ECTOPLASMOSIS!

Sunday Supplemental: Aqua Team Hunger Fortress 2

E. G. Gauger — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:00:06 +0000

One of the more successful Team Fortress 2 video mini-memes is the Dr. Weird dub. With audio taken from animated shorts preceding episodes of the show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the new animations (done with TF2 character models in Source Filmmaker) are short, simple, and funny. I post this as an introductory demonstration of the versatility of the game assets, and the ingenuity of the fan community. Enjoy.

Previously:
Meet the Team

Yes Please

Angel Ceballos — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:43:26 +0000

Meret Oppenheim

The “Datoo” – Interactive DNA Tattoos

Angel Ceballos — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:37:24 +0000

“Smart Skin” – The Dattoo is the vision of Hartmut Esslinger (Frog Design). A tattoo that you would essentially print onto your skin. It would capture your DNA in order to utilize its functionality, of which would include the basic peripherals such as a camera, microphone, etc.

Clever. It drives me to think of the implications this could have toward a new type of ink addiction. And of course the possible “pleasure uses” this has potential to introduce. Or past that, what are the gaming and music capabilities? I’m sure there would be subscriptions tied into them or some sort of ‘app’ system. Screw your iPhone, I’m going to call text you from my arm!

GizMag [Article]

Edward Gorey was a “Cat Man”

Angel Ceballos — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:41:09 +0000

You hear about “crazy cat ladies” a lot. Which I suppose Gorey could also be called as such. Self proclaimed ‘sexless’ being that he was. Although Morrissey tried that whole a-sexual shtick in the 90s, and we all know where that ended up.

I never really thought much of his personal life or his influences. But I suppose his love for the feline does make sense. He was a ballet lover as well. The stature of his characters are not dissimilar to the movement of a cat or a dancer.

He is forever in my fantasies of crosshatchings…now with cats.

Languish [Castser]

Flying Octopus Invasion Over California

Jeb Card — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:30:18 +0000

Air Krakens!

Kites, that is. From The Berkeley Kite Festival, which set a record for the number of giant octopus kites flown simultaneously.

Berkley Kite Festival 2010 by amadne [Youtube]
Berkeley Kite Festival

Noise Du Jour: Jonna Lee

Angel Ceballos — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:31:40 +0000

The music is pretty. The visuals are prettier.

Jonna Lee [YouTube]

Cthulhu Cthursday: The Call of Cthulhu in, like, Under 2 Minutes

Jeb Card — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:01:18 +0000

The Call of Cthulhu in Under 2 Minutes, by The Brothers Grim and Grimy [Youtube]

You’re a Prolific Author, Ray Bradbury

Jeb Card — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:03:47 +0000

As George Takei might say, Oh my …

NSFW

PS: Mr. Bradbury thinks “We’ve got too many internets.” I don’t know if he’d say that if he’d seen the video first.

Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury by Rachel Bloom [Youtube]
“Ray Bradbury: ‘We’ve Got Too Many Internets‘” [Wired Magazine]

Noise Du Jour: “Bright Lit Blue Skies” by Ariel Pink

Angel Ceballos — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:58:05 +0000

It’s time to get weird. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti mixes unusual arrangements of vintage derivatives that are much like going on a trip (a la Frank Zappa – listen to Round & Round on the myspace). Originally Ariel, performed these pieces as a one man show with a boombox. Now he’s got a full on band and has breathed new life into these intriguing & strangely wonderful songs. With songs about castration and intense disorienting live shows, Ariel really doesn’t approach anything in a normal or mainstream way. Tim Burgess (Charlatans) recently posted this as his current favourite album. I love to see one of us weirdos on top without compromise. Big ups.

Ariel Pink [MySpace] Angel Ceballos [Picnic Photo] Bright Lit Blue Skies [YouTube]

Cthulhu Cthursday: The Jequetepeque Headdress

Jeb Card — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:01:08 +0000

Moche gold octopoid hybrid headdress, possibly from La Mina, Jequetpeque Valley*

Abstract: The recovery of an ancient gold headdress illuminates a manifestation of the poorly understood “Cthulhu” archetype in ancient Peruvian cosmovision.

In 1988, looters robbed a rich tomb at La Mina in the Jequetepeque Valley of north coastal Peru. This tomb was left by members of the Moche archaeological culture, a series of sites and artifacts participating in shared material culture, and especially an expressive iconography and art style for most of the first millennium AD. Tomb looting is rampant in Andean archaeology as it is elsewhere, but this is exacerbated in the case of the Moche because of the excellent preservation (much of coastal Peru is quite dry, and organic materials are found at many sites) and because Moche metallurgists were skilled in working gold, a substance that drives the most primal dreams of treasure hunters.

In 2006, a gold Moche headdress was recovered in London, believed to derive from the La Mina tomb and looting. Police worked with an international art dealer to locate and take possession of the headdress, valued at possibly almost one million pounds (over 1.5 million $US). As of 2006, British authorities were working to return the object, described by some as the Moche Mona Lisa, to Peru.

The headdress has been described as a sea god or goddess, an octopoid creature with a human/feline mixed face. Most Moche depictions of octopods portray the suckers with lines of dots or circles. In this case the triangles on the tentacles are more like those attached in Moche painting to the frill of an iguana or along the sides of a snake, perhaps suggesting a scaly surface, thought they are also found on fish fins, such as in the depiction below. The ends of the tentacles suggest mouths, similar to serpents often found protruding from figures in Moche artwork.

Anthropomorphizing animals and objects was common in Moche art, as was combining elements of different creatures. Likewise, marine subjects were common in Moche art, dominating many scenes in the corpus of fine-line painted pots that make up the most important databank we have for elite Moche intellectual and religious concepts. Much of the background information here is found in Christopher Donnan and Donna McLelland’s 1999 book Moche Fineline Painting: Its Evolution and Its Artists. Intriguingly, a marine hybrid creature more commonly depicted than the octopus is one Donnan and McLelland label ‘The Demon Fish.” Resemblances to stories of mermaids or fish humanoids elsewhere in the Pacific or off the coast of Massachusetts are plain.

Demon Fish, from Donnan and McLelland 1999: 66, Figure 3.44i

The Demon Fish is one of many anthropomorphized marine creatures, carrying a tumi metal knife for ritual combat, throat slitting, blood drinking and decapitation for trophy heads. This mythologized activity in Moche artwork is reflected in a number of archaeological discoveries. Probably the most infamous example is the Huaca de la Luna (a huaca is a general Andean term for prehispanic ritual sites) at the Moche type site, where multiple sacrifice or execution events left behind individuals in positions suggesting they were bound, and showing not just cut throats, but horrific wounds across the body. Bioanthropologist John Verano has suggested that the placement of cut marks on bones, when compared with other Moche artwork, suggests that some bodies were defleshed but not dismembered, and were hung in a fashion not unlike windchimes. Comparison can be made with Inspector Legrasse’s early 20th century report on the Cthulhu Cult in Louisiana, and their hanging of bodies for some undescribed creature that the adherents told police would attend their ceremonies. Perhaps there is some parallel in the Decapitator, the name given to a supernatural figure that appears in Moche artwork associated with these rituals. This entity often had arachnid elements.

What are we to make of this headdress? It is gold or a gold alloy, depicting a bizarre sea creature. Compare with Robert Olmstead’s description of a tiara in the possession of the Newburyport Historical Society when he visited Massachusetts in 1927, as described in the narrative “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” by Howard P. Lovecraft

“It was tall in front, and with a very large and curiously irregular periphery, as if designed for a head of almost freakishly elliptical outline. The material seemed to be predominantly gold, though a weird lighter lustrousness hinted at some strange alloy with an equally beautiful and scarcely identifiable metal. Its condition was almost perfect, and one could have spent hours in studying the striking and puzzlingly untraditional designs – some simply geometrical, and some plainly marine – chased or moulded in high relief on its surface with a craftsmanship of incredible skill and grace.”

That object was a prime example of Marsh Gold, a scattered series of eccentric jewelry pieces turning up in New England between the mid-19th century and the 1930s. The artist or workshop is unknown, but local folklore associates the pieces with the Marsh gold refinery in Innsmouth, Massachusetts, shuttered in 1927 after a federal investigation into alcohol bootlegging. Stories have swirled around the gold for decades suggesting it came from a pirate hoard found by Captain Obed Marsh during his trade expeditions in the 19th century Pacific. Prehispanic artifacts have been recovered from sunken Spanish ships, and such shipments were the prime target of pirates. If the Marsh Gold objects could be demonstrated as having ties to Andean art traditions, perhaps Marsh did indeed find some pirate loot left over from the days of the Spanish colonial empire in the Americas.

In light of the octopod-human-feline gold headdress, its similarities to the Marsh Gold, and prominent elements of supernatural anthropomorphic “Demon Fish” in Moche art, perhaps the geographical context should be examined.

The above map displays several items of significant interest. The rough location where the headdress was believed to have been looted is noted on the South American mainland. To the southwest, we can see the rough location of the biologically emptiest spot in the ocean, waters exceedingly clear because they are more devoid of life than other areas of the open oceans. South of this area we find the triangulated position of “The Bloop,” an acoustic phenomenon possibly biological in origin, and the rough location of the mystery island, called R’lyeh by some, described in the Johansen Diary. These locations roughly outline the area suggested by theosophist James Churchward for the southeastern tip of sunken Mu, but as Lovecraft noted,

Theosophists have guessed at the awesome grandeur of the cosmic cycle wherein our world and human race form transient incidents. They have hinted at strange survival in terms which would freeze the blood if not masked by a bland optimism.

Demonfish with ceremonial knives? Bland optimism indeed.

*Crossposted from Miskatonic Museum. All information about the Moche archaeological culture, the BIOSOPE findings, and The Bloop are reasonably accurate. All other material is for edutainment purposes.

Peruvian Headdress Recovered [Guardian]
Looted Peru Headdress Recovered in London [National Geographic]
Moche Fineline Painting: Its Evolution and its Artists by Christopher B. Donnan and Donna McLelland [University of California Press]
Grim Rites of the Moche [Archaeology Magazine]
The Bloop: A Mysterious Sound from the Deep Ocean [NASA]

Noise du Jour: “Heathen Child” by Grinderman

Will Ellwood — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:14:20 +0000

This is excellent. Nothing else to say apart from it isn’t safe for work.

Which is what makes it excellent.

Grinderman – Heathen Child [YouTube | Reykavik Sex Farm]

Meta Cookie

E. G. Gauger — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:45:52 +0000

An experimental gustatory VR helmet.

Moustache Monday: Peter Bruegger’s Moustache Mugs

Will Ellwood — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:02:32 +0000

For those of you unable to grow a suitable moustache and who enjoy warm beverages.

Go here to see more pictures of these mugs designed by Peter Bruegger for London Design Week 09.

peter bruegger: Moustache mugs [Design Boom : Thanks Groonk]

Cthulhu Cthursday: Valley of the Arkhams

Jeb Card — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 07:01:58 +0000

What if Frankie and Annette played beach blanket bingo at Martin’s Beach? It might have been something like this music video (click here to play).

Valley of the Arkhams by The Arkhams, Animation by Jonathan Wojcik [Newgrounds]

Potato-dono! Noooo!!!

E. G. Gauger — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:02:21 +0000

Caustic Soda – A Weekly Podcast Breaking Down the Weird and Horrible

Jeb Card — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:38:49 +0000

A relatively new podcast by Joe Fulgham, Kevin Leeson, and Toren Atkinson (who has been featured on Ectoplasmosis before). Each week, the crew gathers to rap about the science, history, myths, and pop culture surrounding some horrible but fascinating topic. Today, I listened to the episodes about cannibalism, volcanoes, and black holes. While I did pick out a few errors here and there on topics I’m more familiar with, over all it’s fun stuff and worth a listen. And I’m just not brave enough to listen to the episode about parasites.

I was going to post this today either way, so their episode this week (Tentacles) is purely coincidental.

Notice, a fair dose of the material is graphic and not for the squeamish. I was surprised by the lack of punches pulled in the cannibalism episode.

Caustic Soda

Cthulhu Cthursday: Arkham … shit, I’m still only in Arkham

Jeb Card — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:01:05 +0000

When I found this last weekend, I watched it obsessively a number of times. It just seems right. Not exactly a vision of prophecy, but for a myth of collapse it will do?

Apocalypse -Cthulhu- Now by Cthulinos [Youtube]
Apocalypse Now intro – In case you’ve forgotten the visual pun [Youtube]

The Abita Mystery House

Jeb Card — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:55:59 +0000

Some weeks back I had the opportunity to revisit New Orleans for a few days. While there, I decided to do some paratourism and go looking for relics of the Honey Island Swamp monster legend. For several reasons tromping about the Honey Island Swamp was nixed, but there was still a cast of the infamous four-toed track that could be viewed at the UCM Museum (yup, pronounced You-See-Em) in Abita Springs, north of Lake Pontchartrain.

Little did I know that the UCM Museum, also known as the Abita Mystery House, would be a treasure trove of bizarre art, artifacts, and oddities. The following photos are by no means the entire museum. In fact, while I do include some highlights, I have purposely left out some of the best exhibits, especially some of the more impressive taxidermical specimens, quasi-functioning 20th century mechanical amusements and instruments (some sections are reminiscent of the Musee Mechanique in San Francisco, but many of the automated scenes are depictions of the life and times in Louisiana, such as the relationship between the American Civil War and minigolf, or the dangers of ladders at Mardi Gras), and the typology of combs. The place must be experienced to be believed, and discovery is an important element to that experience.

The extensive collection of paint by number paintings includes a completed version of the world’s largest manufactured paint by number (not shown in this photo).

One of several impressive taxidermical specimens in the collection. This dinogator is by no means the prize of the UCM, that would have to go to the Bassigator, a beast which cannot be done justice in mere photographs. And yes, they have the FeeJee Mermaid.

In 2002, I conducted a bit of a study of crashed UFO legends in Roswell, New Mexico. One of the things I noticed was that two symbols dominated imagery there: almond shaped eyes (which can act as a signifier by themselves, without the rest of a face or body) and a 45 degree tilted saucer sticking out of a surface such as a wall. Even an abstract hint of the tilted saucer is enough to signify whimsical mid-20th century American mystery, and it was gratifying to run into similar imagery in the UCM.

A bicycle? Yes, a bicycle

The House of Shards. As an archaeological ceramicist, this was particularly intriguing

The objective of the whole trip

The UCM Museum
Photos by the author

Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Lurking Fear

Jeb Card — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:53:14 +0000

Not an adaptation of Lovecraft’s “The Lurking Fear,” but a hybrid pastiche/homage to Lovecraft and Buster Keaton, with a hint of Indiana Jones in a few places

Part 1

Part 2

The Lurking Fear by Eric Koenig [Youtube]

Cthulhu Cthursday (Evening Edition): The Wasilla Horror

Jeb Card — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:05:38 +0000

Don’t say we didn’t warn you. According to the “I Write Like” internet toy,

“The first several hundred words of Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” read like H.P. Lovecraft. And she didn’t mention Cthulhu once.”

That spooky resemblance between HPL and Matt Drudge makes more sense now.

Wherefore art thou, refudiate? Sarah Palin as Shakespeare by Carolyn Kellogg [Los Angeles Times]
Image: “One Nation Under Cthulhu” A response, artist unknown (drop a line if you know the credit) to “One Nation Under God,” [Jon McNaughton]

Cthulhu Cthursday: The Cthukulele

Jeb Card — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:30:18 +0000

Had something else lined up for this week, but this hit teh internets as a breaking item of Yogsothothery a couple of days ago. And as Great Cthulhu is the Patron God of the Internet, who would deny it? And definitely check out the back.

If you are going to mod an instrument to look like the embodiment of humanity’s inevitable destiny to be an index fossil, you could do worse than to choose the ukulele. Like the dread lord, it emerges from the Pacific, and its call really hit the big time in the 1920s. Plus that whole Tiptoe through the Tulips thing seems right at home in a musical production of The King in Yellow.

Cthukhelele by Robin Stevenson [Twitter] via Neil Gaiman [Twitter] via Cory Doctorow [BoingBoing]

Moustache Monday: Ghandi Jones

Angel Ceballos — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:26:33 +0000

Ghandi Jones was crowned world champ in the Freestyle Moustache division recently at the World Beard and Moustache Championships. He hails from Seattle.

He no longer has the honeycomb chops but look at this amazing display of innovation and a moustache!

[robotangel.com] and Ghandi Jones [Beard Team USA]

Sunday Supplemental: Meet the Team

E. G. Gauger — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:00:16 +0000

It is a dimension of pure violence.

Two teams of nine men wage total war over a tiny patch of deserted land, shooting, stabbing, burning, exploding, and pummeling each other into paste. In this nightmare there is no death, only a blink of void before another clone is fed into the grinder. There is no rest, no ease, and no mercy. It is senseless. It is brutal. It is Team Fortress 2, and if you haven’t played it yet, you’re missing out on some of the best multiplayer FPS action ever conceived.

In this edition of Saturday Morning Cartoons, we examine the official Valve Software introductory movies for each class (except for the Pyro and Medic films, which haven’t been released yet). The first video, Meet the Heavy, was an animation test that Valve decided to release to the public, so it’s less complex than the ones that followed. Although the videos aren’t in chronological order of release, and I inserted a little break with Meet the Sandvich (reputedly a voice actor improv session someone caught on tape), I ended with what I feel is the most detailed and sophisticated TF2 film yet released, Meet the Spy. You can watch these twenty or thirty times and still be surprised at the detail, nuance, and humor. Make sure to turn on HD, and use headphones if possible.

As usual, Valve’s gone above and beyond in their characterization, artwork, and music–each video is a little wonder. As with all Valve films, they give you something so incredibly fun, that you don’t even realize you’re watching a tutorial. Each film is a solid introduction to the play style of each class, going so far as to (subtly) make specific suggestions of where to place traps, ambush enemy players, and how to aim your shots.

Each movie is filmed within an actual level of the game, using voice taunts and sound effects from the game itself. The immersion, detail, acting and art are stunning, but there is (or was, until recently) a complete dearth of backstory, leaving the players and fans to interpret the characters in any way they see fit. It was an experiment in character, sans context, and it is a triumph.

With TF2, Valve inspired one of the largest and most creative fandoms of any movie, television show, or game. I’ve included a couple fan videos at the end of this playlist, but the real stuff will have to wait until next week. This week, just familiarize yourself with the characters and style, and you’ll be primed to enjoy what’s coming next.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Statement of Randolph Carter

Jeb Card — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 05:00:35 +0000

I hadn’t imagined the graveyard in this manner, but it works.

The Statement of Randolph Carter, by Eldritch Animation [Youtube]

Patrick Mohr’s Bearded Ladies

Angel Ceballos — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 23:35:23 +0000

I’ll have to admit when I heard that Patrick Mohr was parading a bevy of bearded beauties for his show during Berlin Fashion week, I got excited. The carny lover inside me pictured gorgeous raven locked women with tattoos and long beards a la P.T. Barnum. Needless to say I was rather disappointed when I saw them. Well, you can’t deny it. The combination of the earless fleshy heads mixed with the sparse ginger pubic hair beards is definately a new … interpretation?

[Stylecaster]

Cthulhu Cthursday: A Mountain Walked or Bobbled

Jeb Card — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:00:20 +0000

Arguably the most horrifying Cthulhu idol I have ever seen.

Cthulhu Bobblehead by stexe [Youtube]

The Singularity Approaches

E. G. Gauger — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:35:17 +0000

[thanks Phil]

How to Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good-Looking

E. G. Gauger — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:50:00 +0000

Disaster Dioramas!

Jeb Card — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:48:27 +0000

From the good(?) people at Spitefuls, you have your choice of free downloads of papercraft models of some of history’s more memorable disasters. But really, they had me at the Boston Molasses Flood.

Disaster Dioramas [Spitefuls]

The Blackbox Theatre

Angel Ceballos — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:21:23 +0000

[Blackbox Theatre] Berlin fashion week

Killhouettes

Jeb Card — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:03:14 +0000

They amuse me

Killhouettes

Noise Du Jour: “Too Drunk to Fuck” by Camille

Will Ellwood — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:00:19 +0000

Reinterpreting and remixing music is cool, and covering songs in different styles is part of how music grows. Often of the results of this process are outright crap, and some of the results are merely interesting failures but occasionally the results are pretty sweet. This cover of the Dead Kennedys song ‘Too Drunk to Fuck’ I think falls in that pretty sweet spot.

But I like both Camille and the Dead Kennedys, and I’m in the mood for a bit of goofy musical fooling about, so this wasn’t a hard sell for me.

Camille – Too Drunk to Fuck : [YouTube]

Paddington Pig

Angel Ceballos — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:36:23 +0000

The Innsmouth Genes

Jeb Card — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:49:23 +0000

University of Ottawa researchers Jing Zhang and Marie-Andrée Akimenko have discovered that if the proteins actinoden 1 & 2 are suppressed in fish, fin development gives way to something like leg development. These two proteins are found in fish, but not in reptiles, mammals, or other tetrapods. The date of this original transition is immensely far into the past, in the middle of the Devonian, and new research continues to push it back into the temporal gulf.

That such a small alteration is all that governs such a huge change should not be surprising to those familiar with the history of Innsmouth and similar communities.

“everything alive come aout o’ the water onct an’ only needs a little change to go back agin.”

– Zadok Allen, Innsmouth, Massachusetts, July 15, 1927

One wonders what the researchers would find if they were able to examine biological samples collected by the federal investigation of the Massachusetts shore eighty years ago.

Lose fin proteins, gain limb? [The Scientist.com]
Loss of fish actinotrichia proteins and the fin-to-limb transition [Nature]
Image Gambianmudskippers by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen [wikicommons]

The War of 2345: Xantiar Drilling Commemoration

E. G. Gauger — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 23:41:17 +0000

[thanks Mischa]

Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Investigators

Jeb Card — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 12:15:04 +0000

Chris Lackey just posted these short cartoons of his on Youtube (unavailable for years after being hosted elsewhere). They include the efforts of others in the creative Cthulhu fandom clique (HPL Historical Society, the HPL Literary Podcast) including Chad Fifer and the distinctive voice work of Andrew Lehman. I detect a touch of influence from Mignola’s animated work such as The Amazing Screw On Head (EDIT: These films predate that comic and pilot) (which can be found in another Saturday Morning lineup), and of course a heaping dose of other inspiration (spoilers from the video). There is some genuine charm, and I love the recurring intro.

The Investigators by Christopher Lackey [Youtube]

Beacon Hill Fort

Will Ellwood — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:01:37 +0000

The countryside of Europe is littered in the concrete ruins of wars fought long ago. In the United Kingdom there are hundreds of sites intended to defend the country if it was ever invaded. Many of the current structures date back to World War II although they are often on sites which have been used for hundreds of years. One of these places, Beacon Hill Fort in Harwich Essex, is particularly striking as this photoset on Flickr by Roadscum illustrates.

A quick scan of Wikipedia and Subterranea Britannica offers a concise history of the Beacon Hill Fort. The quick version of this history is that it the site first fortified during the reign of Henry VIII as a defensive position for Harwich port and then abandoned within ten years. The fort’s longest period of use began in 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars and lasted until the end of World War I where it was subsequently disarmed. In the 1930s with the threat of war increasing plans to utilize the site were drawn up and then in 1940 the fort was once again refitted by the Ministry of Defence with large guns capable of defending the port from German warships. The site was finally decommissioned in the late fifties.

To my eyes, cultured by the very things it reminds me of, this place looks like a set from a science fiction film, or one end of a map in a multiplayer first-person-shooter. It is important to remember that most of these former defence positions are not heritage monuments or museums, as they are mostly considered dangerous eyesores which are gated off from the public and left to decay.

I would like to visit Beacon Hill Fort someday soon. At the very least I’d like to go and peer through the fence for a few minutes gazing at a relic built to stop invasions that never came.

Beacon Hill Fort, Harwich : [Flickr] by Roadscum
Beacon Hill Battery : [Wikipedia]
Subterranea Britannica: Sites: Beacon Hill Fort (Hardwich) : [Subterranea Britannica]

Cthulhu Cthursday: “H. P. Lovecraft” by Cockfight Club

Jeb Card — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:15:44 +0000

Lovecraft-inspired music is nothing new, and it is usually subtler than this. But there’s clearly some love on display here. You can listen to their similarly-themed “Children of Dagon” at their Myspace. And I really like the revival bit, which works both with the message and the 1930′s HPL at home frame. Though the idea of Howard, having transitioned from his earlier fallen patrician attitudes to his New Deal-era quasi-socialism, listening to a southern fried revival is a little jarring.

On the other hand, while the study is stocked with modern Cthuliana, having a bunch of odd art and idols is not inaccurate in spirit. HPL did indeed collect and enumerate in his letters various artifacts and weird art in his possession, virtually all gifts from more financially stable friends. These items included some sort of two Maya or Mexican “eikons,” an African flint tool, an Egyptian ushabti funerary figure, a carved wooden Balinese monkey sculpture, a Japanese idol, a Chinese vase, and an Asian bird statue carved from black horn that Lovecraft dubbed the “Bird of Space.”

Cockfight Club – H. P. Lovecraft [via Youtube]

Megaworm and The Gulf Oil Spill

Jeb Card — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:52:40 +0000

Tube worms about a third of the way down to the depth of the Deepwater Horizon leak

The seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico hosts a bizarre and barely understood ecosystem, only discovered 26 years ago, based not on sunlight or even geothermal heat vents, but on natural seepage of hydrocarbons (methane, etc.). One particularly spectacular element are the tube worms. Some of the individuals (not colonies, individual worms) in the Gulf appear to be over five hundred years old, predating the arrival of Europeans to the Gulf.

Now, in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster*, these communities are getting bombarded with extra oil, methane, and other hydrocarbons. Presumably this will have one of two effects.

- The oil will destroy these fascinating ecosystems, irreplaceable and virtually unknown in terms of exploration.

- The oil and methane will supercharge the giant ancient worms, who will wreak terrible vengeance upon humanity.

In related news, SyFy Channel** is opening up it’s Original Movies to the public, in terms of stories (all of which are about Mega-CGI creatures), production etc.. It seems inevitable that someone would make this connection and turn it into schlock entertainment in poor taste, so I’m just pointing the way.

*I understand how horrible the “spill” (seems hard to call it just that). I especially have sympathy for those in the region as someone who lived in New Orleans for over 10 years, and lost all of my possessions in Hurricane Katrina, or more specifically the flood resulting from the failure of the US Corps of Engineers levees, built with poor materials and using out of date soil measurements. But when I read this story, the obvious fantastical possibilities could not be denied, and should not be taken as minimizing the disaster anymore than the movie Godzilla minimizes the nuclear bombings of Japan in WWII.

**Full Disclosure: I once was consulted, quasi-formally, by the Sci-Fi Channel (before it changed its name), regarding archaeology and stories of crashed UFOs (their researchers found my website and wondered if anyone else other than themselves had done archaeological investigation of such stories. I led them to a research proposal I was familiar with, that suggested methods for such an investigation). I was in El Salvador at the time, and I’m not saying they didn’t send me the promised bag of swag, maybe it just got lost in the mail.

Cold, Dark, and Teeming With Life [New York Times]
Image Lamellibrachia luymesi1 by Charles Fisher [Wikicommons]

Crush The Tony Awards, See Them Driven Before You

C. Brian Hickey — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:55:14 +0000

It is an arguable point that, next to our Spiritual Leader, Mister Howard Philips Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard was the greatest success of the Weird Tales era of genre fiction. He cut a bloody, sexual, and grim swath through the Fantasy of the day with his stories of Conan the Cimmerian, the reverberations of which were the standard of imaginative fiction until J.R.R. Tolkien suplexed the genre with The Lord of the Rings in the Fifties.

It is only natural that some lunatic genius would want to make a goddamn musical of the thing, which I share with you now. Imagine a lithe, pantherish Schwarzenegger, thews rippling, hewing Rexor, Priest of Set, then ripping it up Broadway-style.

And oh yes, my babies my children, there are cleavings.

Ectomo loves you.

Conan The Barbarian: The Musical [via Youtube]