Just a pretty cool composite photo I created … maybe 10 years ago? It’s a mood. I’m pretty sure the original shots were taken in Salem, Virginia.
If you people feel compelled to give me a Sith name, Darth Loquacious will do just nicely.
And check out the photo there of a creepy tree out in Salem, Virginia. Seriously, that thing is straight out of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'” (1937) haunted forest.
The picture below illustrates something that I still find novel about Southwest Virginia, simply because it is so different from the interminably flat landscape of my native Long Island. When viewed from a distance, mountainside buildings have the illusion of being at the level of treetops.
Those look like really nice townhouses, and they are indeed on level ground. (There is a road beyond them.) But their position at the top of that rise makes them seem a little bit like mountain fortresses to the kid in me.
Yep — we’ve got one in Southwest Virginia; it’s right next to Roanoke, and I lived there for a little while.
The people there are awesome. There are no vampires. And the only weird, alarming newcomer in town was me.
Anyway, the new “Salem’s Lot” was damned good. I loved it. This movie successfully channeled the dark energy that made Stephen King’s 1975 novel such a feast for horror fans — how the vampires are portrayed. They are at their scariest when they are mindless, Satanic minions of a mysterious overlord — and perversions of their former human selves. (I love the “Blade” movies to no end, but their chic, cool, articulate monsters just aren’t as frightening.)
The directing was slick, the storytelling was rapid, and the newly tweaked plot elements worked for me. The acting was good too. If you are a genre fan, see if you can spot Pilou Asbaek (the mean-ass, ambitious pirate king from “Game of Thrones”), among others.
This was loads of creepy fun. I recommend it.
This is from a few years ago, before the bodega was remodeled (and maybe under previous ownership?). This is a stone’s throw from Peters Creek Road.
Yes, you see a lot of flat retail sprawl here — but there are gorgeous rural roads among the mountains behind. It’s actually a lovely place to live. Just watch out for bears.
I learned a little while ago that the Salem Times-Register printed my recent letter about the courage of the Ukrainian people protecting their homeland. You can find it right here.
Thank you, Editor Shawn Nowlin, for allowing me to share my thoughts with my neighbors in Southwest Virginia.
So I’m getting better at editing photos — I’d like to think that these old shots of Salem, VA turned out pretty neat.
