ids301-dd - Tumblr blog

[ids301-dd]

Destiny’s Ghosts are monstrous cybernetic systems. Their purpose in their creation (hand-waved in some technomagical explanation by a higher “Light-bearing” power) is to seek out those warriors that have passed in times past and bring them back to life once again, tearing them from the sanctity and peace of death to fight once more in an endless, intergalactic struggle. They then continue to sustain these warriors (known as Guardians, in their revived state), imbuing them with great powers and strength as well as a nigh-unstoppable immortality of sorts. Every time the Guardian dies, they will absorb their essence and bring them back from the dead again, making this system between Ghosts and Guardians an unstoppable force unless their Ghost is eliminated first.

[ids301-dd]

Are Time Travelers/Dimension Hoppers Monsters?

I pose this because in Mary Douglas’ logic, they breach the boundaries between two separate time periods/systems of order in dimensions, almost always change (introduce dirt to) wherever they visit (even with one party’s insistence that they never do this), and leave with little or no regard to their actions. Does this mean a total revocation of their humanity? In what moral/philosophical state do these people exist in after one analyzes their actions?

[ids301-dd]

Pokemon

Pokemon are a number of things: monsters, partners, helpers, even friends. And though the name might be shorthand for Pocket Monsters, there’s one aspect almost no one ever brings up: their lack of autonomy. Their kubernetes is almost never their own once they breach the boundary between wild and captured, only their captor, referred to as their trainer, can dictate their lives. Their personalities aren’t overwritten and they can take care of themselves, but whenever a trainer of renown issues an order, they have no choice but to obey

[ids301-dd]

Dracula

5 May. The Castle. —The grey of the morning has passed, and the sun is high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are mixed. I am not sleepy, and, as I am not to be called till I awake, naturally I write till sleep comes. There are many odd things to put down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they called "robber steak"—bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in the simple style of the London cat's meat! The wine was Golden Mediasch, which produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not disagreeable. I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else.

When I got on the coach the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him talking with the landlady. They were evidently talking of me, for every now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting on the bench outside the door—which they call by a name meaning "word-bearer"—came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them pityingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for there were many nationalities in the crowd; so I quietly got my polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"—Satan, "pokol"—hell, "stregoica"—witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"—both of which mean the same thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is either were-wolf or vampire. (Mem., I must ask the Count about these superstitions)

This is an excerpt from the latest entry for a daily Dracula email listing where they post and email to those who subscribe the entirety of the epistolary novel.

[ids301-dd]

There could be something said regard Douglas’ thoughts on the events of this movie, the boundaries of the separation of time and eras collapsing upon the revivals of the dinosaurs. Not to mention the multiple transgressions of human to reptile intelligence and physical barriers breached during the movie, this’d be a field day

[ids301-dd]

We’ve spoken a bit about kubernetes (the helmsman) and its pertinence to the mechanical, and I’m utterly surprised no one thought of this guy. This is AUTO, from Wall-E, a literal helmsman who seeks to take control of both the ark he works on the and the human race as a whole. How did this get by us?

[ids301-dd]

In my mind, nothing truly encapsulates the essence of every subject matter this class has taken on than Mass Effect’s Reapers, who introduce themselves as sentient machines whose sole purpose is to wipe the galaxy of life every 50,000 years.  These behemoths, each around 2km (1.25mi) in size, they are simultaneous machine and monster who not only work to clean the board of everything we hold near and dear to life, but also warp that which we love into a cyborg amalgamation of horror. (Refer to second image). These Husks, which appear as human-synthetic hybrids and act as zombies, for lack of a better term, are just one such horror that these Reapers birth/create into the world. The process for this, at least initially, involves driving humans onto large spikes for augmentation, and completely wrest control from whoever previously lived in that body. Kubernetes, or helmsman, is a crude term to describe the transfer of control away from the previous inhabitant, syncing the minds of these husks through their cybernetic augments to be easily controlled by the Reapers. As for the Reapers themselves, not only do they bring to bear everything Douglas was afraid of when she described the “out of place” element and what unease that brings, but their synthetic and robotic natures lets another fear the more innocent inhabitants harbor rear its ugly head: that a society that hinges so dependently on technology for everyday life, from security frames to virtual intelligence handlers and interfaces to the very ships that govern the military force you command, are now pitted against you, control taken from you yet again, and there’s next to nothing you can do to stop it.

[ids301-dd]

Similar to the feeling of uncanny is the stomach-drop feeling of facing something of such enormity and cosmic scale that our very being rejects any attempt understanding what is before us. Douglas’ concept of “matter out of place” doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of something of this magnitude (which makes me very glad that this isn’t something we currently have to deal with). Shout out to Lovecraft for spurring some of the best novelizations and creations of “horror” to date, even if he was completely insane and off-base as a person.

[ids301-dd]

Somebody had brought it up previously in class when we first discussed Freud, but nothing hits the concept of the “uncanny” to me like analog horror does. In the case of this video and without giving away any substance for those interested parties, it uses programs to simulate the older filming technology of the late 20th century, like older video cameras and VHS tapes (which really hurts my soul to call them “older”), as well as warped and blotted imagery and tones in order to bring on a different sense of horror: not one focused on getting the consumer to jump or recoil like a jumpscare might, but to always leave them feeling uneasy, to see shapes in the shadows and hear echoes in the silence they never would have before.

[ids301-dd]

Batman: Man or Monster?

We all know the Batman as vengeance in the night, the symbol of protection from crime and evil no matter how out-of-this-world or downright insane. But after decades of incalculable feats of strength, intelligence, and perseverance, from detaining the crazies roaming the streets of Gotham to flying all the way off-world to a hellscape planet aptly named Apokolips to revive his dead son, can we even call Bruce Wayne a “man” anymore? Standing equal to or even above some members of the Justice League, an international, interplanetary, intergalactic, and even inter-dimensional team of some of the strongest superpowered individuals such as Superman, Green Lantern, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman, with no powers of his own other than his sheer strength of will, can he truly be just human anymore? Compiling a list of just some of Batman’s most insane feats in the name of heroism and justice, he’s fought off an entire cult while deprived of a week’s worth of sleep and starved, switched teacups of poison with a Tibetan monk within the blink of an eye, dodged bullet fire, outsmarted gods and otherworldly beings, mastered 127 different fighting styles, and fought and beat Darkseid singlehandedly (granted, this last one is due in part to the his latest suit seen above, the Hellbat. Forged in part by every core member of the Justice League, this suit enabled Batman to enact a one-man destruction spree on the planet Apokolips). He has Masters-level education in numerous subjects such as forensic science, chemistry, computer science, and multiple engineering fields. He has a photographic memory, and is smart enough to program an entire surveillance AI program known as Brother Eye. He’s fought and beaten multiple members of the Justice League, sometimes multiples at a time (5v1 being one of the most impressive), and has beaten Superman on multiple occasions. He has such a forceful will, he was able to create a backup personality in the event of any form of mind control or wipe in order to ensure that he remains Batman regardless of circumstance. All these feats and many more he has accrued, with no superpowers to his name. More than any normal man whatsoever is capable of, working day in and day out for decades on end. Can we truly say with complete certainty that Batman is 100% human, that he has retained his humanity through all his forays into the inhuman. Bruce Wayne has certainly stared into the abyss of every evil existence contained, has the abyss truly not stared back and found its way into Batman as well?