takes time, effort and money to run.
Personally, I am very grateful that you have invested the effort to produce a really useful resource of interesting - Serious - Cthulhu material.
Keep up the good work.
Renoir
I run a blog dedicated to LEGO Robotics... I get emails all the time from people wanting me to display their LEGO castle or a video of them putting together the Star Wars Millennium Falcon... it IS aggravating. In most cases, I don't even respond... but sometimes they follow-up with a heated email or a more persistent nagging... then I have to get tough.
ReplyDeleteWell, if that's your attitude, fine!
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna start my own blog - CUTE CTHULHUS 'R' US. So there!
@ Raven
ReplyDeleteWell, the I *did* think the Elmo thing was funny.
Horrible and nightmarish, but still funny.
@ Michael Heilemann
The irony of the situation is that the number of sites covering serious Mythos projects is dwarfed by those featuring the cute items.
@ Renoir
Thank you for the kind words. I count myself lucky that there are people that share my specific interests.
@ Jim
I just don't comprehend that sense of entitlement. One of the things I love about blogs is that they allow the truly passionate to share their knowledge and love about incredibly niche subjects. Asking an author of a blog like that to change their focus is like an uninvited guest showing up at someone's house and criticizing the accomodations.
Exactly. Thank you for keeping this blog restricted to what Cthulhu is supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteWhat you mean I won't find any bobble hats here, darn :)
ReplyDeleteSome people!
Here's one solution that you could use. Next time someone wants you to show their cutesy Cthulu creation give it a HORRIBLE critique. Then perhaps the requests would stop. I think most of these people requesting exposure want free publicity to sell the aforementioned items. Advertising isn't free, or easy. Sheeesh, why do people want to make horror cute anyway? Aaarrrghhh... I'm losing Sanity Points! Not too many of those left...
ReplyDeleteThe way I see it, Propnomicon is the only blog that has not been ridiculing Him with hats and webcomics. I suspect that He takes a far greater liking to the more serious worship going on here, and when the moment does come, that we might be eaten first.
ReplyDeleteMy two cents.
I have never understood the need for people to make Cthulhu (or anything else Lovecraft wrote about for that matter) cute and cuddly. Cthulhu is not plush and he sure as hell is not cartoon-like! I find it ridiculous. As a devotee of Lovecraft I also find it is disrespectful of his vision. (I say this as I pull the cowl of my cultist's robe over my head) Thank you for keeping the Faith!
ReplyDeleteRight on. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog for precisely those things you do cover. The cute stuff is everywhere, but finding a source that showcases such great prop making ideas, old paper prop resources, and cool tomes and statues is hard. Keep doing what you're doing. You do a great job.
ReplyDelete"Here is my Kitty Cat Cthulu Cap, it's really SP@@KY!!!!!! and the best thing 3VAR why wont u post it?!>???!!!1111!!? LOL KTHNX"
ReplyDelete(I think the Necronomicon was written to give people like you ways of dealing with people like them. Stay strong, brother.)
@ Robbert Folmer
ReplyDeleteThe one exception to my general dislike of "cute" Cthulhu is Goomi's Unspeakable Vault webcomic, because much of the humor comes from an intimate knowledge of the Mythos. That and the fact that Goomi is one of the best serious Mythos artists in the world.
True enough indeed. You may replace 'webcomics' with, I don't know, baby clothing? Cat toys? Mythos/Hello Kitty/Pokemon crossover dinner plates?
ReplyDeleteGo ahead, laugh. It must exist somewhere.
Personally, I like a bunch of the "cutsie" Cthulhu-oriented stuff. I love looking at it, but I'm rarely interested in owning it. Until finding Propnomicon, however, I was amazed at how few and far between resources for "serious" Lovecraftania seemed to be--as that is what I would rather make and/or own.
ReplyDeleteBut all of that simply begs the question of why people feel so entitled to direct someone else's personal interest. Even leaving "focus" out of the equation, a blog is a record of one person's interest and it astounds me how many people get personally offended that you are not interested in that which interests them.
And @ Zanazaz: That would not work. An uncomplimentary review would simply trigger triple the animosity from the same people who would fire off emails and posts stating "if you didn't like it why didn't you just not post about it at all,"--which would be accompanied by a total inability to recognize (or even have pointed out to them) the inherent hypocrisy in their position, I ran a BBS for nine year in the days before the internetz, and that is simply standard online behaviour of the bitchy little entitlement crowd...
I've been thinking about this, and I suspect, ultimately, Lovecraft would be amused by some of the lighter Cthulu-related items. He had a good sense of humor about the mythos, and in his own letters he often talks about the elder gods with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
ReplyDeleteI still find a lot of the stuff kind of annoying, and I still think your blog should stay focused on the more serious aspects of the prop and model world. And I definitely still think that people who bug you because you don't want to cover their stuff should be fed to something that only likes to party under a gibbous moon.
This site is an amazing resource, just the way it is. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDelete