Charles Dickens is so well known for “A Christmas Carol,” that some of his other Christmas Tales are too sadly overlooked. In my favorite, the unassumingly-titled “A Christmas Tree,” the narrator muses over a tabletop Christmas Tree toy, and descends into haunted recollections about his own childhood toys and seasonal experiences in a manner that… Continue reading The Uncanny Mask in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Tree”
Tag: ghosts
When Hot Dogs Attack
You may have seen this hilariously strange new ad for Tums Smoothies during the political convention season (2016) on TV. If so, you’ve “Felt the (Heart)Bern” in a way that probably made you do a double-take the first time you saw it: A pack of naked hot dog people, attacking a lone male camper in… Continue reading When Hot Dogs Attack
AUDIO: China Mieville Keynote Address from ICFA 2012: On Monsters
In the following audio capture, author China Mieville delivers a keynote address entitled “On Monsters: Or, Nine or More (Monstrous) NOT Cannies.” It was presented at the 33rd Annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando, Florida, in Spring 2012. Mieville performs an entertaining and trenchant re-examination of the term “uncanny” and… Continue reading AUDIO: China Mieville Keynote Address from ICFA 2012: On Monsters
Call for Papers: Ghosts and the Uncanny
The Canadian literary journal, Descant, is calling for submissions on the theme, “Ghosts and the Uncanny” (deadline: March 01, 2010): An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself. – Charles Dickens For this special issue, Descant turns ghost hunter and dares to explore the murky connections between… Continue reading Call for Papers: Ghosts and the Uncanny
Pop Phantasmagoria
Neat find: Professor Heard’s Magic Latern Shows is a traveling act that nostalgically recreates the “phantasmagoria” of the 18th & 19th centuries for contemporary audiences. (I learned about Heard’s show via his article, “The Lantern of Fear” published by Grand Illusions, a fun online shop for offbeat science toys, uncanny gizmos, and illusionary devices.) As… Continue reading Pop Phantasmagoria
Smoking Stunts and Growths
Wow! This image from the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation’s (UK) anti-second hand smoke campaign stunned me for a moment, with its visual echo of my recent post about the website, Photoshop Disasters. (Via the excellent advertising watchblog, AdGoodness). In that original post, I wrote: “We always already understand that advertising is manipulative and fake, and yet when the flaw appears,… Continue reading Smoking Stunts and Growths
The Web Browser as Ouija Board
I recently came across The Blog of the Damned — a group weblog that has compiled some interesting instances of “forteana 2.0 and the uncanny internet.” One entry in particular really jumped out at me: The Browser as Scrying Tool — that is, the literalization of the metaphor that “the Internet is haunted, and that… Continue reading The Web Browser as Ouija Board
The Return of the Gaze in THE RING
On: “Looking For The Quintessential Scary Moment: Hughes’ Tiger, The Uncanny Valley and the Eye of Yamamura Sadako” by Adrian Bott (aka “Cavalorn”). 03/28/2004 The very first concrete thing I wanted to do with this weblog is call attention to one of my favorite weblogs — Stephanie Gray’s wonderful doctoral research project, “Exploring the Uncanny… Continue reading The Return of the Gaze in THE RING