Hemingway, Hitchens and Sinatra said it was true, so it must be true.

George - 20 January 2012 08:58 AM

That’s what beer is for, traveler. After my fifth beer I can have a conversation with anybody. Just like beer makes us to see women more attractive, it also helps us to find men more interesting.

Since I dislike beer I have to make do with wine.  Strangely, it doesn’t have quite the effect you suggest, George. I find that after a few glasses of wine, women are both more attractive and far more interesting.  Men, on the other hand, become more and more boring the more glasses of wine I have.

Occam

Beer or wine, I agree with Occam.

But, horror. There are several subgenres of horror; slasher horror, typically an unkillable psychopath messily slaughtering nubile teenagers too stupid to stay out of the dark forest; classic horror, exemplified by “Dracula” and “Nosferatu”; derivative classic horror, vampires, werewolves and/or zombies in a contemporary environment, with Ann Rice as exemplar; alien monster horror, from Doctor Who to “Alien”; horror that merges imperceptibly into science fiction, typically something like a killer virus accidentally (or deliberately) released; and H.P.Lovecraft. I give Lovecraft and his imitators a subgenre all of their own, something I suppose you could call Occult Cosmic Horror; tales of monstrous beings that once ruled the Earth but were banished into some hidden dimension, and who lurk in wait for “the stars to come right” so that they can once again take over, aided by degenerate humans with unspeakable black magical rites found in ancient mouldering tomes.

Slasher horror typically appeals only to sadistic 10-year-old nerds and others of like mentality, so can pretty much be dismissed; the others, like any other variety of genre fiction, vary from well written, literary evocations of eerie meta-realities, to abysmally bad. Like gold panning, you can find nuggets in there, but you have to shovel, sort and discard whole piles of worthless gravel to get at them.

As you might have guessed I’m somewhat of a Lovecraft fan; but most of his imitators, especially the modern ones, try very hard but don’t quite get there, in my opinion. 

Theflyingsorcerer.

Theflyingsorcerer - 20 January 2012 11:29 PM

Beer or wine, I agree with Occam.

But, horror. There are several subgenres of horror; slasher horror, typically an unkillable psychopath messily slaughtering nubile teenagers too stupid to stay out of the dark forest; classic horror, exemplified by “Dracula” and “Nosferatu”; derivative classic horror, vampires, werewolves and/or zombies in a contemporary environment, with Ann Rice as exemplar; alien monster horror, from Doctor Who to “Alien”; horror that merges imperceptibly into science fiction, typically something like a killer virus accidentally (or deliberately) released; and H.P.Lovecraft. I give Lovecraft and his imitators a subgenre all of their own, something I suppose you could call Occult Cosmic Horror; tales of monstrous beings that once ruled the Earth but were banished into some hidden dimension, and who lurk in wait for “the stars to come right” so that they can once again take over, aided by degenerate humans with unspeakable black magical rites found in ancient mouldering tomes.

Slasher horror typically appeals only to sadistic 10-year-old nerds and others of like mentality, so can pretty much be dismissed; the others, like any other variety of genre fiction, vary from well written, literary evocations of eerie meta-realities, to abysmally bad. Like gold panning, you can find nuggets in there, but you have to shovel, sort and discard whole piles of worthless gravel to get at them.

As you might have guessed I’m somewhat of a Lovecraft fan; but most of his imitators, especially the modern ones, try very hard but don’t quite get there, in my opinion. 

Theflyingsorcerer.

Some slasher horror can be enjoyable, if you have the right sense of humor. IMO, there is a fine line between humor and horror. Most of slasher horror though, is annoying - like the Saw series for example.

Occam. - 20 January 2012 06:30 PM

George - 20 January 2012 08:58 AM

That’s what beer is for, traveler. After my fifth beer I can have a conversation with anybody. Just like beer makes us to see women more attractive, it also helps us to find men more interesting.

Since I dislike beer I have to make do with wine.  Strangely, it doesn’t have quite the effect you suggest, George. I find that after a few glasses of wine, women are both more attractive and far more interesting.  Men, on the other hand, become more and more boring the more glasses of wine I have.

Occam

Off topic, but I’ve never found that alcohol makes women (or men) more attractive, or interesting. Then again, I try to associate with attractive,interesting people only - one of the many reasons why I love this forum!!!

OT -  I recall when I was in graduate school and working at a nearby aerospace company, a number of the single male lab chemists often met at the restaurant/bar across the street. Tthey discussed the problem of attractiveness vs ethanol so, in the true manner of scientists they set up an experiment.  Three of them were going to have only non-alcoholic beverages while another three got smashed.  At intervals during the evening each of them privately wrote down on a scale of 1 to 10 (with comments) their rating for attractiveness of the various ladies in the bar.  The next day they compared notes.  It appeared the alcohol had only a minor effect on their ratings for general physical attractiveness, but much stronger correlation with increasing sexual attractiveness of the women. 

Occam

Occam. - 21 January 2012 12:01 PM

OT -  I recall when I was in graduate school and working at a nearby aerospace company, a number of the single male lab chemists often met at the restaurant/bar across the street. Tthey discussed the problem of attractiveness vs ethanol so, in the true manner of scientists they set up an experiment.  Three of them were going to have only non-alcoholic beverages while another three got smashed.  At intervals during the evening each of them privately wrote down on a scale of 1 to 10 (with comments) their rating for attractiveness of the various ladies in the bar.  The next day they compared notes.  It appeared the alcohol had only a minor effect on their ratings for general physical attractiveness, but much stronger correlation with increasing sexual attractiveness of the women. 

Occam

The devil is in the details…

Not huge in to Sci-Fi - but there are obviously exceptions.

I LOVE Horror movies! But again, what’s already been said, most of them aren’t particularly frighting. I imagine that society’s slowly adopted tolerance for violence, blood, and gore - has made most of us immune to greater reaction from otherwise obscure and terrifying scenes.

I remember the first time I watched “IT” when I was a kid - scared that CRAP out of me for weeks!

I am not interested in blood and gore, I have seen too much of that in my lifetime. IMO a good horror story contains a character that is truly alien to any common conception of reason.
The monster in “Alien” is such a creature. It was conceived and created by H. R. Giger, and is truly alien to any human comparison. All Giger’s art is infused with the most bizarre erotica.
As stated before Dr Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs” is a truly scary mind, though he has a certain moral etiquette. The other character of Buffalo Bill pales by comparison.
The movie “Feardotcom” is fascinating because the murderer has a clinical but completely twisted view of intimacy.
And also, “The Cell” has groteque dreamscapes, where the murderer has a childlike delight in the unspeakable horrors he puts his victims hrough.

I guess I am fascinated by psychological horror stories where blood and gore are almost incidental to the story of descent into total madness.