AnimeNewsNetwork has an interesting article up about The Masque of the Black Death, the last script co-written by legendary director Akira Kurosawa before his death in 1998. The script is an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story about a prince's attempt to escape the plague while holding a masquerade, and will made into an animated film with a planned theatrical release date of 2010.

Note: Doesn't the Gris Grimly book (right) look awesome? What a great fit of author and illustrator.

Labels: anime, Edgar Allen Poe

The Edgar Allan Poe Museum's online store is selling bricks from Poe's last standing house, which was demolished in Manhattan last year. Each brick costs about $70, and is individually numbered, features a brass plaque stating its history, and comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by the Executive Director of the Poe Foundation. Sale of the bricks benefits the Mystery Writers of America and the Poe Foundation, Inc. Sure, there are probably other things you could do with your hard-earned seventy bucks... but c'mon: coolest decoration for a Halloween party ever.

Labels: Charity, Edgar Allen Poe

ANNABEL LEE

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me
Yes! that was the reason
(as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we
Of many far wiser than we
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

-Edgar Allen Poe

Labels: Edgar Allen Poe, poetry