Celebrate Creativity

Send us Fan Mail This episode concentrates on Harry Melling - the potential problems he faced getting typecast as Dudley in Harry Potter.  He had the chance to learn from some of the greatest living British actors in Harry Potter.  The episode also discusses The Lost City of Z, and the black comedy, Say Your Prayers.  The episode ends with an extensive look at The Queen’s Gambit and Harry Melling’...

Send us Fan Mail This episode deals with the movie version of The Pale Blue Eye - currently on Netflix.  George talks about both the movie’s weaknesses (largely its pace) and strengths (definitely Harry Melling’s performance.)  George discusses some of the differences between the book and movie.  This epsidode also deals with English actors (especially in the case of Gone With the Wind) being idea...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 155 - The Pale Blue Process This episode is about some of the many aspects and talents involved in making movie version of The Pale Blue Eye - including the location where the story was filmed, the composer, Howard Shore, Gus Landor as played by Christian Bale, and most notably, the character of Edgar Allan Poe as played in the movie by Harry Melling. What is Google Alerts...

Send us Fan Mail This bonus episode deals with some factors that encouraged Poe to become fascinated with the military - especially in the person of General Lafayette.  This episode deals with Lafayette’s background in France and time in the United States and his essential role in the American Revolution.  His role in helping the United States become an independent nation led to him becoming a her...

Send us Fan Mail This episode deals primarily with Louis Bayard and his novel The Pale Blue Eye.  This episode also discusses why Edgar Allan Poe might be a good subject for historical fiction, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of book versus movie version.  George also lists several of the historical events and actual events in Poe’s life and how they are integrated into a fictional sto...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 149 Show Notes This episode is the final section a A Christmas Carol - The End of It.  (Sorry for the snafu before.) In it, Scrooge makes a dramatic change in his life and thinking as a result of the “spirits of Christmas.”  The final section includes such famous sections as the young lad being asked to procure a large turkey and Scrooge exhibiting a complete change in his...

Send us Fan Mail This episode begins with a brief description of James Russell Lowell’s feelings about Edgar Allan Poe.  Then George will read A Christmas Carol by Lowell, followed by The Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore. The episode concludes with O’Henry’s classic The Gift of the Magi. What did James Russell think of Edgar Allan Poe? Did the first versions of “The Night Before Christmas”...

Send us Fan Mail “Bells and Books” deals with 4 Christmas-related literary works - the first is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  The second is listed as a Christmas poem (“The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe - but I have my doubts.) The third (and longest) section is “A Set of Poe” by Indiana writer George Ade.  The episode concludes with several lines regarding the season written by non-other tha...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 149 Show Notes This episode is the final section a A Christmas Carol - The End of It. In it, Scrooge makes a dramatic change in his life and thinking as a result of the “spirits of Christmas.”  The final section includes such famous sections as the young lad being asked to procure a large turkey and Scrooge exhibiting a complete change in his attitude towards life. 00:00 I...

Send us Fan Mail This episode of Celebrate Poe deals with the especially powerful section of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol relating to the Ghost of Christmas Future.  Scrooge learns some powerful lessons regarding how his existence (and greediness) has affected others. How does Dickens show that many people feel that Scrooge’s life meant very little? What are some of the actions that characters take...

Send us Fan Mail This episode introduces the Ghost of Christmas Present from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The episode begins with a classic description of English foods, and Christmas meal with the Crachits. Scrooge (like most readers of the story) is especially moved by the plight of Tiny Tim.  The episode/reading ends with personifications  of Ignorance and Want. What do you think is th...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 146 - Ghosts of the Past. The episode largely consists of a reading regarding the visit of the Ghost of Christmas PAST from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  The miserly Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past who takes Scrooge back to his boyood, the village in which he grew up, and is sister.  The Ghost then shows Scrooge an entertainment/dance by Mr. and...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s episode deals with the first section of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  This section of the story is also known as Marley’s Ghost. 00:00 Intro 00:47 Marley was dead 03:46 Visit from nephew 09:12 Visit from gentlemen 15:14 Scrooge sees knocker/Marley’s face 16:30 Scrooge’s room 19:38 Marley’s ghost appears 30:05 Phantoms outside 32:23 Next episode 32: 33 Sources 32:3...

Send us Fan Mail The first part of this episode basically serves as an introduction to the Christmas/holidays works that will be a a part of Celebrate Poe every night until December 26. “Rare Christmas Books” deals with valuable holiday publications, and serves as a background to the works that will be read during this holiday season.  The second part of this episode deals with the unreleased “Chr...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 143 of Celebrate Poe deals with some of the most valuable books/documents ever published.  This episode begins with George as a kid planning to “read every book in the library” and ends with his brief experience with an actual copy of Shakespeare’s 1523 First Folio.  Rare Books also  deals with some of the most valuable books written by Americans (the most expensive might...

Send us Fan Mail Missing!!! deals with the mysterious theft of a copy of Tamerlane and Other Poems from the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia.  This episode relates the initial realization that something might be wrong with the collections at the Alderman Library - that something may have been stolen.  The belated reaction of the staff is covered, as well as some of the reactions of t...

Send us Fan Mail   Episode 141 - Pyramids of Skulls This episode begins with an apology for the lateness of this episode because of a medical bill snafu that was all consuming.  The main part of Pyramids of Skulls is an imaginary interview with the ghost of the historical Tammerlane - highlighting his ruthlessness in battle, incredible cruelty to his enemies, and the destruction caused by what was...

Send us Fan Mail This episode deals with some of the possible sources for Tamerlane - the longest poem from his first published work.  This episode touches on such varied subjects as Christopher Marlowe, Nicolas Rowe and the First Folio, the Richmond Theatre Fire, hippodrome plays, and why Tamerlane and Other Poems is important. What is the full name of Edgar Poe’s first published work? Which play...

Send us Fan Mail This episode deals with the most valuable book ever written by an American -Tamerlane and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe. The book was published in Boston. and was Poe’s first publication. George (and the ghost of Mr. Poe) read several poems from Tamerlane and Other Poems, including I Saw Thee on Thy Bridal Day, Visit of the Dead, and The Happiest Hour. 00:00 Intro   00:53  Entran...

Send us Fan Mail This episode of Celebrate Poe delves into an extremely personal and influential time in the writer’s life - basically the end of his youth and decision to leave Richmond to become a writer.  This episode also deals with his relationship with Elmira Royster (his first - and later his last - love.) The relationship between John Allan and Edgar is explored, as well as some of Edgar’s...

Send us Fan Mail George begins this episode by talking a bit about the dynamics of performing “The Tell Tale Heart” - how it is so easy (and fun) to go “over the top” because the story is open to so many interpretations.  The those of Mr. Poe reads the story, and the role of the unreliable narrator is compared in The Black Cat and The Tell Tale Heart.  George also talks about a murder trial of the...

Send us Fan Mail This episode has the ghost of Mr. Poe reading the complete version of the story, The Black Cat - setting the story up for a comparison of guilt and madness with The Tale Heart (in the following episode.)   This episode with some observations by David Grantz regarding individual will in such stories as The Black Cat. What is the Black Dog Syndrome? What was the physical difference...

Send us Fan Mail This episode delves into what are arguable the most famous Halloween poems of Edgar Allan Poe. While the word Halloween was not used in the poems “Spirits of the Dead,” “The Raven,” and “Ulalume,” the poems embody the Halloween spirit. Where was the first version of “Spirits of the Dead” published. What is usually considered the most famous poem ever written by an American (o.k. -...

Send us Fan Mail 134 Notes This episode is a brief look at the development of what is now known as Halloween - starting with Samhain.  The episode begins with a passage that Poe wrote about Stonehenge.  It follows the development of Halloween as a holiday - from Samhain to All Souls day to “trick or treat.” What is Samhain? What Halloween custom was mentioned in a letter to John Allan? What is Fer...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is the second part of a look at the book “Rot, Riot, and Rebellion” about the initial years of the University of Virginia.  The focus is on (naturally) Edgar Allan Poe’s tumultuous times as one of the youngest students - his brillance in studies, as well as his gambling problems. The episode ends with a look at the death of Thomas Jeffersona and the reaction of the st...