548 – The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (2014 video game)

spacetime coordinates: 1970s Red Creek Valley

Experience, in non/linear fashion, a story that combines the pleasures of pulp, private eye, and horror fiction, all of it inspired by writers such as Raymond Chandler, Algernon Blackwood, Stefan Grabinski, and H. P. Lovecraft.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a 2014 horror adventure video game developed and published by The Astronauts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a first-person story-driven mystery game that focuses entirely on exploration and discovery. Inspired by the weird fiction (and other tales of the macabre) from the early twentieth century, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter aims to significantly evolve immersive storytelling in games. While it features a private detective and quite a few mental challenges, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is not an especially puzzle-ridden game. Our focus is on atmosphere, mood, and the essential humanity of our characters.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (MINIMUM): OS: Windows 64-bit // Processor: Intel Core2 Duo or equivalent AMD // Memory: 6 GB RAM // Graphics: DirectX11 compliant card with 1GB of VRAM // DirectX: Version 11 // Storage: 9 GB available space // Sound Card: DirectX9c compliant

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Review

 http://store.steampowered.com/app/258520/The_Vanishing_of_Ethan_Carter/

547 – Cosmopolis (2012)

spacetime coordinates:  near future Manhattan 

“There’s pain enough for everybody now,”Cosmopolis is a 2012 drama-thriller film written, produced, and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Robert Pattinson in the lead with Paul Giamatti, Samantha Morton, Sarah Gadon, Mathieu Amalric, Juliette Binoche, Jay Baruchel and Kevin Durand.

“A VAMPIRE CAPITALIST haunts New York in David Cronenberg’s film adaptation of Cosmopolis, Don DeLillo’s sci-finance novel that focuses on a Wall Street billionaire named Eric Packer who trades, converses, theorizes, kills and screws his way through New York in a single day.” (read more: https://www.wired.com/2012/08/cosmopolis-cronenberg-delillo/)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1480656/

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothko_Chapel

Movie Poster Design

0544 – In the Heart of the Sea (2015)

spacetime coordinates: 1850 > 1820 Massachusetts / Atlantic / Pacific Ocean / Atacames, Ecuador /  Henderson Island

In the Heart of the Sea is a 2015 adventure-drama film directed and produced by Ron Howard and written by Charles Leavitt. It is based on Nathaniel Philbrick‘s non-fiction book of the same name, about the sinking of the American whaling ship Essex in 1820, an event that inspired the novel Moby-Dick. An international co-production between the United States and Spain, the film stars Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, and Brendan Gleeson.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390411/

541 – Zeno Clash (2009 video game)

Zeno Clash is a first-person fighting video game with elements of a first-person shooter set in a punk fantasy world. The game is played from a first person perspective and the combat is generally up close and brutal.  It is the debut game of developer ACE Team and uses the Source engine.  The developers stated that they have drawn a lot of inspiration from traditional fighting games—this includes “versus screens” sliding in before combat is initiated. Regarding the art style, they cited Hieronymus Bosch‘s paintings and John Blanche‘s “punk fantasy” illustrations as visual inspirations.

Experience a deep storyline set in a fantastic world. Play the role of Ghat, a man banished by his own brothers and forced to begin a desperate journey past the forbidden desert and to the end of the world.   Critics praised its strange yet robust setting and unique character designs. It was a finalist for Excellence in Visual Art at the 2009 Independent Games Festival, was named 2009’s Independent Game of the Year by PC Gamer, and PC Game of the Month by IGN in April 2009.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (minimum):  Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / Vista64  // Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 3.0 GHz  //  Memory: 1 GB RAM  //  Hard Disk Space: At least 3 GB of free space  //  Video Card: 128 MB, Shader model 2.0, ATI 9600, NVidia 6600 or better  //  Sound Card: DirectX® 9.0c compatible sound card  //  DirectX® Version:  DirectX® 9.0c, DirectX® 10

Zeno Clash Walkthrough HD

http://store.steampowered.com/app/22200/Zeno_Clash/

0540 – Naked Lunch (1991)

spacetime coordinates: 1951 – ’53 New York City –  Interzone, a city somewhere in North Africa

Naked Lunch is a 1991 science fiction drama film co-written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, and Roy Scheider. It is an adaptation of William S. Burroughs‘ 1959 novel of the same name, and an international co-production of Canada, Britain and Japan.

The screenplay for Naked Lunch is based not only on Burroughs’ novel, but also on other fiction by him, and autobiographical accounts of his life. It can be seen as a metatextual adaptation, in that it depicts the writing of the novel itself. Several characters are loosely based on people that Burroughs knew: Hank and Martin are based on Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg (who assisted Burroughs in compiling the original novel), and Tom and Joan Frost on Paul and Jane Bowles whom Burroughs befriended in Tangier, Morocco.

The shooting of Joan Lee is based on the 1951 death of Joan Vollmer, Burroughs’ common-law wife.  Burroughs shot and killed Vollmer in a drunken game of “William Tell” at a party in Mexico City. He would later flee to the United States. Burroughs was convicted in absentia of homicide and sentenced to two years, which were suspended. Burroughs stated in the introduction to his book Queer that Joan’s death was the starting point of his literary career, saying: “I am forced to the appalling conclusion that I would have never become a writer but for Joan’s death”. (wiki)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102511/

539 – The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch (2016 documentary)

The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch directed by David Bickerstaff features the exhibition ‘Jheronimus Bosch – Visions of Genius’ at Het Noordbrabants Museum in the southern Netherlands, which brought the majority of Bosch’s paintings and drawings together for the first time to his home town of Den Bosch.

https://exhibitiononscreen.com/films/bosch/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6336002/

0538 – Chasing Coral (2017)

Chasing Coral is a 2017 documentary film about a team of divers, scientists and photographers around the world who document the disappearance of coral reefs.

“This is the most beautiful transformation in nature, the incredibly beautiful phase of death.”

https://www.chasingcoral.com/

http://catlinseaviewsurvey.com/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6333054/

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Koral (2019 video game)

A love letter to the ocean.

In Koral the player will dive into the beautiful underwater world as a sea current. Solve puzzles to bring back to life coral reefs and spread the beauty of the oceans in 15 different sea ecosystems. Flow anywhere you want to find for ways to transport healing energy for other corals and heal entire reefs and watch in realtime how the seafloor becomes colorful and vibrant with life and diversity.

Koral Is A Moving Video Game Tribute To Ocean Life (youtube)

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