Is the horror genre dead? Garth Marenghi has the answer.

That's Garth Marenghi above, responding to a question about whether the horror genre is dead. I did a spit take when I watched this (as I did with the rest of the DVD).  It's a childish response ("you are!") from a faux has-been in the genre.  I love it.  And yet there's some nugget of truth here, some wisdom to the comedy.  Genre critics have suggested that genres go through stages of evolution, with parody becoming the zenith of a genre (and a sign of its impending doom).  Garth Marenghi's Darkplace television series is to horror what Blazing Saddles was…

New Post to The Popular Uncanny blog on “The Uncanny Valley and Intellectual Uncertainty”

Just added a new essay to my theory blog on The Popular Uncanny:  "The Uncanny Valley and Intellectual Uncertainty" -- a review and reaction to an interesting cognitive study just published on the brain's response to the uncanny valley. If you don't know what the Uncanny Valley is, then see Wikipedia.  Or watch this video from Popular Science online: