games, Uncategorized

0852 – Another World (1991 video game)

Another World, also known as Out of This World in North America and Outer World  in Japan, is a 1991 cinematic platformer action-adventure game designed by Éric Chahi and published by Delphine Software. The game tells a story of Lester, a young scientist who, as a result of an experiment gone wrong, finds himself on a dangerous alien world where he is forced to fight for his survival.

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Another World was developed by Chahi alone over a period of about two years, with only help with the soundtrack from Jean-François Freitas. Chahi developed his own game engine, completing all the game’s art and animations in vector form to reduce memory use, with some use of rotoscoping to help plan out character movements. Both narratively and gameplay-wise, he wanted the game to be told with little to no language or user-interface elements. The game was originally developed for the Amiga and Atari ST but has since been widely ported to other contemporary systems, including home and portable consoles and mobile devices. Chahi has since overseen release of various anniversary releases of the game.

Another World was innovative in its use of cinematic effects in both real-time and cutscenes, which earned the game praise among critics and commercial success. It also influenced a number of other video games and designers, inspiring such titles as IcoMetal Gear SolidSilent Hill, and even Delphine’s later Flashback. (wiki)

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steam

movies

851 – The Little Stranger (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1947/’48 > 1919 England

(sad and spooky) The Little Stranger is a 2018 Irish/British/french gothic drama film directed by Lenny Abrahamson and written by Lucinda Coxon, based on the novel of same name by Sarah Waters. The film stars Domhnall GleesonRuth WilsonWill Poulter, and Charlotte Rampling.

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THE LITTLE STRANGER tells the story of Dr Faraday, the son of a housemaid, who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. During the long hot summer of 1948, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall, an 18th-century estate,, where his mother once worked. The Hall has been home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries. But it is now in decline and its inhabitants – mother, son and daughter – are haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life. When he takes on his new patient, Faraday has no idea how closely, and how disturbingly, the family’s story is about to become entwined with his own. (rt)


imdb

movies

0850 – The Meg (2018)

timespace coordinates: near future Mariana Trench,  the Pacific Ocean/ Hainan, China, Thailand, Japan

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The Meg is a 2018 USChinese science fiction action thriller film directed by Jon Turteltaub, loosely based on the 1997 book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten. The film stars Jason StathamLi BingbingRainn WilsonRuby RoseWinston Chao, and Cliff Curtis. the film follows a group of scientists who encounter a 75-foot-long (23 m) megalodon shark while on a rescue mission at the floor of the Pacific Ocean. (wiki)

imdb / trivia


Sequel

quotes, series

0849 – The Haunting of Hill House (2018 TV series)

timespace coordinates: 1992 – 2018 Massachusetts

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The Haunting of Hill House is an American supernatural horror web television series created by Mike Flanagan for Netflix, produced by Amblin Television and Paramount Television. The series is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson. The plot alternates between two timelines, following five adult siblings whose paranormal experiences at Hill House continue to haunt them in present day. The series also features flashbacks to 1992, depicting the events in Hill House leading up to the eventful night the family departed. The ensemble cast features Michiel HuismanElizabeth ReaserOliver Jackson-CohenKate SiegelVictoria PedrettiLulu WilsonCarla GuginoHenry Thomas and Timothy Hutton. (wiki)

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“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
― Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

books, Uncategorized

0848 – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future by James Bridle (2018 book)

As the world around us increases in technological complexity, our understanding of it diminishes. Underlying this trend is a single idea: the belief that our existence is understandable through computation, and more data is enough to help us build a better world.
In reality, we are lost in a sea of information, increasingly divided by fundamentalism, simplistic narratives, conspiracy theories, and post-factual politics. Meanwhile, those in power use our lack of understanding to further their own interests. Despite the apparent accessibility of information, we’re living in a new Dark Age.

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From rogue financial systems to shopping algorithms, from artificial intelligence to state secrecy, we no longer understand how our world is governed or presented to us. The media is filled with unverifiable speculation, much of it generated by anonymous software, while companies dominate their employees through surveillance and the threat of automation.
In his brilliant new work, leading artist and writer James Bridle surveys the history of art, technology, and information systems, and reveals the dark clouds that gather over our dreams of the digital sublime. (VERSO)

James Bridle on New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future



man always makes it clear to himself: “You are using things which have the intention of not being penetrable.” 1180

movies

0846 – Papillon (2017)

timespace coordinates: 1931 – 1941 French Guiana

pillon poster

Papillon is a 2017 biographical drama film directed by Michael Noer. It tells the story of French convict Henri Charrière (Charlie Hunnam), nicknamed Papillon (“butterfly”), who was imprisoned in 1933 in the notorious Devil’s Island penal colony and escaped in 1941 with the help of another convict, counterfeiter Louis Dega (Rami Malek). The film’s screenplay is based on Charrière’s autobiographies Papillon and Banco, as well as the former’s 1973 film adaptation, which was written by Dalton Trumbo and Lorenzo Semple Jr. and starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. (wiki)

imdb


Charles Brunier