It just came to me one night in a Dream. Create a NEW collection. Call it Carnivale.

I decided it’s time to create an entirely new collection of paintings complete with texture, abstract figures and dark, twisted imagery based on inspiration from travelling carnivals.

I don’t plan on abandoning my Liquid Landscapes Collection since my Dream Series will launch in early 2013. This new project will be in addition to my current collection.

The Carnivale Collection will be broken down into three Series. I’m still in the process of coming up with the names but have visual images in my head of what each will look like.

These new paintings will start to appear over the next few months. Stay tuned!

Now, you might disagree as to whether these films are truly in the classical Gothic tradition. But I’m talking about the darkness, here. That feeling of dread or shivery exultation you get from reading a good ghost story, or experiencing something dark that you can’t help but like. So, without much further ado, here are my favourite Gothic movies…

Nosferatu

Let’s start with the oldest first. As well as being one of the first Vampire movies I ever saw (not because I was old enough to be there, but because it was on TV) this is one that still bloody petrifies me. The fact that it has no sound, and the camera angles/use of shadow just make the whole thing so ethereal. Take a look at what I mean, and turn off the sound. I don’t know why people insist on adding stupid music to clips of Nosferatu. Talk about missing the point!

Dark City

This probably isn’t in the true Gothic feel, being more of a sci-fi movie, but the imagery is certainly dark enough. There’s also a deep sense of being trapped and a feeling of futility to the protagonist’s fight. How can he possibly escape the labyrinthine avenues and alleyways of Dark City when the villains can warp the world around him. You might also see a bit of a similarity between the villains and Max Schreck’s character from Nosferatu. Oh, and it has Keifer Sutherland in it. What more can you possibly ask for? Apart from JENNIFER CONNELY! Schwing!

The Crow

And now to my favourite of this group. I have seen this movie so many times that the VHS (remember those?) warped from the heat and the DVD has lost its shine. James O’Barr’s utterly psychotic graphic novel is the inspiration for this film, and not a lick of the depth seems to be lost. The dialogue is dumbed down for the masses, since the comic was written in almost constant poetry, but parts of the original come through in Brandon Lee’s lines. It also has one of the creepiest villains this side of the Joker. This film, out of this sall selection, probably hits the Gothic feel the most. Eric’s return from the  dead to seek his revenge on Shelley’s murderers is always secondary to the love story, the power of which literally resurrects him from the grave. Take a look at the trailer, which focusses more on the action, and so does it no justice whatsoever. But you’ll get the idea.

This is what it looks like inside my head a lot of the time, folks Greaveburn at the very least has been influenced by the kind of camera shots and colourscapes you see in these films. And since I tend to write my stories as I see them, and so as cinematically as possible, I think you’ll see where I get my obsession with dark imagery from.

Anyway, it’s been nice sharing with you as always, especially these three favs of mine. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. There’s always a chance you might put me onto a gem I haven’t seen

Thanks for reading.

Last night, I came across Bl. John Paul II’s World Youth Day homily in Toronto in 2002.  He began with these words:

1. On a hillside near the lake of Galilee, Jesus’s disciples listened to his gentle and urgent voice; asgentle as the landscape of Galilee itself, as urgent as a call to choose between life and death, between truth and falsehood. The Lord spoke words of life that would echo for ever in the hearts of his followers.

Today he is speaking the same words to you, the young people of Toronto and Ontario, of the whole of Canada, of the United States, of the Caribbean, of Spanish-speaking America and Portuguese-speaking America, of Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Listen to the voice of Jesus in the depths of your hearts! His words tell you who you are as Christians. They tell you what you must do to remain in his love.

2. But Jesus offers one thing, and the “spirit of the world” offers another. In today’s Reading from the Letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul tells us that Jesus leads us from darkness into light (cf. Eph 5,8). Perhaps the great Apostle is thinking of the light that blinded him, the persecutor of Christians, on the road to Damascus. When later he recovered his sight, nothing was as before. He had been born anew and nothing would ever take his new-found joy away from him.

You too are called to be transformed. “Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph 5, 14), says Saint Paul.

The “spirit of the world” offers many false illusions and parodies of happiness. There is perhaps no darkness deeper than the darkness that enters young people’s souls when false prophets extinguish in them the light of faith and hope and love. The greatest deception, and the deepest source of unhappiness, is the illusion of finding life by excluding God, of finding freedom by excluding moral truths and personal responsibility.

Compare the words “There is perhaps no darkness deeper than the darkness that enters young people’s souls when false prophets extinguish in them the light of faith and hope and love” with the first two chapters of John’s letter.  Isn’t this exactly what John meant?  False prophets — whether in religious garb or the sirens of a culture that proclaim that one can find “freedom by excluding moral truths and personal responsibility” — literally darken and then extinguish the very light of Christ in young people’s souls.  John’s letter is broader — he warns all of us about this danger and then exhorts all of us to fight it through faith in Christ.

“ we nose dem thin lipped onze be dem wite frogs,  my mammy saze if I getz a lite-nin bug,  I best get a Black one soze I cin see.  Dem wite onze  be so lil, cuz dey aint got no butt.  eye mite trip an git my lil black self loss”

Along with the obvious racism and idiocy, coupled with plot holes,  large enough to throw people through,  the witchcraft and occult symbolism severe.  Just  looking at the still images alone, made me want to perform an exorcism on my computer.  The poor unsuspecting parents,  who took their little princesses,  to this movie expecting something totally different,  left with their stomachs in their throat.   Some parents took their children out, and tried unsuccessfully to explain,  why mommy or daddy needed to leave in a hurry.  Sadly,  after watching mere minutes of the movie,  and sensing their child twitch reflexively,  in response to the darker imagery,  and scary parts of the movie, a lot of parents realized they had just made a bad investment.  These parents had come to realize to their chagrin,  that they had just invested in a couple of weeks of nightmares, a possible lifetime of trouble without the intervention of Christ,  and the extraction of about 30 bucks from their bank account.  Oh yah,  I didn’t want to leave out that Walt Dim-bulb,  also added a Mardi Gras scene with beads and all. Unfortunately,  this simply sets up a subliminal book mark in a young childs brain for later.  Fast forward 10-15 yrs,  and that book mark is accessed,  a connection is made when a” Girls gone wild”,  in Louisiana during Mardi Gras,  commercial comes on.  This opens a spiritual door for sexual temptation,  to walk right into the lives of the little princess,  that went to the movies with her unsuspecting parents. (subliminal bookmarking info obtained through reading similar study in ATS) 

Oh and for those who didn’t notice….  the frog prince was not black,  so I guess the message to little black girls is, ” your Prince won’t,  or couldn’t possibly be,  a black man”.   Explain that for me Walt Dizmo?