November 26, 2006

Sam McGeen ruumiinpoltto

Kuten monesti aiemmin - koettelen jälleen paitsi huumorintajuanne hyvät (ja pahat) ihmiset - ehkä myös jotain muutakin. (Sillä riskillä, että joku taas ottaa nokkiinsa ja lopettaa tilauksensa.)

Huomatkaa, että tämä runomittainen, erinomaisesti lausuttu ja äänieffekteillä höystetty "kauhukertomus" ilmestyi You Tubeen 25.10 - tasan kuukausi ennen Juicen kuolinpäivää. Se oli siis "merkki"(?)

Tarina on koskettavan elävä ja realistinen, kunnes se loppuaan kohti muuttuu omituisen hyytäväksi - viimeisessä säkeistössään jopa surrealistisen koomiseksi kauhuskenarioksi tavalla, josta löytyy yhteyksiä Edgar Allan Poen tuotantoon (Edgar Allan Poe).

Robert W. Service

The Cremation of Sam McGee

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The Cremation of Sam McGee
08:13
Added October 25, 2006
From Urgelt

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Video Description

[UPDATE: I'm not accepting video responses to this video. Sorry folks.]

A reading of the poem by Robert W. Service (Jan. 16, 1874 - Sept. 11, 1958).

Most people reading this poem treat it as lightweight fare, a funny parody of a horror story. Service probably intended it that way.

But for my own amusement, and as a gesture towards Halloween, I've attempted to reinterpret the poem as genuine horror. It wasn't easy! The climactic stanza is hilarious, not scary. I'll rely on you folks to tell me if I succeeded.

Once again, folks who like their poems read as though they were songs, adhering tightly to their rhythmic structure, will be disappointed. I don't read poems that way very often.

Text of the full poem is here:

http://www.robertwservice.com/modules/library/article.php?articleid=30

Happy Halloween, folks. :-)

(Kiitos Reijolle sähköpostista)

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Robert Service's Cabin, Dawson City (Robert W. Service wikipedia)

Robert Service lived for many years in a log cabin on 8th Avenue in Dawson City, Yukon. His relative prosperity allowed him the luxury of affording a telephone. After he left to go to Europe, the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E.) took care of the house for many years, preserving it. Service eventually decided he could not return to Dawson, as it would not be as he remembered it.
Eventually, the Service cabin was taken over by Parks Canada, which maintains it, including its sod roof, as a tourist attraction. Irish-born actor Tom Byrne created The Robert Service Show which was presented in the front yard of the cabin, starting in 1976. This was very popular for summer visitors and set the standard for Robert Service recitations.
A dispute with Parks Canada's onerous lease renewal demands resulted in the elderly Mr. Byrne discontinuing the show at the cabin. The show was moved to a Front Street storefront and since 2004 has been held at the Westmark Hotel in Dawson.
A local Dawson entertainer, Johnny Nunan, now recites Service's poetry (including the classic "The Cremation of Sam McGee") from a willow chair while visitors sit on benches on the front lawn. Following the presentation, visitors can view Service's home through the windows and front door. The fragility of the house, and the rarity of the artifacts, precludes any possibility of allowing visitors to walk inside the house itself.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kiitos tuosta! Kiinnostaa koska pappani jota en ole koskaan nähnyt oli nuorena mm. Alaskassa kultaa "vuolemassa".

Täytyy lukea useampaa kertaan tuota runoa.

Allan Edgar Poen yks novelli on jäänyt mieleen jossa mies meni viinikellariin ja hänet muurattiin jostain syystä elävältä seinän taakse tai oviaukkoko se oli? Niin kauan kun sen luin etten ihan tarkkaan muista juttua, mutta Poen jutut on kiehtovia.