October 19, 2019
The Cronenberg future is here
Are you looking for a skin-like case that allows you to pinch your smartphone? Search no more. From the folks who brought you the smartphone with a finger that crawls across the table to stroke your wrist.
Yes, you can pet the dog in the Blair Witch video game.
Blair Witch [YouTube][Game Trailer] “Blair Witch, the video game, is terrifying. Developed by Bloober Team, the studio behind Layers of Fear, Blair Witch is a mosaic of modern tropes culled from the most nightmarish horror games of the past decade. It has a camcorder mechanic, a lot like Outlast; it uses a flashlight as a demon deterrent, à la Alan Wake; it uses puzzles to push the story forward, like Resident Evil; and, at least in one section, it places the player inside a maze-like house with cramped, shifting hallways, similar to PT. This is all wrapped up inside another familiar franchise, and sprinkled with Bloober Team's flair for frenetic psychological thrills. The end result is a comforting kind of horror game. It's familiar in some ways, and therefore inviting, but there's still a violent and mysterious monster lurking in the trees, behind the door, down the hall. And when it pounces, the panic is immediate.” [via: Engadget] [more inside]
A Bus Journey Into A Time Before ABBA
"Swedish pop was dominated by roving bands in garish costumes until Abba changed everything. Benny Andersson now leads one of those groups." [NYT] Benny Anderssons Orkester (Benny Andersson's Orchestra, BAO) went on tour this past summer. Here they are performing ABBA's song On And On And On, their own songs Story Of A Heart and Fait Accompli. Also, here's 18 minutes from one of this summer's shows [edited, good stuff]. All videos are amateur audience videos, but generally pretty watchable. [more inside]
Tak nech robí, čo má. Lebo skončí ‚na Kuciaka’…😜😜😜
"Tell [the judge] to do what she has to do, or else she'll end up like Kuciak." The February 2018 murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, which led to massive street protests and the subsequent election of the former grassroots environmental activist Zuzana Čaputová as president of Slovakia. The investigation of the murder continues to expose new layers of judicial and political corruption. [more inside]
Why Not Queen of Dragons
Hillary Clinton claims Russians are Grooming Tulsi Gabbard for a third-party run. Gabbard's response: "Great! Thank you @HillaryClinton. You, the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long have finally come out from behind the curtain. From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why. Now we know — it was always you, through your proxies and powerful allies in the corporate media and war machine, afraid of the threat I pose. "
[Gabbard previously] [more inside]
End Of A Karmic Era
Durham, NC's famous (and infamous) 11' 8" Bridge, which has devoured numerous roofs of vehicles whose drivers failed to regard the ample warnings, will soon be no more, as the Durham Transportation Department has announced that the overpass is being raised.
Riots in Santiago and soldiers in the streets.
Santiago wakes up under martial law.
Chile, widely viewed as Latin America's most politically stable country, has been shaken up by what started as basically a flash-mob style Metro tourniquet jumping spree, as a protest by students against recent price hikes. [more inside]
38 people are looking at this FPP
Security researcher Ophir Harpaz discovers how exactly the "x people are looking at this flight right now" notifications on OneTravel work: by using a random number generator [threadreader].
Satire props up what it should destroy
Have I Got News for You and Mock the Week invite audiences to laugh at what they don’t have the gumption to change.
"'Poetry', wrote WH Auden, 'changes nothing'. Satire is worse than poetry: it has made us a nation of giggling couch potatoes, laughing at what we don’t have the gumption to change." (SLGuardian)
"'Poetry', wrote WH Auden, 'changes nothing'. Satire is worse than poetry: it has made us a nation of giggling couch potatoes, laughing at what we don’t have the gumption to change." (SLGuardian)
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