Operation...Poe?

[mollyringle]

Hey LJers,

You may remember last year's Operation Ichabod, in which I spliced together recordings of you, your friends, and your family members reading an excerpt from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." I'd like to do the same thing this year, with all and sundry invited to participate, whether you did it last year or not.

I'm probably going to use Poe's "The Raven," since I wager it's the second-most obvious Halloween literature choice (after "Sleepy Hollow"). It is technically more a creepy poem about grief than a true horror story, but still, it's famous, and anything by Poe just screams "Halloween." Unless you guys would much rather use a Stephen King or Dracula excerpt or something?

Anyway, given sufficient interest, I'll do an official sign-up post shortly after this. Being able to record your voice in a tidy mp3 or wav file is handiest, but voice posts work too. So please indicate your sufficient interest, and ability to rope friends and family into the task, here!

Thank you, my little children of the night.

Edit: We definitely have enough interest. Great! I'll do a sign-up post soon. Thank you again.

Comments

[wandererrob.livejournal.com]

You simply cannot go wrong with Poe, IMO.

[astroman-rich.livejournal.com]

Katy, me, and the two little hellspawn will be happy to participate again!

[sea0tter12.livejournal.com]

Shane and I would be happy to participate!

[ekatarina.livejournal.com]

I would love to join in. I am pretty sure I can record and send a file. I might need an email address, but I will do my best.

Ekatarina

[serai1.livejournal.com]

I'd love to get in on this again. :)

If you get a lot of takers, you might think about doing The Telltale Heart. It's a short one, but longer than The Raven. And it's, you know, creepy as hell.

[mikailborg.livejournal.com]

Last time was lotsa fun! Would love to do it again, and I think Poe's a great idea.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

How about Tell-Tale Heart? Poe, short, scary, and not The Raven.

[alasdair1076.livejournal.com]

I'd love to be part of this:) Sounds great:)

[dirae.livejournal.com]

The Raven would be great fun. It is also something I could use in my Academic Level English 11 class -- meaning, I could use your finished post as something the students hear performed aloud.

I will be going to see a one man show on Poe in late October.

I disagree with the Tell-tale Heart as an option; it is a great short story that does not translate well to multiple performers. Anyone one who has ever had to read it aloud in a class could attest to that (primarily because the narrative voice is so singular). The Raven is much easier for multiple people to read and still maintain the cadence/tone (since it is poetically forced upon us by Poe).

Kevon and I would love to be a part of it again.

Perhaps we could do Neil Gaiman's The Wolves in the Walls for the younger set sometime. Or, something by Gorey like the Gashlycrumb Tinies could always be an option.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Glad you guys are in!

I originally started looking into "The Fall of the House of Usher" as the optional story (I thought that one was next-most famous, though apparently that prize goes to "The Tell-Tale Heart"). But I encountered the readability problem there too. Poe's long, meandering sentences with their impulsive asides and multisyllabic unusual words don't make for easy parceling out, nor easy reading aloud. The meter in "The Raven," which at first I thought would be problematic for multiple readers, actually could work better. And I do love that meter and cadence he chose...

Must look up the Gaiman story; haven't read it yet. I love Gaiman, and he has stuff that would be a good choice. And Gorey would be hilarious and awesome--can't believe I didn't think of that! Hee.

[astroman-rich.livejournal.com]

Oh wow - fantastic illustrations! I'm getting that for the tots!

[dirae.livejournal.com]

It is one of our favorite bedtime stories. My son is a tad twisted.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Interested!

[gavinworld.livejournal.com]

I'm game, and I've got a USB microphone.

[halfmute.livejournal.com]

This project should properly be called OPERAVEN, right?

Is there any sort of ban against dragging non-LJers (gasp!) with fabulous, sexy, operatic voices (sigh...) into the melting-pot?

(By the way: A creepy poem about grief suits me just fine at the moment. Don't ask.)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

If you mean you need an address from me, then no problem, I'll be providing that. If you mean *you* need one, then that's another issue. :)

Either case, great! I'll do a sign-up post in the next couple days.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Cool! May spill over into some other piece, yeah.

LOL at that icon. I take it that's the Anne Rice novel about Jesus? (Or the unofficial version of it, anyway.)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Operaven, good choice. Hee. And absolutely drag anyone else in you can. The wider the range of voices and accents, the better the final effect.

I won't ask, but I'm sorry "The Raven" is suitable to you lately. Can't be a good sign.

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Heehee. That's the splash card that was up while Jon Stewart was talking about the wankplosion over Rice's comedybiblical epic Christ the Lord.

When I saw it, I thought, "Hell, I know sites where that would be considered tame."

[ekatarina.livejournal.com]

Ah, er, I mean the first option. (Grammar thou art my bane!)

I'll record it with my camera and then email it to you. Preferred formats?

Ekatarina

[astroman-rich.livejournal.com]

I asked our kids "What would you do if wolves took over the house, ate all our food, sat on our couches, and played with your toys?"

Amanda said: "I'd shoo them away!"

Ben said: "I'd call Animal Control, of course!"