Parody is a good barometer for popularity. The humor magazine, Cracked, sends up The 7 Creepiest Real-Life Robots. Robert Brockway’s bawdy, Rated-R write ups include hilarious (yet astutely observed) rationales for “why it’s so, so creepy,” like this one for the “Actroid” robot pictured above: The Actroid is fairly tame on the creepy scale …… Continue reading Cractroids
Category: New Media
Das Unheimliche in New Media: online animation, websites, computer games, software, and other electronic forms.
Twins on the Train to Weirdsville
Improv Everywhere has performed a fun uncanny experiment called “Human Mirror”: in it, a long line of identical twins sit in opposite seats in a subway car to catch commuters off guard. Here is the video from their site (if you don’t see it, it’s also available on youtube): The trick is fascinating, and provides a sly… Continue reading Twins on the Train to Weirdsville
Medical Manikins and Suffering
Today I stumbled onto Oobject — a weird multiuser “curations collection” that exhibits photos that members spot online, organized by offbeat themes. One of the most uncanny exhibits of them all is a collection of “medical manikins”. The above shot by Tomer Ganihar (a shot taken as part of a series he did in an Israeli hospital… Continue reading Medical Manikins and Suffering
Post of the Living Dead
This blog will someday end, whether by choice, by ennui, by hacker attacks, or by the author’s demise. In anticipation of its death, I begin with this first post. A post of the living dead. And the zombie hoard is only rising: “Dead Blogs” (Times Daily, June 2007) “Millions of Dead Blogs Won’t Stop Blogging”… Continue reading Post of the Living Dead