When I found this last weekend, I watched it obsessively a number of times. It just seems right. Not exactly a vision of prophecy, but for a myth of collapse it will do?

Apocalypse -Cthulhu- Now by Cthulinos [Youtube]
Apocalypse Now intro – In case you’ve forgotten the visual pun [Youtube]

Some weeks back I had the opportunity to revisit New Orleans for a few days. While there, I decided to do some paratourism and go looking for relics of the Honey Island Swamp monster legend. For several reasons tromping about the Honey Island Swamp was nixed, but there was still a cast of the infamous four-toed track that could be viewed at the UCM Museum (yup, pronounced You-See-Em) in Abita Springs, north of Lake Pontchartrain.

Little did I know that the UCM Museum, also known as the Abita Mystery House, would be a treasure trove of bizarre art, artifacts, and oddities. The following photos are by no means the entire museum. In fact, while I do include some highlights, I have purposely left out some of the best exhibits, especially some of the more impressive taxidermical specimens, quasi-functioning 20th century mechanical amusements and instruments (some sections are reminiscent of the Musee Mechanique in San Francisco, but many of the automated scenes are depictions of the life and times in Louisiana, such as the relationship between the American Civil War and minigolf, or the dangers of ladders at Mardi Gras), and the typology of combs. The place must be experienced to be believed, and discovery is an important element to that experience.

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Not an adaptation of Lovecraft’s “The Lurking Fear,” but a hybrid pastiche/homage to Lovecraft and Buster Keaton, with a hint of Indiana Jones in a few places

Part 1

Part 2

The Lurking Fear by Eric Koenig [Youtube]

Don’t say we didn’t warn you. According to the “I Write Like” internet toy,

“The first several hundred words of Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” read like H.P. Lovecraft. And she didn’t mention Cthulhu once.”

That spooky resemblance between HPL and Matt Drudge makes more sense now.

Wherefore art thou, refudiate? Sarah Palin as Shakespeare by Carolyn Kellogg [Los Angeles Times]
Image: “One Nation Under Cthulhu” A response, artist unknown (drop a line if you know the credit) to “One Nation Under God,” [Jon McNaughton]

Had something else lined up for this week, but this hit teh internets as a breaking item of Yogsothothery a couple of days ago. And as Great Cthulhu is the Patron God of the Internet, who would deny it? And definitely check out the back.

If you are going to mod an instrument to look like the embodiment of humanity’s inevitable destiny to be an index fossil, you could do worse than to choose the ukulele. Like the dread lord, it emerges from the Pacific, and its call really hit the big time in the 1920s. Plus that whole Tiptoe through the Tulips thing seems right at home in a musical production of The King in Yellow.

Cthukhelele by Robin Stevenson [Twitter] via Neil Gaiman [Twitter] via Cory Doctorow [BoingBoing]

Ghandi Jones was crowned world champ in the Freestyle Moustache division recently at the World Beard and Moustache Championships. He hails from Seattle.

He no longer has the honeycomb chops but look at this amazing display of innovation and a moustache!

[robotangel.com] and Ghandi Jones [Beard Team USA]

It is a dimension of pure violence.

Two teams of nine men wage total war over a tiny patch of deserted land, shooting, stabbing, burning, exploding, and pummeling each other into paste. In this nightmare there is no death, only a blink of void before another clone is fed into the grinder. There is no rest, no ease, and no mercy. It is senseless. It is brutal. It is Team Fortress 2, and if you haven’t played it yet, you’re missing out on some of the best multiplayer FPS action ever conceived.

In this edition of Saturday Morning Cartoons, we examine the official Valve Software introductory movies for each class (except for the Pyro and Medic films, which haven’t been released yet). The first video, Meet the Heavy, was an animation test that Valve decided to release to the public, so it’s less complex than the ones that followed. Although the videos aren’t in chronological order of release, and I inserted a little break with Meet the Sandvich (reputedly a voice actor improv session someone caught on tape), I ended with what I feel is the most detailed and sophisticated TF2 film yet released, Meet the Spy. You can watch these twenty or thirty times and still be surprised at the detail, nuance, and humor. Make sure to turn on HD, and use headphones if possible.

As usual, Valve’s gone above and beyond in their characterization, artwork, and music–each video is a little wonder. As with all Valve films, they give you something so incredibly fun, that you don’t even realize you’re watching a tutorial. Each film is a solid introduction to the play style of each class, going so far as to (subtly) make specific suggestions of where to place traps, ambush enemy players, and how to aim your shots.

Each movie is filmed within an actual level of the game, using voice taunts and sound effects from the game itself. The immersion, detail, acting and art are stunning, but there is (or was, until recently) a complete dearth of backstory, leaving the players and fans to interpret the characters in any way they see fit. It was an experiment in character, sans context, and it is a triumph.

With TF2, Valve inspired one of the largest and most creative fandoms of any movie, television show, or game. I’ve included a couple fan videos at the end of this playlist, but the real stuff will have to wait until next week. This week, just familiarize yourself with the characters and style, and you’ll be primed to enjoy what’s coming next.