The flesh toned tentacles of this, I assume, immature squid stuffed into the pale pink maw of the above copper-coiffed coquette gives cause for Ectomites the world over to yearn for the future to hasten its approach. If only we weren’t quite so far from an era in which desire and an appointment at the local mod parlor is all that’s needed to add a handful of prehensile protrusions to one’s visage. Until then, we simply continue to play with our food.
It seems cephalopods have had it up to here with these Remote Operated Vehicles and underwater cameras and are beginning to take up tentacles against out voyeuristic ways. Here, a large but as yet unidentified squid attacks an ROV at a depth of 1650 feet in the Gulf of Mexico. A few weeks ago — as many, many, many of you pointed out, thank you — National Geographic posted footage taken by a Shell owned ROV last year in which an “elbowed”, otherworldly Magnapinna squid floated up to stare menacingly into the cameras lens.
I suspect that shows of force like these will continue, most likely culminating in all out war. Hopefully our government is prepared.
It would be easy to dismiss, on first glance, Miguel Sternberg’s Night of the Cephalopod. It relies on the outdated, yet still popular, sprite based graphics and its premise is a model of simplicity: you find yourself in a forest, shotgun in hand, surrounded by floating, milky-eyed cephalopods and are told that the sun rises in six hours time. On the face of it there is not much here, just the usual survival-horror trappings: run from enemy, find and conserve ammo, don’t die.
The real meat of NotC , however, is the narration. It begins immediately, the voice of Scott Moyle intoning “I had run from the cottage in a blind fear, having only time to grab my shotgun and a handful of shells. Hours, or minutes, later, when the madness finally fled from my heart, I found myself lost, but blessedly alone.” and from there on it proceeds to narrate your entire play through. It’s a brilliant feature, a running, Lovecraftian color commentary detailing almost every move and action the player makes. Its success is based on both the quality of the writing and the unexpected timing of the narrative tidbits. At one point I failed to reload and when I finally did so — after having “wandered about like an impotent fool” — the narrator thrilled “Oh, how I love reloading during battle!”
In those two lines I may have actually given away too much. Discovering these flourishes is a joy in and of itself. There is a demo available, small with a self contained executable, and you would be cheating yourself if you did not not take a quick look at it. If the breathless voice of the Lovecraftian scribe fills you with glee, then this is most certainly for you.
Apologies to ye Apple users as it appears to be Windows only, but there is a video if you would like a basic idea of the game.
In his sunken stable of R’lyeh, dead My Little Cthulhu waits, dreaming. If you wish, you may brush his tentacles with the included comb. You do so at your own risk, however.
Upon seeing the tentacle rising from the vast, briny depths, it suddenly occurred to Lulu that, not only had her parents been quite negligent in giving her such such a large balloon, but that it would have perhaps been best to let go over the fairgrounds. After all, a few cuts and bruises would have been preferable to what now awaited her when she hit the water.
Somewhere in France, inside a building with the words “Ancienne Maison Pain” emblazoned on its facade, a portal has opened. Here, the space between two dimensions has been bridged and something has come through. Something not fit for the minds of men. Squeezing its massive bulk through a tear in space-time, it has taken up residence, requiring several rooms to facilitate it substantial girth. Needless to say, its rent must be usurious.
A melancholy melody for your Friday morning. Andrew Bird’s “Lull” is a beautiful piece of music although, not being familiar with his catalog, I can’t say if this is due to his songwriting ability or the exceptional work of Dianogah. In the end I suppose it matters not, as the final product is brilliant regardless and the video compliments it perfectly. Using cutout transparencies it tells the story of a staid, button-down gentleman who falls into a passionate affair with a squid. As we here at Ectomo can attest, these trysts never go to plan, however; the tempestuous nature of squids making them less than ideal for long-term relationships. It all leads to a sad — and some would say, inevitable — conclusion.
In 1933 a bathysphere expedition intended to break the world record for ocean descent was lost under mysterious circumstances. The cause of the disaster was never determined and no three-toed sloth was ever put in command of a bathysphere again.
Signed and numbered silkscreen poster from phineas x. jones.
With Parliament defending their recent vote allowing for the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos for scientific study, the future takes one step closer to the noisome, unsettling din we all eagerly anticipate. It won’t be long before that kind of strange bio-tech has wriggled its way into (semi) polite society the same way all far-out tech has trickled down into common usage.
First thing in the morning you’ll slap your wall-screen to life so that the beast-women of the world can preach the gospel of a new, better, psuedo-you. All followed by an advertising parade for genetic remapping agents so gratuitous and glossy in its hustle it would make the advertising execs of today weep. If you’re lucky maybe some seizure-inducing cartoons right after.
BLU’s Muto: animation on a public wall. Beautiful surely, but I couldn’t help but think about all the artwork he covered up to make it (I know, it’s a public wall, it comes with the territory.) Thanks to Ry-Tron and everyone else who sent this in!
Don’t you fucking dare post knitting patterns for Dr. Who characters. So sayeth the BBC, though most likely it was worded in a far more politely threatening manner filled with words contain superfluous “u”s. Thanks, August Moon!
Some webcam footage of the defrosting process being conducted on the half ton colossal squid caught in Antarctic waters in February 2007, and currently housed in a New Zealand lab. The entire process will take up to two day to complete in order to not damage the specimen, as thawing it too fast would mean that the outside would being to rot before the internal organs had fully thawed. Researchers will only have a short time to examine the corpse before it is placed in a preservative, during which time they hope to, among other things, determine the squid’s sex; although the apparent lack of a six and a half foot penis leads them to speculate that it is female. It seems like a logical conclusion. They will also be live webcasts spanning the entire project. After the examination is concluded the squid will be put on display at Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand’s national museum in Wellington.
When life throws you a terrible curse in which you vomit squid, make calamari. Thanks, Michael!
Yeesh, lady, don’t play with your food. Set is NSFW. Thanks, Karenw!
The beautiful Anna Lucylle sent us a photo of her fantastic, Lovecraftian tattoo; as well as photos of it in its various stages. The ModBlog post contains a wonderfully heated, pedantic discussion on the correct pluralization of “octopus” as well.
Is it art? I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that it appears to be a creature out of The Dark Crystal with huge, pendulous testes, hanging from gymnastics rings and covered in stick-pins. Yup, thanks John.
Abdopus aculeatus octopi lead a life of sex, murder, and gender obfuscation but only once. After that they die. Thanks to Jenny and everyone else who sent this one in!
Welcome your new cephalopod masters with a t-shirt. Thanks, Vinnchan.
Hikashu, who appears to have been Japan’s answer to the Talking Heads, sings “Puyo Puyo”. Thanks, bubliki!
The trailer for Angels and Idiots, a new film by animation god Bill Plympton. Thanks, Monkey!
In sheer defiance of the World Wide Web Consortium's will, Ectomo was designed using a non-web-standard font. Luckily, it is included in the excellent font pack released by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, which can be freely downloaded in Mac and PC formats here. Ectomo should still look fine without it, though.
