So as a afficionado of H.P. Lovecraft and cryptozoology I was thinking of doing an article on big squid for "The People of Innsmouth" - the official newsletter of my Lovecraftian rock band "The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets." Naturally I begin doing research and eventually I found my way to this board.

OUTSTANDING!!!

I don't have any degrees in marine biology but obviously I am a fan of cephalopods of all types. I wrote a song called "Jimmy the Squid" and you better believe I know who Dr. O'Shea, Clyde Roper, Mike DeGruy & Richard Ellis are, so I was pleased as punch to see a forum where O'Shea routinely posts. I have been glued to this site all day (except when I had to go get my hair cut) absorbing the massive amounts of information. Super yay! I heart squid!

I guess that's my introduction, such as it is. I'm also an illustrator (I do a lot of work for roleplaying games like Call of Cthulhu and Dungeons & Dragons) and I've written a book called Spaceship Zero.
If anyone is interested in what I do here are some links:

www.toren.net/thickets - my personal website
www.holycow.com/thickets - my Cthulhu rock band
http://members.shaw.ca/spaceshipzero/

Pleased as punch to be here. Now 1/2 price post-Easter chocolate calls.

Welcome to Tonmo ! Always nice to have a fellow Old One on board !
Cool web pages...very nice stuff...
Greg

Welcome, Toren! Your sites make it clear that you've come to the right place.

Melissa

Hi Toren,

Welcome to TONMO.com :welcome:

Sounds like you'll fit right in, with all your interests.

Now I'm curious about what the music from a Lovecraftian rock band sounds like!

Nancy

Excellent!! Virtually meeting one of the Hillside Thickets (or are you the Thickies?) - despite never having heard any of your stuff I do often mention you (you are possibly my 'most mentioned never listened to group' - if that makes sense not that I suspect you'd need it to ;) ):

Cthulhu-related music:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=353342#post353342

Fortean Music:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=332789#post332789

I am inexplicably excited. Keep up the good work.

Emps

Toren,

Welcome to TONMO, where the past, present, and future is cephalopods!

Always good to have another Lovecraft fan. TONMO is rebirth of slick-style cool like dat. I like to think we have something for everyone here.

I haven't played Call of Cthulhu since before they went to D20. I do have an active 7th Sea game and an L5R campaign, as well as the occasional Savage Worlds system. Being an anime fan, I was eventually thinking of running Big Eyes Small Mouth. Good to meet someone else who is interested in gaming.

So are your tunes posted online? Can we hear them?

Sushi and Sake,

John

I have never felt more welcomed to a board community. Go 'pods!

You can listen to sizeable portions of four of my band's songs here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/dotht
"20 Minutes of Oxygen" (pining for time travel)
"The Innsmouth Look" (a little love song for the Lovecraft fans)
"The Math Song" (a fan favourite)
"Dies Ist Unverschamtheit" (it's in German!)

You can also hear our song about insects (and fungus) "Burrow Your Way to My Heart" at
http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSkaVCy

Enjoy! I'll get around to posting "Jimmy the Squid" eventually - I promise!

:cyclops:

I happened to upload a large version of one of my Cthulhu drawings for some fellow who wants to use the image for their own band's t-shirt, so for a limited time you can view a very close up version of "Cthulhu on the Rampage" but BE WARNED - this jpeg is over 3 megs so it's not for meek connections.

http://members.shaw.ca/vancouvergamingguild/rampage.jpg

I'll probably just delete this post when I take the image off the server, so if you can read this, it's probably still up!

:notworth: :cthulhu:

:welcome: to Tonmo, Toren! :)

"Dies Ist Unverschamtheit" (it's in German!)

Irgendwann muss ich das mir anhören... 8)

Yep, looks like you found us in the end. We've been sending you subliminal messages for months, you know...

:cthulhu:

... my Lovecraftian rock band "The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets."

Do you do any Neil Diamond covers? This site is full of Diamond supporters, Sir Dr Ummmm.... for one, but none more avid than Tintenfisch (although she's presently in denial).

As an aside, that O'Shea guy is a complete and utter fruit loop with a foot fixation 8) . Nevertheless, he sends a hearty :welcome: to you too.

You mention "voice actor" in your subject line - I'm a voice chaser! (No, its not rude, I just follow voices through animations...) and have been chasing quite a few Vancouver voices, mainly the ones who work at Ocean Studios. I'm coming to Canada from Melbourne, Australia in November but due to lack of time will only be on the east coast.

Cheers, KRin

Do you do any Neil Diamond covers?

I doubt it, Steve... most bands work in a medium called 'music,' divided into 'songs,' not 'racket' divided into short segments of 'noise.'

Hey Toren,

I don't know if you remember me, but we traded e-mail's a while back. You might remember better through my artwork. You were trying to get some of my work involved in the Call of Cthulhu D20 a while back.
www.feverisland.com

Anyways I guess it's inevitable that we (tentacle obsessed) all find our way to this great site.


Mark

:welcome: to the community Toren! You're gonna fit right in... :D

BTW, "Cthulhu on the Rampage" is awesome. It immediately reminded me of the inside jacket of Queen's News of the World, with the giant metallic robot wreaking havok. Yours is better. :cthulhu:

... my Lovecraftian rock band "The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets."

Do you do any Neil Diamond covers? This site is full of Diamond supporters, Sir Dr Ummmm.... for one, but none more avid than Tintenfisch (although she's presently in denial).

As an aside, that O'Shea guy is a complete and utter fruit loop with a foot fixation 8) . Nevertheless, he sends a hearty :welcome: to you too.

"full" you say? ;)
Well, The Thickets have only done Police & Journey covers...but I'm just starting a side project and one of the gals in the band (who has become a squid fan ever since I showed her the 2 giant squid documentaries I had on tape) is a big Neil fan and wants us to do a cover of "Desiree".

You mention "voice actor" in your subject line - I'm a voice chaser! (No, its not rude, I just follow voices through animations...) and have been chasing quite a few Vancouver voices, mainly the ones who work at Ocean Studios. I'm coming to Canada from Melbourne, Australia in November but due to lack of time will only be on the east coast.

Cheers, KRin

That's cool - I've worked with the guy who provides the voice for The Beast on X-Men: Evolution and I took acting lessons with the guy who did King Cryos on War Planets/Shadow Raiders, but that's pretty much it for anyone you might have heard of. It's a dream of mine to get onto a superhero cartoon, lately I've just been providing narration for English as a Second Language book CDs. I have yet to work at Ocean but I would jump at the chance.

I also am a voice chaser - I'm in the Frank Welker fan club and I keep tabs on what most of my favourite voice actors are up to these days!

Hey Toren,
I don't know if you remember me, but we traded e-mail's a while back. You might remember better through my artwork. You were trying to get some of my work involved in the Call of Cthulhu D20 a while back.
www.feverisland.com
Anyways I guess it's inevitable that we (tentacle obsessed) all find our way to this great site.
Mark

I do remember - your art is fab! Tonight I'm painting a 'deep one' for a new Call of Cthulhu card game, and I'd better get back to it...
Good to see you here!

Very nice drawing ! I don't know which side I am on with the whole N.Diamond thing...re:doing a cover. I suppose rehashing it to make it actually listenable would be interesting...could that be done?
Hmmm.
Don't worry, Dr. SOS, Shanlyn loves those cd's...finds them every time I hide them. Wish you had the same luck with that pesky poster! :wink:

Keep all that artwork coming ! Love seeing new stuff!
greg

Hmmmm a N--- cover.... hmmmmm....

i know..... maybe take a caribbean/reggae lite approach.... red red wine anyone? :wine:

:D

:heee:

:cyclops: :welcome:

You mention "voice actor" in your subject line - I'm a voice chaser! (No, its not rude, I just follow voices through animations...) and have been chasing quite a few Vancouver voices, mainly the ones who work at Ocean Studios. I'm coming to Canada from Melbourne, Australia in November but due to lack of time will only be on the east coast.

Cheers, KRin

That's cool - I've worked with the guy who provides the voice for The Beast on X-Men: Evolution and I took acting lessons with the guy who did King Cryos on War Planets/Shadow Raiders, but that's pretty much it for anyone you might have heard of. It's a dream of mine to get onto a superhero cartoon, lately I've just been providing narration for English as a Second Language book CDs. I have yet to work at Ocean but I would jump at the chance.

I also am a voice chaser - I'm in the Frank Welker fan club and I keep tabs on what most of my favourite voice actors are up to these days!

I know the guy you mean - Scott McNeill? I watched all of Shadow Raiders as I'm big Paul Dobson fan (he did the rock guy). Darn, I'll have to go and look up the War Planets to get my people straight again.

KRin

I have a bittersweet tale about going to karaoke last night, seeing a bunch of Neil Diamond songs on the list of choices and wanting to dedicate one to Steve, but realizing I don't actually know any of them.

So I had to settle for "Shout" (Tears for Fears) and "Daniel" (Elton John)

8)

I wonder how many times people have woken up with a hangover, lamenting, "I can't believe I sang Neil Diamond at Karoke last night." Probably a whole lot more than said, "Oh yeah, I sang Neil Diamond at Karoke last night, good for me!" :D

Jury's still out on "Shout" and "Daniel"... :wink: :jester:

hi Toren & :welcome: to the CZ

is a big Neil fan and wants us to do a cover of "Desiree"
Neil Diamond is one of my fave topics after cephs locked in stone but isn't
"Desiree" a type of spud ?

"The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets" somehow reminds me of a talented local band "The Price of Doughnuts" (absolutely gorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgeous young lady on warble) who's smash hit
" Ach so achso, das ist unmöglich aber wo ist mein Kügelschreiber Heinrich ?" sold 15 copies in BSE & it's surrounding ruralisation.

cover "Walk On By" in the Stranglers style & for the same duration,
post it here & I may knit you a special one off, unique, never to be repeated repeated, cardigan incorporating into the design Roger Whittaker
being eaten by a pack of Humboldt squid as he sinks into the abyssal depths to Davy Jones' locker :twisted:

Hi Toren, and Welcome to the forum where I get to make a fool of myself on a regular basis. :P

I really like your work (well, the stuff I've seen on your website at least).

As an ex-graphic designer/web designer it's nice to see someone else put Marine Biology into their work.

Welcome!

I've also just discovered this amazing community. Cool eh?

I was most excited to see that not only you were from Canada, but the beautiful West Coast. I'm moving out there soon...I NEED MOUNTAINS!

Alex

:bluering: Hehe hi ALex, you seem to be about a year late on this post toastie

"Ach so achso, das ist unmöglich aber wo ist mein Kügelschreiber Heinrich ?"

LOL. I wonder if she's wondering to Heinrich about the whereabouts of her pen, or whether the pen's name is Heinrich?

Toren,

Were you at Burning Man in 2002, or did the DOTHT send representatives there? Because I had the big squid teepee with the big green Cthulhu glowering out-front, and people kept bringing him offerings they'd brought to the festival specifically for that purpose. Among the choice offerings was A Darkest of the Hillside Thickets CD brought all the way from Vancouver. It was the very first, albeit primitive performance of The Mighty Cthulhu's Old-Time Revival Show. If you haven't heard about our subsequent shows in any postings, then check us out at:

www.eatenbysquid.com

Keep up the great work!
:cthulhu:

Yet another one falls to the incredible mystery of the squid...

Hi Toren! I don't post much here, I just lurk and learn a bunch.

But I've been a DOHT fan for probably about 7 years now. I was really glad that y'all reprinted Great Old Ones. It was impossible to find!

Fascinating to see how the band has changed from Great Old Ones to Spaceship Zero.

One day, sometime in the future, I intend to make my way up from the bowels of Texas and catch you guys in person!

Well I see then. Aparently I can't read, or figure out how these message boards work. :confused:
Hopefully I'll have better luck next time, or figure this out at least. :roll:

A year late or not. It seems I still don't understand these things. So I'm going to post anyway and hopefully get a reply.

I just noticed that some of you were discussing burning man. You guys know about everything! I've wanted to go for quite awhile but a seventeen year old finding her way out into the desert for a festival, by herself doesn't sound to exciting to my Mom.

I can't imagine why.

Any good stories from the desert?

That's cool - I've worked with the guy who provides the voice for The Beast on X-Men: Evolution and I took acting lessons with the guy who did King Cryos on War Planets/Shadow Raiders, but that's pretty much it for anyone you might have heard of. It's a dream of mine to get onto a superhero cartoon, lately I've just been providing narration for English as a Second Language book CDs. I have yet to work at Ocean but I would jump at the chance.

I also am a voice chaser - I'm in the Frank Welker fan club and I keep tabs on what most of my favourite voice actors are up to these days!

Frank Welker rules!