#half-life vr: parasites

[the-bite-of-87-lol]

I should talk about bug

[goofyguygordon]

Yeah :0]

[apple-cores]

it is now, time for crab

[asaltyrat]

Little Blocks that Matter

Do I understand how to decorate? Of course not.

The amount of dedication that some Starbound and Terraria users put out is staggering. Huge murals of pixel art scenes and giant castles. I can't wrap my head around all this creativity that people can do. It's a stellar outlet for expression and there have been a few good attempts to recapture this specific genre's ability to do just that.

Unfortunately we've moved past that era, and while I think the genre of block and pixel games are at it's end. There had been three large representatives in this odd war, each bringing with it's own flavor to the game.

Minecraft is of course the heavy hitter of the three. Backed by Microsoft's almost unlimited resources and influence, it's grown to become one of the most influential games of the past decade, selling millions of copies across the globe, spawning a host of YouTube personalities and a gigantic modding community, it's the beast that cannot be stopped at this time.

It's bringing familiar franchises under it's boughs now. Sonic recently joined the fray, seemingly turning the game into a blocky "Sonic Adventure" type game with various secrets, ring collection, and a strong attention to detail with little emotes your frilled companions can do. But they've done the same treatment with turning minecraft into Tattooine, letting you go on a Jedi-flavored adventure. Adventure time also got it's time to shine with various swords and odd magic.

The Teknik pack is also a trip and a half, adding industrialization to the game, turning mining into a complex chain of tubes and belts and powerplants. Modders have added weapon production, guns, magic, rituals, and some of the more creative designs to monsters, like the "Parasite Invasion" mod that added Thing flavored monsters and mutations to the world, turning entire biomes into terrifying alien landscapes.

Terraria was launched around the same time as Minecraft, and, unlike Minecraft, felt like the full experience. Boss monsters, tiered progression, a very vague semblance of story where the forces of nature and the supernatural were at odds, eventually culminating in the complete destruction of the environment as you stop a stellar plot and destroy a cosmic god.

Modding had added the Calamity add-on, which expanded progression and boss fights to white-knuckle level difficulty and a jamming, custom made OST that has you vibrating in your seat while you use a wand to obliterate leviathans and end the world.

Then you have what I'd call the 'red headed stepchild' of the Genre, Starbound.

Starbound is a bit of an odd representation of the series. It took blocks and pixels to space where you interact with penguin mercenaries, explore multiple planets, and build your character using racial armor and weapon tiers that add flavor to your bird or ape or what have you. Every race gets their own ship type with unique room placement and aesthetic. I have a special love for the Avians, who's ships are giant pyramids powered by some central crystal.

It had rather incredible storytelling and lore depth despite being procedurally generated. Earth was destroyed by a galactic monster, Avians fight to earn their wings and escape their all-knowing god. Apes are working to break their bonds from an oppressive regime of a 'great ape' that really brings to mind a Orwellian nightmare personified by hyper intelligent monkeys.

Modding wasn't as prevalent in Starbound as the other two games, but it spawned one of the most recognizable furry species in culture now; Avali. Little feathered raptors that drink ammonia and love frozen worlds. They're lovely! Wonderful little creatures! Super cute and now we can see them in VR Chat and Second Life, etc.

But now it's been several years and while these games have dedicated communities and their own followers, I ask "what's next?"

And unfortunately I don't think I have the answer to that.

Terraria's development had stopped and their sequel has been cancelled for the immediate future. Minecraft is still the top dog on the market, and Starbound is finished, so far as we can tell.

The time of the block-builder is over. We're looking at farming simulators, pirates, and more MMOs to count. It's a sad realization but we're still enjoying our time in these little slivers of programming where some mad lad with glass and dirt builds a diorama of the first level from Mario and complex cities rise from grass.

Who knows though. Chucklefish is still putting out new games all the time and I'm lowkey crossing my fingers for some new developer to remember most of us still love playing with legos.

Stay Salty~

[sordidmorbid]

okok enough STALLING i am going to rant incomprehensibly about the au idea i had now

 my idea was like,... benry was originally barney n he was normal BUT black mesa sent him to xen or whatever and he died and then got infected with some parasite/virus or something i need to think of (like what if making the game in vr Accidentally added something that wasnt supposed to be there) so “”barney”” is a zombie thing n does the sweet voice n shit. and for Science they bring him back and tommy makes friends with him cuz gman is pulling the strings n shit ig and........... i have been obsessing about half life too much lol. 

[dr-falling-future]

Epilogue Media (1/1).

“There have been few events of extraordinary magnitude that have shaped the course of human history.

What is recorded here is not one of them.”

EPILOGUE MEDIA Sketches by @hystherics. Video Work by @junbunn.

Summarized game lore beneath the cut.

GLOSSARY

[ Eternal ] A dominating collective of the world's most powerful companies, political groups, and individuals that holds an almost absolute power over humanity. Bypasses anti-trusts, treaties, and other binding factors by virtue of being the ones that instate, fund, and enforce them. Praised by many, opposed by none. 

 [ D-CURE ] Short for Despair Causing Ultimate Radioactive Entity); a parasitical organism that feeds off of nutrients produced by the human body. Limits talent, but also wards off HOPE. Propagates within the human body over time. 

[ HOPE ] Short for Highest Overall Priority Entity; a parasitical organism warded off by D-CURE. Resides within the human brain and leeches away at their life force, drastically reducing lifespans and fertility. 

 [ Miracle Treatment ] A treatment created by Eternal that obliterates D-CURE. Only effective on young children. 

With the discovery of the D-CURE, a parasitical organism that absorbs chemicals and other nutrients from the human body, it was a mad scramble to find a way to exterminate it from humanity. Eternal is no stranger to human experimentation, and so, 100 years ago, the first treatments to remove the parasite were formally introduced. However, they ultimately proved to be ineffective on those over the age of 10, due to the mass infestation of D-CURE over a human’s lifespan. So began an era of child prodigies— while how this new potential would manifest was a mystery to all involved, every individual who underwent this Miracle Treatment developed talents, at the scope of those who were initially scouted for such prestigious institutions like Hopes Peak.

Soon, these children developed to become the working population, and everyone younger than them had also undergone the Miracle Treatment. Humanity skyrocketed, creating never before seen developments and entering a golden era... or so they thought. To the horror of the executives at Eternal, who now were the first wave of children who had undergone the Miracle Treatment, it became apparent that D-CURE was just as much a protector as it was a parasite.

With the absence of D-CURE, a newly discovered organism, HOPE, invaded the population, curling up as a parasitical beast within humans' brains. HOPE shortened lifespans drastically, lowering the average age of death to under a half century. Those who had received earlier versions of the Miracle Treatment were still in the clear, with meager amounts of D-CURE remaining, but as they grew older, they watched workers drop like flies. The herd immunity the wildly talented had enjoyed in the past was gone, and the world population began to drop as it was found the treatment also decreased fertility.

The cover up was wide scale and ubiquitous. The younger generations were not taught any better, and with the world in their hands, Eternal managed to quell the storm before it occurred. The entirety of humanity continued to undergo the Miracle Treatment, despite known harm by the authorities. No one could predict what skill you would develop, though some parents certainly tried, but everyone who underwent the treatment would develop a Talent, no matter how meaningless.

Of course, in a world of seven billion people, there are bound to be at least a few dissenters. Most of them suffered quietly and disappeared quickly under the rush of the Talented, and the concept of the Talentless soon became a wholly alien concept. How could someone not have organs? How could someone not have a Talent? It was the same idea to these new generations. Much of the world lead similar lives to before; however, though there was the blessing of Talent, not everyone's field was of the same importance— between a Chef and a Birdwatcher, their value to society would be inherently unequal. The same societal issues still plagued the world, hierarchies still formed, some individuals fought against their Talent, struggling against a different career when placed against those with matching Talents and occupations. Standards as a whole generally rose, as people became used to goods and services produced by the best of the best, who were now simply common workers. And so humanity lurched forward uneasily. 

Virtual reality is an ideal method for a totalitarian collective to keep the population in check. While small scale instances of the technology existed prior, approximately five years ago, the first fully immersive VR program, FoxFeed, was introduced to the world as a social network by Eternal. FoxFeed was a massive success. It allowed for two to three times the speed of experiencing life, and so shorter lifespans were partially compensated for by this time warping technology. With a surplus of Talents manning the wheel, it looked like smooth sailing for Eternal, who now had easy to access to the world’s brains for testing and preliminary research against HOPE. After about a year to ensure the stabilization of Foxfeed, Eternal decided it was time to further their research against HOPE; they decided to select 18 diverse individuals to begin brain testing on, all of which fell within the healthy worker age of 15 to 20. Eternal had advertised that they were currently looking for subjects for special studies, which swept across the world as a sort of exclusive position; it was highly vied after, despite the fact that there was no application and very few details on the actual contents of the study. Much like HPA of the past, this program was invitation only and carried prestige and socio-econo-political benefits to those chosen. One group of 16 to 20 such individuals has been selected every year; Eternal is currently on Unit IV, or the fourth iteration.

Toma Moto, child of an Eternal executive, never underwent the Miracle Treatment for fear of an ever shrinking lifespan and infertility; they were regardless raised as a Talented, touted as a Seamster to the public eye. Toma grew up relatively miserable hiding the fact they had to fake their talent, and soon became resentful towards their parents— a shorter lifespan seemed like a small trade off for the wonders of having a Talent, especially considering the time bending powers of FoxFeed. During their struggles, they meet with another rare Talentless, Yam. Taking advantage of their connections and position as an Executive’s child, Toma seizes control of FoxFeed's central network, forcing out all but the 18 individuals selected for this round of HOPE testing, along with themself and Yam. Those trapped inside retain most of their memory faithfully, save for scaling ages back to previous norms and towards the end of their life being contacted by the elusive Hopes Peak Academy (rather than HOPE testing) they and Yam had read about in the archives. The VR, however, is being run at about x100 speed, which means that the course of the game occurs in about one day of real time outside the VR, at the expense of rapidly deteriorating the minds of those within it.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S1 Ep 42: Kaiba's Horrible Tanning Beds

Now that we’re done watching Yugi get completely distracted instead of youknow, resolving this season, now it’s time to see how the resolution of Kaiba’s timeline goes. I’m sure he won’t also get completely distracted.

The moment he said “virtual pod” it was as if the show itself snuck out the back of the room and I had to chase after it like Mokuba just trying to get his brother to fire some assholes (who aren’t in prison for some reason?)

OH OK, SHOW.

I guess we’re doing this now.

Let me just take a second to forget every magical piece of lore I spent the last 42 episodes learning.

We’re going to dive into a computer now.

(read more under the cut)

OH PS it will also totally blind you. Perfectly safe. Ready for mass production. Only uses 900 kWh. No big deal. Fits right into your decor.

Please note that Mokuba grabs everyone except for Bakura, because he’s the only one on this show with a sense of reason.

I would be absolutely fine if Kaiba’s virtual world was just this for the rest of this arc, but alas his world is hyper-realistic in a cartoon sense. The way it works is that instead of dueling, you have Pokemon Go encounters. I knew it was inevitable to go into Pokemon territory, I just didn’t think it would be nearly exactly Pokemon except you murder the monster instead of keeping it.

Kaiba basically just invented Nuzlocke Yugioh.

Kaiba’s downfall is just him trying so hard to get this dragon thing to work out when the rest of the world just...really hates his dragons. He spent his entire life just to make a place where he can duel without the worry of psychic interruption, cheating, and overall dragon poaching and what does he get within 2 seconds of stepping into it?

This series of events where a ninja jumps out of nowhere, traps a huge dragon in a small pot, and then throws a 50 ft fishing net on Seto as he just stands there and lets it happen was so bizarre and it happened in a heartbeat. Man, this show just loves dunking on Kaiba every moment it can.

And in case you thought that was enough punishment for one irascible human being, for some reason, he then gets SUPER electrocuted in real life. NICE.

Mokuba grabs a bunch of Kaiba’s cards and takes off through the nearest exit--a vent. He climbed about 40 ft to get to this vent. It’s impressive.

Also, is that who I think it is?

Oh man I hope Croquet makes it, too.

Anyway, Mokuba runs all the way in the rain and thunder to Yugi’s game shop, where I’m pretty sure Joey is secretly living.

Mokuba explains how his brother is trapped in an MMO of his own design and these kids don’t even question it. They took about 6 or 7 episodes to cope with Yugi having parasitic magic powers but Kaiba getting stuck in a computer seems to be something they were almost expecting to happen sooner or later.

Kaiba Corp should really start paying Seto’s classmates for how willing their are to save their ass. Albiet they didn’t do a perfect job of that--but they did manage to do it by the end. But they should at least give them a free pass to the company cafe (which I assume only serves chicken nuggets in the shapes of dragons).

Yugi is Grandpa’s ONLY Grandson, right? Like the only heir to the entire family? Like the only chance he has to leave a lasting mark on this world? He is so willing to let this kid just run off and die. Of course, I shouldn’t judge. Maybe Yugi’s hella annoying and Grandpa just needs some freakin peace and quiet.

They make it to Seto’s secret lab--which is super huge and not at all a secret and has a 60 ft dragon in front of it--where he has 3 pods. Who are the other pods for? Seto has no friends.

UNLESS he always secretly planned to put his classmates inside? I mean one is exactly Yugi-length.

They argue about who goes in which pods but it’s sort of moot because Mokuba’s hella bossy.

And so they leave everything to Tristan to keep them alive. Tristan who admittedly did defeat Bakura last arc so...not the worst choice? Better than putting Joey at the command center.

Youknow, if you entered a VR world that is unfinished, you’d be spending half your time glitching out and getting stuck in walls. Says a lot that Kaiba was able to get those collision boxes correct.

PS the colorist filled in one of Yugi’s bangs in black. I didn’t even catch that at first but he definitely has a wrong bang here. Imagine with me here--just imagine--what if he didn’t have the blonde streaks? Like what if he had the red tint ~and that was it~

But then again, blonde streaks in your bangs was the 00′s thing to do. We were...super into it. And you draped them all over your face. It was a special time.

Anyways, lets electrocute everyone like this is some sort of Tesla Tower.

Tea, isn’t that kinda hot? Like aren’t you being set on fire right now?

After admiring Yugi’s very peaceful zen state for a little bit, Tea and Tristan realize they have literally nothing else to do now.

Hey, so like...what if you have to pee while you’re in the pod?

Just saying, how long can you really stay in the pod? Why would Kaiba make a pod that you can’t like...get out of and go outside so you can find the restroom in?

Like there’s a bunch of these spooky VR stories running around and it’s something that always gets to me. What if you have to freakin pee? No one ever thinks about that.

PS, literally all of this is being recorded on camera.

Unfortunately, Kaiba’s brain thingy did not pick up that Yugi is two people and Pharaoh did not get his own avatar. He won’t even show up this episode. Probably too busy throwing more legos all over the floor of Yugis brain room.

These guys run into some dueling stuff that I won’t go over in this review and find a zelda fairy. I think. It’s probably a card or something.

It takes them to a city that is in an arid desert despite being about 10 feet from a forest and...whatever type of mountain that’s called.

This arid desert city is within throwing distance from a forest climate.

I think I figured out why there’s 5 more episodes to this season. At least we don’t have 5 more episodes of Rebecca. Instead it’s just these guys grinding levels in a game that doesn't exist about a game that does exist but is never played this way.

sorry about the blur but like...Yugi got in deep with the law while all Tristan did was get attacked by dogs.

Anyways, the desert makes them go back to where they started because, on top of being an MMO, this is also a Metroid Mania.

A chicken. Everyone knows that.

Why would this even kill them!?

Anyways, I’ll not think too hard about the logic behind that, because it’s time for Tristan and Tea to hang out. Two people who barely have a personality on this show. Lets see if they can manage two minutes on screen.

I really don’t know if he was flirting or just that proud of his beard. But if he was flirting, he really shouldn’t compete about who has the most hair when comparing himself to literally any of his other friends who have volume like real life chia pets.

Sorry I just thought of how Yugi would even style a beard and in my mind it was just his normal hair but on his chin. Kinda like:

Anyway, moving on: the mooks have arrived, and they’re making a hell ton of noise for trying to kill these kids.

arm and shin bandages have always kinda bothered me in concept art--although, I admit that I love Zelda and anime stuff and they have arm bandages all the time--but what purpose do they serve!? Has this ever been a thing in all of antiquity?

This is just a lot.

Next time, on Yugioh,

How long will it take them to realize this is Mai--3 episodes, I’m guessing? Will Kaiba be stuck in a literal net on the internet for the next 4 Episodes? Is anyone ever at all going to call the freakin police??

[hollydownerdesign]

14/05: Case Studies

His Epic Message Will Make You Want to Save the World | Short Film Showcase

Statistic driven, poetic, well spoken, statistic displayed as well as powerful word play, along with imagery of our planet, the beautiful and the disgusting parts. He gives a perspective of our impact, on the planet and the animals we share it with. He talks about how the human race is so intelligent yet we are destroying our planet so fast, in relation to how long we have been on the planet. ‘1000 times the rate of animal extinction that even before’… ’Say good bye to…lions, rhinos,' etc. is powerful no one wants to see these animals to go extinct. He talks about how in earths time line was put into 24 hour we have only been on earth for 3 seconds we are. He talks about our planet as ‘just right’, the perfect amount of distance away from the sun etc… He also did a video called 'Dear Future Generations: Sorry' which he again gave solutions after discussing the huge issue of deforestation, climate change and the extinction on animals caused by humans.

The Indoor Generation by VELUX

Creating awareness of health impacts of our homes, how we are not ventilation our homes, how we are not letting nature in, we are over insulating our homes trapping in all the bugs etc in. The video is narrated by a young girl. She talks about not receiving natural light and air can impact our health; illnesses, depression, loneliness. bacteria, moisture etc. Powerful short videos that show everyday lives; eating, sleeping, socialising, combined with some troubling signs like coughing, illness, obvious signs of bacteria, mould… statistics/narration that gives you a better understanding of what you are seeing. The glass boxes… that have labels on them like “damp & mould” or “indoor pollution” with humans inside which ‘visualises the invisible’ - what we may not be able to see but is there. this video at the end gives solutions which makes you feel not so overwhelmed by this issue.

Sea Turtle with Straw stuck in it's Nostril - "NO" TO PLASTIC STRAWS

The poor turtle vs straw video. The video went viral which was a catalyst for people to stop using straws. This video I found on YouTube (one of many uploads) has 35 million views. The straw was stuck in the turtle’s nostril, Costa Rica University students who research seaturtles and we collecting data on sea turtle mating “when they noticed something in the nose of a 77-pound (35-kilogram) male.” The students in the video thought it was a parasite, and were horrified when they found it to be a plastic straw. 10 centimetres long. “Usually, trash such as plastic bags and even toothbrushes end up in a sea turtle's stomach, she says. It's also quite common to see fishing hooks embedded in a turtle's mouth or flipper, Figgener adds.” In the 8 minute video you can see the turtle is in pain and struggling to break. The students are discussing what the see and all horrified when the realise what the are trying to pull out, I believe someone says ‘thats the same straws used at…’.

‘Tree’

This experience takes you on a journey of being a tree. You start as a seedling under ground and grow into a large tree. Key immersive features of this experience is the atmosphere, this is created by mist/water and echoing sound when under ground, and lighting and ambient sounds of wildlife when above ground surrounded by other trees. The experience allows you to move your arms (branches) while growing up. Once you reach the top of the other trees it becomes night. We begin to hear noises of trucks and see fire in the distance. as the fire gets closer to us, the perspective changes from first person to third person. This make you feel as though you are exiting your body floating to up to heaven. Our journey is sped up, but our environment is still moving in real time. This changes the experience and would be more effective if we could see our environment around us changing with us. This would still capture the beauty of the forrest which is clear a focus for the project. It would also stop the user from getting bored in the middle of the experience when we are growing because there would be a lot more going on.

'The story of a spoon'

This video was created by green piece, encouraging people to stop using plastic spoons. It emphasises the long journey the spoon goes on, from the material it is made from, to ending in the hands of the user. Showing images of the pollution that the plastic spoon’s journey creates. The voice over help depict what is happening in the video. The message at the end of the video is very powerful - ‘is it too much effort to just wash a reusable spoon, stop using plastic spoons.’

'Becoming Homeless'

A 7 minute experience on becoming homeless lets you experience what it is like to lose your job and home and have to live on the streets. I one part of the experience you meet with other homeless people to hear their experience, on how they became homeless and how it can happen to anyone. It opens many eyes to the problem. This experience is about creating empathy towards homeless people and changing peoples negative attitudes towards them. The study around the experience showed people were more likely to sign a petition etc after experiencing what it was like to be homeless - having a long lasting effect. The experience shares actually experiences, which people emotionally connect with. The virtual reality experience was compared to reading a narrative around homeless and show more people signed the petition for more affordable housing after the experience rather than a video or reading about it. The narrative of the experience is; we start in our home, we become aware of the situation we are in, losing our job and can’t afford to pay rent. We have to chose items to sell to make rent this week. Which was not enough, there is not enough room in homeless shelters because of the rise of homeless people so we spent our nights on buses to keep warm. This is where we hear stories from other homeless people. We have to protect what is left of our possessions while trying not to be harassed by locals. This was upsetting and stressful for me, as you are experiencing being homeless as yourself. I felt personal attacked by this man. The narration/voice over was useful in the experience to understand what was going on.

‘A Breathtaking Journey’

This experience you are empathising with is a refugee and their journey escaping their war-torn country. The journey shows the participants the stressful, long and scary experiences refugees may encounter escaping their country. The experience is viewed through VR the participant sits in a crate that replicates the crate the user is sitting in the virtual environment. They also are wearing a mask the can still breath through but it disperses smells through, and headphones that full immersive the user into the virtual environment, blocking out any sounds from the real environment.

‘Clouds of Sidra’

“This charming 12-year-old girl will guide you through her temporary home: The Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan. Zaatari is home to 130,000 Syrians fleeing violence and war, and children make up half the camp's population. In this lyrical VR film, Sidra leads you through her daily life: Eating, sleeping, learning and playing in the vast desert city of tents.”… this 10 minute VR video opens eyes to the living conditions and lifestyle of the Syrian refugees who have left their country due to war. at the end of the video there was information on how many live in the camps and how to help out.

‘this is climate change: feast’

This experience is about the clearing of the amazon to make space for cattle ranches. This experience I found upsetting, I felt like I was apart of the destruction, being inside the truck that was flatten/clearing trees and bushes, being present when the the trees being cut down made me feel responsible. This was more impactful for me than the ‘Tree’ experience because I was actually there seeing it happen standing beside the man cutting down the trees, just watching. I am aware of the issues of deforestation, so I can understand the importance of what is going on in this video, but they added short sentences/statistics of the impacts/what is happening. After we experience the cutting down of the trees we more to the ‘why’ this is happening, I come from a farming background so I am aware of farming cattle for meat but it still caught me off guard and it made me feel angry and sad. The experience was powerful and did not need any voice overs or narration, it was clear enough through the visuals and small written quotes.

(images of seahorse, seabird and turtle)

These are images from National Geographic that creates awareness of the plastic pollution issue. It also makes you rethink what you  buy. These photos are similar to the turtle video, they are catalysts to banning these single use plastic objects. It makes the viewer aware of the impacts on marine organisms.

(image of dead Albatross)

The dead Albatross photo went viral making awareness of plastic pollution affecting birds. Birds mistake the colourful pieces of plastic as food. In this photo you can see the bird decomposing revealing its cause of death, plastic. You can see items that everyone has used, a lighter, number of lids, etc, along with other objects that are broken pieces of a larger objects. There is a large number of photos like this online. I have watched videos on scientist that study albatross; what they are eating and where they are getting it from. An alarming number of dead albatross bodies are found on coastal areas where they breed filled with plastic.

[newyorktheater]

Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge deliver back-to-back monologues in the only show opening on Broadway in August.

After a promised Broadway run was scrapped, “Bat Out of Hell” is finally opening in New York, but Off-Broadway. And Off-Off Broadway, The Flea launches a festival of plays by Mac Wellman, the much admired and often abstruse downtown theater artist. The dog days of summer are in fact a traditional time for untraditional theater, witness the wealth of summer theater festivals, one of them brand new, as well as an immersive adventure on Governors Island.

The shows described below are organized chronologically by opening night, except the festivals and those shows that don’t have official opening nights.  Each title is linked to a relevant website for more information

Color key: Broadway: Red. Off Broadway: Purple, blue or black. Off Off Broadway: Green.Theater festival: Orange. Puppetry: Brown. Immersive: Magenta.

August 1

Love, Noël (Irish Repertory Theatre)

Noel Coward’s songs, stories, and personal letters delivered cabaret style by Steve Ross and KT Sullivan

2071: The World We Will Leave Our Children (Episcopal Actors Guild)

A look at climate change through personal and scientific accounts.

August 2

Those Before Us (Governors Island)

“An audio immersive dance experience.” FREE. Through August 11th.

August 3

No Brainer (Theatre for the New City)

A heroic social worker accepts the challenge of helping to save the world from a grandiose charlatan.  Subtitled “the Solution to Parasites,” this is the latest of Theatre for the New City’s annual wacky, political summer offering performed through September 15 in parks, playgrounds and closed-off streets throughout the five boroughs.

August 5

Coriolanus

Daniel Sullivan directs a modern-day version of Shakespeare’s epic of democracy and demagoguery for The Public’s free outdoor season.

August 7

Down to Eartha (Gene Frankel)

This solo play written and performed by Dierdra McDowell explores the life of actor and activist Eartha Kitt.

August 8

Sea Wall/A Life (Hudson)

A double bill of monologues that originally ran at the Public Theater. In “Sea Wall” by Simon Stephens, Tom Sturridge talks about love and the human need to know the unknowable. In “A Life” by Nick Payne, Jake Gyllenhaal meditates on how we say goodbye to those we love most

Bat Out of Hell (City Center)

Using the rock anthems of Jim Steinman (aka Meat Loaf),the musical tells the story of  Strat, the forever young leader of rebellious gang ‘The Lost’, as he falls in love with Raven, the beautiful daughter of the tyrannical ruler of post-apocalyptic Obsidian.

LadyFest (The Tank)

The third annual festival, which runs through August 28th, features new work by “lady or gender non-conforming artists” It debuts with “Tornkid,” which uses Southeastern mythology and puppets to tell the story of a kid who “tear themselves in two. Tricky thing is, Tornkid’s other half runs away with their voice, into a mythical land both achingly familiar and unfamiliar.”

  August 9

Rave Theater Festival (Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center)

This new festival by producer Ken Davenport features 20 new plays and musicals (each offering five performances) through August 25

Opening night features four shows:  Big Shot, Fancy Maids, Noirtownand Training Wheels

August 15

Make Believe (2nd Stage)

A new play by Bess Wohl. For the four Conlee kids, ages 5 to 10, playing house is no longer a game when their parents inexplicably disappear. Thirty-two years later, their search for answers continues.

August 23

HOUSE (Theater Mitu)

Subtitled “or how to lose an orchard in 90 minutes or less,” the piece “upends Anton Chekhov’s 1903 text The Cherry Orchard to explore how families across the globe must again and again find ways to redefine the idea of home. Interjecting Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 cult horror film HOUSE, text from company-conducted interviews, and live music…”

 August 24

Mac Wellman: Perfect Catastrophes (The Flea)

A “festival” of five plays by the avant-garde playwright running through November. Two begin on August 24: “Sincerity Forever,” a group of teens hang out in fictional southern town of Hillsbottom, a place with a prominent community of Ku Klux Klan members, and “Bad Penny,” described thusly: “A man and a woman sit in a park. They appear to be a couple, but aren’t. The man is clutching a car tire. The woman has a penny in her pocket. The mythical Boatman of Bow Bridge is coming. He is coming to take away the person who is in possession of the penny. How do we make choices in the face of the end of the world as we know it?” (My money’s on “Bad Penny”)

August 25

Dream Up Festival (Theatre for the New City

The tenth annual festival offers ten shows in all — two musicals, four plays on the African-American experience, two plays on pregnancy and motherhood, four plays of political content set in the dystopian future, two solo shows and two two-handers.”  Also a new translation  of Strindberg’s  “The Father” (pictured)

August 26

The Museum of Future Experiences

“a high-end immersive VR experiences at brick and mortar locations.”

August 29

Dust (New York Theatre Workshop)

Milly Thomas’s solo play about a woman who is forced to watch the aftermath of her own suicide

  August 2019 New York Theater Openings Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge deliver back-to-back monologues in the only show opening on Broadway in August.

[amplesalty]

Day 4 - Cloverfield (2008)

We all love Clover It’s the way that it’s churned

Following on from previous years watching the likes of Paranormal Activity and V/H/S, it's another found footage affair here. It's one I've had on my list of things to watch for a good while so it's nice to be finally getting around to it.

The couple of things I remember from around the time of it's release are (William) Ryan Key from one of my favourite bands, Yellowcard, being an extra at the party at the start of the movie. Didn't notice him the first time but, now I know where to look, I've found him. Must look into seeing him in the new year, he's doing a tour in support of his new solo stuff and making a stop in Leeds.

Other one would be there not being much (if anything) in the way of what the monster actually looked like. You don't see anything in the trailer, that would be interesting to look at from a marketing perspective. Like, how much does not seeing the monster in pre-release stuff affect the final box office? Certainly, it's nice to have that surprise whilst you're watching but you could make the argument that the audience doesn't have that attachment if they don't know what they're getting, there's less to catch their interest. Still, $170m from a $25m budget, not too shabby.

The intrigue pans out during the movie too as you only slowly get an idea of what the creature looks like. At one point I thought it was some sort of giant squid type thing as during the bridge attack scene, it looks like a giant tentacle smashes it. But I think that's just the speed at which it happens and the general thing, elongated nature of the creature's limbs leading me to that assumption. It's certainly a weird looking thing, puts me in mind of a cross between the Brumak from Gears of War and the Striders from Half Life 2. It drops little creatures as well that are like the Antlions from HL2 also.

Having the head of the Statue of Liberty being ripped off and sent crashing into the street is a powerful image, not least due to the timing of this movie and with it being set in New York. When all the explosions start happening, characters in the movie are speculating if it's another terrorist attack and, even 6/7 years after the fact, this must have felt pretty raw for any New Yorkers to sit through.

Though, apparently even back in 2008, everyone’s first instinct is to document this on their phone. Y’know, rather than run in the opposite direction to whatever just managed to maim a 200 tonne statue. Gotta get this shit onto myspace.

I don't know if it's true of all found footage films but apparently this inspired a lot of motion sickness in people when it came out leading to cinemas putting warnings up about it. I hear some people get similar things playing FPS games, it's not something I've ever experienced. We get a lot of stories these days about how stuff like VR can induce sickness, I figured that made more sense though as you're meant to be a more active participant in it and there can be those moments of disparity between what you're seeing and what your body is sensing. Whereas with a movie, it's a more passive experience. Maybe the whole POV tricks the brain in a similar way to the VR thing in those people.

I feel like these found footage films have a bit of a reputation for not much happening in them and being focused on the jump scare. I guess a lot of that is down to Blair Witch but things feel a bit different here, almost like you're watching an action movie from someone's POV shot. There's just more immediacy to it, there's always something blowing up or a building being knocked over. Not as much of the quiet moments, though it does have it's moments when like the gang are walking down the subway tunnels in the dark, save for the camera light or night vision, only to discover they're surrounded by the little parasite monsters.

And from a Kaiju perspective, I've certainly come out of this with a more positive experience than Godzilla 2014. I should get around to watching Shin Godzilla sometime.

[entropyeverywhere]

"Welcome to the Black Mesa transit system. This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research facility personnel. Please feel free to move about the train or simply sit back and enjoy the ride"

[entropyeverywhere]

Some Hlvrp!Gorden doodles (+ Gman in one of them) I did- yesterday?? (Time is weird)

And bubby

Text; "Gorden if you don't hurry up I'm going to fucking explode"

(May have the quote a bit wrong but meh)

Edit: the bubby image is a lil messed up, but it doesn't seem to wanna cooperate when I try to fix it so it is how it is.

[entropyeverywhere]

So uh

I said yesterday I'd do a Hlvrp!Gorden post but completely forgor so here it is!

(Info under break because this is a LOT of information)

Gorden Freeman

v- thought on what I think he'd look like :3

He has a lot of unchanged stuff about his character like the fact he has a PhD, the MIT shit, and is a theoretical Physicists.

BUT

He does have differences

- Transgender [ftm] (Made him transmasc bc I have a feminine voice [against my own free will] so to accommodate that with a MALE character, Trans guys. [He's also in the middle of transitioning when the Resonece Cascade happens]) and goes by He/They [or any masc/neu (projection :D)]

- Bro gots CIPA

Which makes sense to me, I'm playing gorden, and if I can't feel the pain, neither should he. Lmao

- He dyes his hair guys, the white streaks? Unnatural. He gave himself that because he thought they were cool. (And honestly, I think they fit)

May change some of the things up because well, yeah

I also need to give him a REAL HEV suit, because I have no clue how to actually draw it to be fair, but I plan on doing a study of it

Also, scientists look!

Tried keeping it simular to how the other scientists look but giving him ✨️pazzaz✨️ to add some personality to him.

Also, when his hair is down, he deadass has a bit of a mullet, but likes to make lil rat tail braid in his hair

Was debating in giving him ripped jeans but I'm fairly certain that'd be a safety hazard

BUT HIS GLASSES-

Don't question my design choices :)

I will also digitalize the drawing at some point, but for now, paper drawinf I did in the middle of Math

I also wanna give him some really strong beef with Gman because it seems funny. Gman is supposed to be the antagonist of the Half-Life game(s?) so why not make him and Gorden, have beef?

Anyways, that's the gorden

Will do art dumps of hom at some point :3

[entropyeverywhere]

So

Uh

Gotta rewrite this because school wifi is a BITCH

Anyways :3

I'm creating a Half-Life AU with some friends and my partner, called 'Half-Life VR: Parasites'

It's actually going be played out n what not, and in VR

My silly lil hyperfixation that may be a obsession (:fearful:) is a wee bit silly, I got the base game fir Half-Life, and the Vr mod. And with inspiration from HLVRAI (Half-Life VR: But the AI is Self-Aware), I wanted to do something silly with Half-Life, and knowing my friends can't/don't have Half-Life, what if I hopped on the VR and screenshared everything to my friends, and they're voices in Gordens Head?

So

Now we have, Parasites. >:3

May do random updates here ontop of art dumps from it, just like later today ima do an entire characterized dump for hlvrp!Gorden Freeman :3

He's silly