The Call of Cthulhu

My dorky boyfriend got me to dip my toes into a number of things I wouldn't have been interested in otherwise - as boy and girlfriends are wont to do - including but not limited to League of Legends, Magic the Gathering and H. P. Lovecraft. I've always loved cephalopods and any fantastical situation in which humanity gets completely obliterated, though, so eventually checking out the Cult of Cthulhu seemed inevitable.

Never thought I'd see the day..

I wouldn't say I'm a Lovecraft fan now, but I'm definitely a misanthrope, so I at least get why the concept of an ineffable ancient evil completely beyond the wisdom of mankind slumbering at the bottom of the sea and waiting to destroy us all has become such an enduring popular culture cult phenomenon.

It's interesting that all of the short stories are tied together with the same themes, but were never articulated in the form of a single, continuous tale. I mean, the fact that the evil rears its smelly, grotesquely tentacled head periodically but hasn't yet reclaimed the Earth is probably why Lovecraft's mysterious ramblings are still popular (and why more than one person surely wrote "Cthulhu" in the blank spot on their ballot, because it could still happen at any moment), but don't you think the idea would have been just as terrifying or even more so as a less verbose, intensely built-up novel with no resolution/ending? 

At any rate, I decided to return the book pictured to my boyfriend complete with a handmade, hand painted tentacle bookmark. I'm still trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible before I move and figured, why not turn this scrap of poster board into a bunch of them?

Well of course some of them are squidlets. I couldn't help myself.

The finished blue tentacle bookmarks.

I ended up giving it to him for his birthday (which is right before Halloween), but the bookmark by itself would've been lame, so I also hand-drew and cut stencils of the seal of the Necronomicon and Cthulhu about to wreak serious cosmic havoc and painted the designs onto shirts:

This "technique" doesn't really work with geometric designs... Oh well.

The drawing before I spent hours cutting it out.

The finished product, plus the half-screwed-up transdimensional squid speak on the back.

I was originally going to post this and give them to him on Halloween, but the idiot "broke up" with me that day, so I never even got to dress up or to go any parties. Nice, huh? A few days later I decided to give him his presents because I didn't really have the time or motivation to sell them for a decent price.

Anyway, I also have several packages of Trolli Sour Brite Octopus gummi candies and thought it would be fun to make Cthulhu-themed cocktails. Personally, I think a Midori Sour would be the best choice for this - mostly because of its intense green colour - but all I had in the way of mixers were cranberry and cherry juice, so mine ended up being little gummi Cthulhus lurking at the bottom of a highball-deep sea of vodka-cranberry blood with a sugar rim.

Seriously though, is this a great idea for a Halloween party or what? It's just too bad the octopus variety of the Sour Brite gummi creature family is so hard to find. :(

Finally, as I was making this post, I happened across Richard Morden Illustration, and ermahgerd, LOOK AT THIS. LOOK AT IT.




This fucking adorable felt space squid from another dimension can menace the planet all day long, I don't even care. Richard Morden is clearly a boss and I fully intend to familiarise myself with his life and his entire catalog of work. 

JUST LOOK AT IT! Imagine how much it'd sell for on Etsy as a sculpture display. Millions, that's how many.