Long Live The New Flesh

Sunday, June 1, 2008

David Cronenberg made some of the most insightful shock-horror films of the 1980s. Few mainstream critics understood that while Cronenberg's material was distributed as schlocky B-movies, the themes he was exploring were much deeper and more insightful. His stories are about psychological transformation through physical transformation, the evolution of the human body through technology, and the constant violence and sexuality that runs through the human consciousness. Mad Science indeed. Cronenberg is one gateway into subject matter for which The Director is organizing new investigations. Further details will follow.



An important note on Shivers: whereas most 'infection horror' movie plots involve government experiments gone wrong, or biological alien invasions, the sex-zombie parasites of Shivers were deliberately created by a deranged scientist, who leaves his explanation in a suicide note. Brilliance!

Deviant - The Abandoned Asylum

Sunday, May 25, 2008

I was snooping in a friend's profile recently (thank you, Stacks!), and happened to stumble onto something she stumbled onto... a location the Deviant sim I hadn't seen. Deviant is the selfsame brand of Riann Maltese, whose bondage furniture is ubiquitous on the kinky side of the grid, and with good reason: it's quality.


Riann and her friends are also talented builders, as you'll see when you visit their abandoned asylum on the hill in Deviant. It's wonderfully atmospheric, haunted shadows on the walls and the like. I thought of 'Session 9', 'The Ring', and the trashy but well designed 'House on Haunted Hill' remake while there. The only criticism I have is, you'll have a hard time doing any roleplay there. Most of the plentiful chairs and beds don't have sit animations properly installed, so you couldn't play out sitting or lying down. I expected more alarming, demented devices as well, from the purveyor of the best poseball system on the grid... Anyway, you can browse my travel photos at your leisure, and explore at you own peril...