Upcoming horror game: The Path

Posted on February 10, 2009 by skullsinthestars

Via StumbleUpon, I came across the website for a short horror game which will be released in March or April 2009:  The Path.  Produced by a small independent game company called Tale of Tales (and I mean small: two programmers), the idea of The Path has totally captivated me and I can’t wait for the game to come out!

The Path is inspired by the tale of Little Red Riding Hood: the player’s official goal is to get six sisters to their grandmother’s house through a dark forest.  The girls have been given one important instruction: stay on the path to grandmother’s house.  Apparently, one can easily follow the path to grandma’s place without incident.   However, unlike most horror games, the true goal of the game is not survival; rather, the only way interesting things happen is by breaking that one rule.  Exploration of the areas of the forest off the path will reveal more about the story of the girls and eventually lead to their deaths.

The artwork looks very atmospheric and creepy, aided for me at least by the fact that it has a bit of an Edward Gorey “Gashlycrumb Tinies” feel to it.  If you aren’t familiar with the “Gashlycrumb Tinies”, it is a twisted work of humor that alphabetically describes the horrible fates of twenty-six children on an outing (“A is for Amy who fell down the stairs, B is for Basil assaulted by bears”… damn, I still have it memorized).  If you compare this image of the six sisters,

thepath

with the famous image from “After the Outing”,

aftertheouting

you may get an idea of why I make the comparison.

If you’re tired of “Resident Evil” games which become more and more “Halo with zombies” in each iteration, you might want to give The Path a look when it comes out…

Posted in Entertainment, Horror | 4 Comments

Evolution’s influence in pulp fiction!

Posted on February 9, 2009 by skullsinthestars

This February 12th will be the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Charles Darwin, father of the theory of evolution which forms the cornerstone of modern biology.  Being that this birthday coincides nicely with the February 15th deadline of The Giant’s Shoulders, I wanted to write something about the influence of Darwin’s theory.

The problem, however, is that I’m not a biologist, and have no training to meaningfully expound upon the significance of Darwin’s work in biology (and would likely be biologically lynched if I tried).  My other blogging interest, however, is in pulp horror and science fiction, and the theory of evolution made a huge impression of the authors of such weird tales, in both positive and negative ways.

As my tribute to the memory of Darwin, I thought I’d take a look at some of the references to evolution in science fiction and horror in the years following its discovery!  We’ll look at stories from almost the time of the publication of On the Origin of Species (1859) to the 1930s.  This list is by no means exhaustive, but represents some of the tales I’ve come across recently.

Continue reading →

Posted in History of science, Weird fiction | 1 Comment

A physics history-mystery: magnetism from light?

Posted on February 8, 2009 by skullsinthestars

As I’ve noted in previous posts, one of the fun things about researching historical scientific papers is the unexpected places the investigation can take you.   Often a simple search on a straightforward topic will start a chain reaction of increasingly interesting discoveries, comparable to a trip to the grocery store ending up in Machu Picchu.  Case in point:  I’ve been doing a series of posts about the research of Michael Faraday (see here and here), but I have yet to write about the paper that originally interested me in the subject!  Too many other intriguing observations keep getting in the way.

Case in point in case in point: I’ve been looking into Faraday’s contribution to the understanding that light is an electromagnetic wave.  That investigation led me to some early work by other researchers on the light/magnetism connection, and led me in turn to a puzzler: how significant and accurate is that earlier research?  I don’t have a good answer, so I will pose the questions to the physics/blog community in the post.

Continue reading →

Posted in History of science, Physics | 27 Comments

Duke’s Lovely Lemurland!

Posted on February 6, 2009 by skullsinthestars

There was one other event at the rapidly-receding-into-the-past ScienceOnline 09 that I wanted to blog about: my visit to the Duke Lemur Center!  Friday was a day for local trips to areas of interest, and I opted to go with a small group (including Brian) to the Lemur Center.

The Center is funded by the National Science Foundation and has a mission to “to promote research and understanding of prosimians and their natural habitat as a means of advancing the frontiers of knowledge, to contribute to the educational development of future leaders in international scholarship and conservation and to enhance the human condition by stimulating intellectual growth and sustaining global biodiversity.”  It is a relatively low-key (but awesome) facility with a strong emphasis on research and conservation.  Visitors are welcome but must schedule a guided tour — the directions to the Center are not even publicly displayed on their website!

We were not at the Center at the optimal time.  In the summer, the animals have free run of a open-air forest, but in the winter are kept mostly indoors.  The day of our visit it was particularly cold, and the animals had to be coaxed to even come near the open windows to say ‘hello’ by our excellent guides (whose names, alas, escape me).

Nevertheless, I’ve been a huge fan of lemurs for years, so I found the visit a delight.  Below the fold I share a few of my pics from the Center and some of my older lemur photos — and videos!

Continue reading →

Posted in Animals | 4 Comments

10 days until The Giant’s Shoulders #8!

Posted on February 5, 2009 by skullsinthestars

There are now ten days left until the deadline for the 8th edition of The Giant’s Shoulders, to be held at at Greg Laden’s Blog.  Entries can be submitted through blogcarnival.com or directly to the host blog, as usual!

Posted in General science, Science news | Leave a comment

The NSF online porn scandal!

Posted on February 3, 2009 by skullsinthestars

Finally I have a post topic (almost) as attention-getting as scicurious’ posts (see, for instance, here and here)!  It was reported a few days ago that an internal investigation by the National Science Foundation’s inspector general has revealed numerous cases of employees of the NSF downloading porn at work.  Via Politico,

Despite the less-than-lurid sound of the probes, the employees in question weren’t just logging onto their Facebook accounts or buying birthday gifts on Amazon.com. The report says they were watching, downloading and e-mailing porn, sometimes for significant portions of their workdays, and over periods of months or even years.

In one particularly egregious case, the report says one NSF “senior official” was discovered to have spent as much as 20 percent of his working hours over a two-year interval “viewing sexually explicit images and engaging in sexually explicit online ‘chats’ with various women.”

Investigators calculated the value of the time lost at more than $58,000 — for that employee alone.

The revelations of the report have gotten Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley up in arms, and he has requested/demanded all relevant documents related to the scandal.

Continue reading →

Posted in ... the Hell? | 3 Comments

A. Merritt’s The Metal Monster

Posted on February 2, 2009 by skullsinthestars

Last week I discussed A. Merritt’s book The Moon Pool (1919), an adventure/horror novel showing genuine flashes of weird brilliance but marred by some rather stereotypical pulp conventions.  Merritt’s next novel, The Metal Monster (1920), is something else entirely!  Perhaps the best place to start is with the assessment of H.P. Lovecraft, from a letter to James F. Morton dated March 6, 1934:

Other recent items on my calendar are Dunsany’s new book — The Curse of the Wise Woman — Weigall’s Wanderings in Roman Britain, and A. Merritt’s old yarn The Metal Monster, which I had never read before because Eddy told me it was dull.  The damn’d fool!  (nephew — not our late bilbiophilick friend)  Actually, the book contains the most remarkable presentation of the utterly alien and non-human that I have ever seen.  I don’t wonder that Merrittt calls it his “best and worst” production.  The human characters are commonplace and wooden — just pulp hokum — but the scenes and phaenomena… oh, boy!

Just as with The Moon Pool, I find myself in complete agreement with Lovecraft’s assessment (excepting that I have no opinion on the foolishness of Lovecraft’s nephew).  Though the protagonists of the novel are essentially generic pulp heroes and heroines, the weird and horrific elements of the novel are truly jaw-dropping in their beauty and utterly unique.  The Metal Monster has catapulted to near the top of my list of all-time favorite weird tales.  Let’s take a loving look at it below the fold…

Continue reading →

Posted in Horror, Lovecraft, Weird fiction | 5 Comments

A volcano to watch: Mount Redoubt

Posted on January 30, 2009 by skullsinthestars

Via CNN, we learn that Mount Redoubt in Alaska is showing clear signs of an eminent eruption.

As is always the case with forecasting eruptions, it is impossible to predict exactly when the eruption will happen; from CNN:

Peter Cervelli, a research geophysicist with the observatory, told CNN that “every indication is that we’re heading toward an eruption.”

Cervelli said scientists don’t know exactly when it will happen, but if it does happen, it could be days or weeks — or even hours.

This uncertainty can lead people to make life-threatening and even foolish decisions.  Before Mount St. Helens erupted catastrophically in 1980, loggers had fought to return to work in the area around the mountain.  Had the eruption happened on a day other than Sunday, many of them would have been killed.

Even pre-eruption, Redoubt has claimed its first casualty: the Alaska Volcano Observatory’s website!  Because of the enhanced media coverage, traffic to their site (and the webcam pointing at Redoubt) has overwhelmed their servers.  As of this posting, the webcam site displays an apologetic message.

Though the eruption will be a great opportunity for scientists to gather more information on volcanic eruptions, it will undoubtedly suck for local residents.  This includes the people of Anchorage, who live only about 100 miles away.  Though they aren’t in any direct danger, the eruption will probably disrupt air traffic and has the potential for dumping lots of annoying ash on the city (via Google maps, with my marker for the volcano, as there seems to be some dispute in Google as to the mountain’s exact location):

redoubt

It could be quite a show, though; Redoubt last erupted in late 1989, and throughout the early part of 1990, and produced some spectacular images (via Wikipedia):

redoubteruption

(Original photograph by R. Clucas, April 21, 1990.)

For those who are interested in reading more about volcanoes and volcano research, I can recommend the blog Magma Cum Laude, which is written by a graduate student of geology with a specialty in volcanoes.  I don’t know whether or not Jess will have a lot to say about the Redoubt eruption, but the blog is one I use for my vulcanology fix.

Posted in Science news | 2 Comments

Bush finally gets that monument in Iraq!

Posted on January 30, 2009 by skullsinthestars

Well, right-wing pundits were convinced that Iraqis would be so grateful to Bush for liberating their country that they’d construct statues and name streets after him.  It’s taken some time, but finally a monument related to Bush has shown up in Iraq (via CNN):

shoemonument

Quoting CNN,

For the war-beaten orphans of the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, this big old shoe fits.

A monument to a shoe thrown at former President Bush is unveiled at the Tikrit Orphanage complex.

A huge sculpture of the footwear hurled at President Bush in December during a trip to Iraq has been unveiled in a ceremony at the Tikrit Orphanage complex.

Assisted by children at the home, sculptor Laith al-Amiri erected a brown replica of one of the shoes hurled at Bush and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by journalist Muntadhir al-Zaidi during a press conference in Baghdad.

You know, I’ve always had great sympathy for the Iraqi people and the suffering they’ve undergone, but stuff like this really just makes me think they’re awesome.  It puts them in the same league as the folks who tried to get a wastewater treatment plant named after Bush in San Francisco.  That proposition failed at the ballot, but the arguments against it were none too flattering to Bush either.

Incidentally, the shoe-thrower himself, Muntadhir al-Zaidi, is still incarcerated in Iraq.  His employer, al-Baghdadia television, keeps a prominently displayed picture of him on their home page.

Posted in Politics, Silliness | 4 Comments

Nazi zombies threaten Austin, TX!

Posted on January 29, 2009 by skullsinthestars

… at least that’s what a pair of electronic road signs warned drivers on Wednesday:

zombiesahead

Station KXAN in Austin has the details.  Apparently a group of enterprising prankster hackers changed the messages on the road signs to warn of a zombie holocaust ahead.  Some samples, taken from the video report:

“Caution! Zombies ahead!  The end is near!!!!!”

“Zombies ahead! Run!  Nazi zombies! Run!”

The prank counts as a definite act of hacking, because on top of cutting the padlocks protecting the computer interface of the signs, the hackers needed to get past the password protection. (Which, I would guess, involved putting in whatever the factory default is.  Who would think of seriously password-protecting a road sign?)

Of course, the Austin Public Works is not amused, and was quick to point out that this is a crime which potentially endangers public safety (the signs are there to warn of traffic issues), not to mention an act of vandalism (cutting padlocks).

Provided it is a one-time prank, I find it pretty amusing.  I’ll have less sympathy if this becomes a recurring or copycatted event.

For now, though, a little extra unexpected silliness in the world is really appreciated.

Update: Be sure to take the KXAN poll, on a tab on the story’s web page: Do you have a zombie escape planned out already?

Posted in ... the Hell?, Silliness | 10 Comments