Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

History of machinima

"Machinima: Finding Its Way" is a nice history of machinima.  It sets up a timeline with categories (early days, Quake, message machinima, etc.), and offers a few examples under each. 

"Freeze", gorgeous dark fantasy music video

"Freeze" is a music video performed by Hourcast, with visuals by technoGoth masters My Pet Skeleton.  It's a gorgeous, eerie work, with very rich details and a plot line needing review to pull out.   It's a fantasy without any human characters, mixing biological and industrial images - less Giger, more classic mad science.

Alternate reality games in print

I'm starting to look into two alternate reality game projects entering book form.  For the Lost game, one character, Gary Troups, is the putative author of a book.  As I travel through the airport network this week, I'm seeing Bad Twin in nearly every shop.
And for an older game, Chasing the Wish, a comic book is now out.

Terror in a small town

A small-town Gothic villain is profiled by the Guardian.  Ms Wilding indeed:

The dispute initially centred around an unruly clematis plant, but prosecutors claim that Ms Wilding is responsible for 250 alleged incidents over 16 months, including dumping dead animals, rubbish, dog faeces, glass and nails around the village, damaging neighbours' cars, and plying local children with alcohol.
She has also been accused of booby-trapping paint pots, dazzling neighbours' homes with floodlights, throwing compost at her neighbours and assaulting them with her wheelbarrow.

(thanks, Len Warner)

Social video: Deviation

Deviation is a nicely done machinima.  The theme of calling a game on its content is not a new one, but Deviation carries it off very smoothly, with a good mix of comedy and existential pathos.

I'm noting in here as well because it's one of those bridges thrown across the gap between rich media and social software.  Notice the main page's description of the project being voiced and edited by a geographically dispersed group.

Social software as suicide note

Two Israeli teens used the Web to publish suicide plans this month.  The Jerusalem Post reports that one was real, with police racing to the scene and saving the young woman's life.  The other was, well, a simulation:

the girl was already known to the city's child welfare authorities. According to Israel Radio, the girl, who was questioned by police Thursday morning, apparently wanted to test the "awareness" of the local authorities.

(thanks to jim downing)

Google touches the scary technology meme

Google's official blog touched the scary internet theme this week, albeit with a smile.  Check this illustration for their helpful entry about avoiding repetitive stress injury (RSI).

It's anthropodermic bibliopegy, now

We prefer to refer to books bound in human skin as antropodermic binding, but are willing to accept the BBC's use of anthropodermic bibliopegy in recognition of their journalistic fortitude.  The Beeb reports on a continuing investigation of the theft of such a book in West Yorkshire last month.

(via Crooked Timber)

"Chat-room killer"

"Chat-room killer": that's how a Thai paper describes a murder.  What's the internet angle?  The classic gap between online and face-to-face persona, apparently:

Arif, after first pleading innocent, eventually confessed to police that he had killed Dissanee in a fit of rage after the woman expressed disappointment that he was not the man he pretended to be on the internet.

A pretty horrific murder resulted, accordingly to the account:

"The suspect confessed to raping the victim after he strangled her," Police Major General Witthaya Kosiyasathit told reporters. Arif has also confessed to dismembering Dissanee with a butcher knife and then dumping her body parts near a petrol station.

The fearsome Web meme: already global.

(thanks, jim downing)

YouTube, a history

Here's a good history of YouTube.  It touches on the copyright problem, which we learn has been handled by a combination approach: taking files down immediately upon complaint; streaming through Flash.  There are also some promising hints about copyright owners using the 'tube for marketing.

Yes, it's been around, and influential enough, to have a history.

(thanks, Jesse)