Some certainly think so, with 20 recent films drawing on cultural traditions: “Irish folklore is particularly dark and lends itself to horror,” said the film’s writer and director, Kate Dolan, 31. “Not a lot of happy endings – a lot of people being dragged to their doom.” Bram Stoker is from Dublin, too. MoreContinue reading “Is Irish lore ripe for horror?”
Author Archives: Melville
Pontypool, a zombie story about language
It’s an odd premise, for sure. Pontypool is a book, later adapted into a movie about zombies. It’s apparently a metaphor about language, which is especially apt with social media: AMPS is transferred through language and the only way to stop its spread is to outlaw communication. Kind of reminds me of Snow Crash. DefinitelyContinue reading “Pontypool, a zombie story about language”
Diving deep into the bin: RPGs from 2012
Why 2012? It’s not clear. But this is a good list. Good in the sense that I’ve heard of none of these RPGs, and I like that. It feels like discovery. It’s easy to imagine playing this one: Broken Rooms – A huge (460 page) modern multiversal rpg. And I’d barely heard of it despiteContinue reading “Diving deep into the bin: RPGs from 2012”
A creepy encounter
The story of the Wollaton gnomes is not a story about grey men, Bigfoot, or the usual bogeymen: The Wollaton Gnomes was a classic anomalous encounter. 23 September 1979, a half dozen primary school children went for an evening walk in Wollaton Park in Nottingham. A number of these children then saw thirty small carsContinue reading “A creepy encounter”
Pinball Wizard (by Shakespeare)
Music rendered into Shakespeare sonnets. This rendering of Pinball Wizard is one of the best: naught I’ve seen could make me e’r expectto see the prowess Tommy hath display’d
Historical context of Christianity
St. Paul is the most fascinating person in the Bible next to Jesus. Here is some context for understanding St. Paul: The Jews were conquered by the Romans right before the events in the New Testament; Paul was the most successful evangelist by far; the books of the New Testament were written by the followersContinue reading “Historical context of Christianity”
Not what she expected
Artist creates posters for movies she hasn’t seen. Then she watches the movie and creates a new poster. By doing it this way, she illustrates stereotypes and assumptions: I also create another set of posters for after watching, just to compare how wrong, or right, I was. It was an exploration of stereotypes in filmsContinue reading “Not what she expected”
Interesting Wikipedia articles of the day
The Fermi Paradox. Or, “why haven’t we seen aliens?” Wikipedia’s list of unusual articles. There are Wikipedia holes; this is THE black hole. Toynbee Tiles. Strange appearances in cities. Also the subject of a documentary. The Count of St. Germain. Time traveler? Battle of Los Angeles. What happened over Los Angeles?
Grant Morrison on magic
The comic book author and follower of magic describes how to get started in magic, for those into that sort of thing. I discovered this article after falling into a google hole after watching Under the Silver Lake, from some thread somewhere that said the protagonist was creating sigils. Magic also sounds a lot likeContinue reading “Grant Morrison on magic”
Phillip K. Dick, reality and manipulation
My favorite article about the science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick goes deep into his writings, his belief system and his thoughts on reality and manipulation. Years ago I printed this article, and I keep it in a file cabinet next to my desk, returning to it from time to time: It was always my hope,Continue reading “Phillip K. Dick, reality and manipulation”
Basement Whatever 