Tag: journals

Everything Is Uncanny

The latest print issue of Wired magazine (Sept 2015) includes a mini-feature story on “The New Cultural Literacy 2016,” which includes the above entry on the ubiquity of the uncanny valley in technological design. The phrase “Uncanny Valley” has indeed become so ubiquitous in discourse that it seems to be drummed up whenever anything is… Continue reading Everything Is Uncanny

Data Doppelgangers feature in The Atlantic

There is you. And then there is your alter-ego as constructed by all the hidden marketing that happens behind the scenes due to your social networking. You can try to control it through things like facebook’s latest privacy adjustment techniques. But as tech critic Sara M. Watson points out in a recent article in The… Continue reading Data Doppelgangers feature in The Atlantic

Mini-Review: Jamais Vu – The Journal of Strange Among the Familiar

Jamais Vu – The Journal of Strange Among the Familiar has just published its second issue, so I thought I’d mention this new forum of horror and fantasy here, as it relates to the Uncanny in its editorial mission. The journal is published by Post-Mortem Press, primarily known for their horror titles (like the fabulous… Continue reading Mini-Review: Jamais Vu – The Journal of Strange Among the Familiar

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

The Uncanny Valley: Expanded and Uncut! Notes on Mori’s Groundbreaking Essay

  I like to think I’m good at keeping up with research on the Uncanny, but somehow I missed an important event this June: IEEE Spectrum published the first complete English translation of Masahiro Mori’s highly influential article on “The Uncanny Valley” (originally published in what they call “an obscure Japanese journal called Energy in… Continue reading The Uncanny Valley: Expanded and Uncut! Notes on Mori’s Groundbreaking Essay

Review of Pea Green Boat (Spring 2012) — Special Issue on The Uncanny

Pea Green Boat is an online magazine of curious and compelling miscellany, publishing issues that collect articles and snippets on unique themes. The current issue of PGB (Spring 2012) focuses on The Uncanny. I should say up front that one of my articles, on “Eyebombing,” is reprinted from this very site. But PGB’s Uncanny issue… Continue reading Review of Pea Green Boat (Spring 2012) — Special Issue on The Uncanny

Uncanny Beauty and Weird Tales

Weird Tales magazine (issue #356) will have “uncanny beauty” as its theme, and I’m excited to see what it has in store. The cover art is gorgeous. Even Jeff Vandermeer’s cat loves it. I highly recommend subscribing to this longstanding genre fiction magazine, which has been around since the pulp era and helped draw attention… Continue reading Uncanny Beauty and Weird Tales

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

Chewing Gum of The Future

My wife, Renate, recently submitted the entry above to Wired magazine‘s latest “Found: Artifacts from the Future” contest, which asks readers to predict the future of chewing gum with photoshopped gumpacks. Also on the site is Octuplemint — a parody of the most popular of uncanny of gums, Doublemint. For me, gum is an interesting… Continue reading Chewing Gum of The Future