1624

Video excerpt from “Neo Tokyo” 1987 Segment directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri of Ninja Scroll fame.

“The year 2100. In an effort to combat overpopulation, the postmortem social network “Anvil” is released. A fusion of both Japanese and Belgian comics inspirations and sensibilities, such as Ghost in the Shell, Akira or Peeters & Schuiten’s work. “Anvil” invites us on a journey through the eyes of a young woman in her final moments on earth.”

Directed by GERIKO (Hélène Jeudy & Antoine Caëcke) Design, Script & Animation by Antoine Caëcke & Hélène Jeudy Character Animation by Anthony Lejeune & Manddy Wyckens

Anime: Yoru wa Mijikashi Arukeyo Otome / The night is short, walk on girl, Masaaki Yuasa

1570 – An American Pickle (2020)

spacetime coordinates: Schlupsk, Eastern Europe 1919 > present-day Brooklyn

An American Pickle is a 2020 American comedy-drama film directed by Brandon Trost (in his solo directorial debut) and written by Simon Rich, based on his 2013 short story “Sell Out”. The film stars Seth Rogen as an Ashkenazi Jew in the 1920s who gets preserved in a vat of pickles and wakes up in modern-day New York City, and attempts to fit in with the assistance of his last remaining descendant (also played by Rogen). Sarah Snook, Jorma Taccone, and Maya Erskine also star. (wiki)

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1538 – Like Me (2017)

Like Me is a 2017 American crime drama/horror film written and directed by Robert Mockler. The film stars Addison Timlin as a loner on a crime spree that she broadcasts on social media. (wiki)

“Robert Mockler’s visually arresting debut feature, produced by indie horror veteran Larry Fessenden, takes the viewer into a world of fabricated personalities and offers a thought-provoking portrait of isolation in our increasingly digital world.” (rt)

imdb

1497 – Ragnarok (TV Series 2020–)

timespace coordinates: 2020’s fictional Norwegian town of Edda in Western Norway

Ragnarok is a Norwegian-language fantasy drama from Netflix that premiered on 31 January 2020. The series is produced by the Danish production company SAM Productions. The show has been renewed for a second season. 

The show takes place in the fictional town of Edda which is plagued by climate change and the industrial pollution caused by the factories owned by the local Jutul family, the fifth-richest family in Norway. The Jutuls are actually four Jötunn, frost giants and giantesses posing as a family in Edda. They are challenged by Magne, a teenage boy who is surprised to learn that he is the embodiment of Thor and begins the fight against those that are destroying the planet.

The story draws inspiration from Norse mythology. (wiki)

imdb

1417 – Waste Tide (2013 novel)

For All Tomorrow’s Parties. 全为明日派对。

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timespace coordinates: The Waste Tide depicts a dystopian China in the post-2020 era. (2040’s -2050’s) In the Guiyu island, the large electronic recycle industries are in full control of local lineage associations. The laborers who undertake dangerous work for the profit of the Chinese and foreign businessmen who employ them are depicted not as humans, but cyborgs whose bodies and minds have been altered permanently through bio-engineering.

The Waste Tide is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Chen Qiufan.

The story takes place in the imaginary ”Silicon Isle”. The Chinese word ”硅屿” for Silicon Isle shares a similar pronunciation with Guiyu (Chinese: 贵屿) in Mandarin. In the real world, Guiyu is a town in the Shantou prefecture of Guangdong province in China. And it is Shantou where Chen Qiufan was born and grew up before he entered Peking University. Situated on the South China Sea coast, Guiyu got famous in the global environmentalist community for its reception of E-waste. The town held the record for being the largest E-waste site up to 2013. Though some residents got rich by electronic recycling, pollution became serious in the town. Talking about the background of writing the novel, Chen said: ”Choosing my hometown as background to write the story, is related to my thinking of China. To depict the pain of changing China, is just because I desire for she getting better gradually.’ (wiki)

goodreads

1395 – Poppy

1393

Based on his pioneering work in the recent book High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies, author and podcaster Erik Davis will explore the phenomenon of occult revivals, comparing and contrasting some of the factors that made the early 1970s and the late 2010s hotbeds of occultism, witchcraft, and visionary experience. Featuring films by visual artists Dustin Wong and Amanda Siegel.

youtube: High Weirdness Then and Now: The Occult Revival in the ’70s and Today

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The Politics of High Weirdness: a Litquake talk with Erik Davis and RU Sirius

For Litquake 2019, Erik Davis spoke with RU Sirius about the politics of high weirdness, then and now.

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High Weirdness By Mail  by Ivan Stang

This hysterical hobbyist’s guide belongs in every hip library. Coot cat Reverend Ivan Stang, high holy of the Church of the SubGenius, has compiled a bestiary of American creeps and crazies so that you can write to them and receive mail that is weird, horrible, wonderfully absurd, or a combination of all three.

goodreads   /  wikipedia